// I don’t Digg Your Lack of Civility!
// May 30th, 2008 & filed under Off TopicFor about 10 years now, I’ve had access to what we call ‘the Internet’ from the comfort of my own home. During this time, I’ve seen many trends come and go. The rise and fall of being able to make money from Microsoft, by forwarding an email to at least ten people; the hours spent asking “A/S/L” in chatrooms; and the days of creating sparkling websites for free through Angelfire, Homestead, or Geocities.
The Internet, by it’s very nature, has always been an interactive medium. Years ago, forums, chatrooms, and guest books were the rage, but, as we’re all aware, the past few years have seen a swift change sweep in, with the interactivity rising through social media/bookmarking sites and blogs.
Change?
In essence, not that much has changed. We are now using different platforms, and there are more people, but that’s about it.
Like many, I’ve spent my fair share of time in all these various mediums of activity, and I currently have accounts, with Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and Design Float (I don’t know how many invites I’ve had to Twitter, but, I’ve yet to join).
But, I want to discuss something else.
Where are your manners?
It appears to this lowly Internet user, that there are still a shocking number of people online, who do not know how to interact with any civility. I’m serious. Whether it’s in comments left on blogs, or on social media sites, it seems like many are deliberately making an effort to be as loathsome as possible.
Sometimes I’m left wondering, are they real people?
For example, a few days ago on Digg, I read the following comment;
“…human’s breed like rabbits..and usually it’s the lesser of the gene pool.”
Is it just me, or is that one of the most derogatory statements ever made?
I could go on giving various examples of hatred left on the likes of Digg, and many blogs. In fact, I’d love to interview some of the top bloggers, and ask them, “What’s the nastiest comment you’ve ever received from someone, who you sensed really meant what they said?”
It would be interesting to read some of the responses, would it?
I have a friend who’s quite experienced with Digg, and has written many articles which have hit the front page, and he calls Digg “a sewer.” Is he right? I’m inclined to think that many Internet users have the civility of wild beasts, and it just so happens that quite a few of them gather on Digg everyday.
It’s not that I’m against freedom of speech, or that I don’t like people expressing their opinions. But, can’t there be some restraint? Do we forget that behind every typed word, there’s a real person, with real feelings?
Below is a poll. I’d love to hear what people think of this. So, if you can promote this in anyway, by blogging, or just by asking some of your IM friends what they think, I’d love to hear a wide range of thoughts on this.
I agree. I’ve seen so many nasty comments, especially on the social networking sites like YouTube. It’s a shame that people can’t play nice in the sandbox but that’s the price we pay for creating a tool and then making it accessible to the world. Human beings, history has shown, do not have a tendency to play nice with each other.
Brad Ruggles // http://www.bradruggles.com
Brad,
YouTube never came into my mind as I was writing this post, but you’re right. There are some unhealthy minds floating around there too.
Do you think anything could be done to help with the problem?
I think Digg’s community is probably its biggest weakness, since not only do they argue, bicker, and insult each other, but they only represent a very small portion of the people who visit Digg. It is well known that a very tiny portion of the people who visit the site are responsible for commenting and even less for promoting and submitting stories. Unfortunately the people who comment are not interested in making friends and they can be very anonymous behind what they say, much like on Youtube.
So it seems to me that anonymity is the main problem here. On true social networking sites these comments are very rarely made. There are blogs on myspace, and yet no one would dare saying anything too insulting because everything you say can be traced back to your profile and often real name.
I don’t think there’s much we can really do about it, we just have to implement systems which should weed out the nasty commenters. Digg has digging on the comments, which works to a degree, and it is up to the community to silence those who are not willing to contribute to a discussion.
Whoever your friend on Digg is, I reckon he is right on the money.
It’s bad enough that I brace myself anytime I see something of mine submitted to a social bookmarking site. So far, I haven’t seen anything worth crying about, but I’m sure my day will come.
It’s unfortunate that we have to develop such a thick skin to deal with all the negative people parading around behind screen names and avatars, but such is life. I try to ignore it as best I can.
I believe that it really depends on the site, but, yes, most of the more well known sites are going to have a large population of people who’d rather rip you new one for some small infraction than be constructive about their criticisms.
A few of the lesser known (or so it seems) sites that I visit that have communities/comments the people seem to genuinely want to be helpful, encouraging and just overall good natured in their feedback. I don’t believe that I’ve ever had a negative experience on Craftster.org, Lifelounge.com or Lostateminor.com, just to name a few.
I think that depends on the website, you can´t see that kind of comments in a science oriented blog.
Could be the language too, some of us don’t speak english very well, its not our natural language. Sometimes we are just misunderstood. Is hard to be respectful when you don’t know what you are saying.