[LINK] Trolls online and communication behaviour

[Jan Whitaker]

At 11:02 AM 3/02/2010, Ivan Trundle you wrote:
>What's more fascinating is that it seems to affect web behaviour 
>more than e-list behaviour: on the web, the level of anonymity is 
>perceived to be greater - people can lob in and make a comment and 
>never return (existential trolling), whereas there is a greater 
>sense of commitment to an e-list, where relationships between 
>subscribers is better defined (so people are more civil/more supportive).
>
>Something to think about in the brave new world of simplified online 
>communication...

I've noticed a lot of 'hot target' comment patterns, too. I've been 
reading a Colorado media site and I swear, the trolls breed there, 
particularly when the story is about Obama. They can't seem to help 
themselves. Similar thing in other conservative state media.

This issues also relates to the South Australia situation. It wasn't 
that the pollies wanted to stop the speech, just get those who write 
it to own up. The thing about the guy who 'wasn't real' was 
dumb/ignorant, but the idea that people should own what they write in 
political discourse isn't too far off the mark. There is a long 
history of anonymous speech, granted, to protect people who challenge 
the status quo, but back in the early days [Federalist Papers for an 
example], the social norms of decency were a bit higher and the 
writers had better vocabularies.

One of my 'rules'/guiding points for the hormone-charged online 
communities I looked after was 'be kind'. That at least set a 
boundary and ethos that the group could self-apply. I hardly ever had 
to pull rank. Of course, that was in a closed college network of 
18-20 yr. olds, not the general public.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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