🚀 go-pugleaf

rabbit@buster.ddmi.com (Dr. Roger Rabbit) writes:
> In article <1990Dec16.113452.19023@wbgate.wb.com> ss@max.wb.com
> (Steven Spielberg, supposedly) writes:
> >What hostility everyone exhibits here!! I was warned about this by
> >the computer-type that set this up for me. He explains the mail problem as
> >follows (I understand none of this because I'm not a hacker):
> 
> I know. This place has got to be the most dismal example of rudeness and
> inhmanity known to man. One of the problems with electronic communication
> is that you aren't looking the other person in the face and things that 
> we take for granted like vocal intonation and facial expression just 
> isn't there. [...]
>
> I personally have been fascinated by the total removal of inhibitions
> to verbally abuse others that has been exhibited on USENET. [...]

It's not purely a Usenet phenomenon; it's a problem encountered on
many bulletin boards. I know a number of people who have a
Jekyll-and-Hyde existence; in real life, they are polite and friendly
(even a little shy), but on bulletin boards they are opinionated,
intolerant and frequently rude.

I've talked to such people, and they often say that they have
difficulty visualizing that they are interacting with a real person.

Question: What can we do to solve the problem? Has anyone researched
solutions?

One possibility which springs to mind is that the discussion software
should display a picture of the author alongside each reply. Would
people find it easier to 'connect' if given such a visual cue?

Another possibility is that the problem is one of mindsets. My first
introduction to electronic discussion systems was at the age of
twelve, when I started writing one :-)  It did get used a little, and
was a great place for me to try out ideas...

Perhaps those who are introduced to Usenet (and similar systems) at an
early age will adjust to it more readily, in the same way that younger
people are more able to adjust to the tones of electronic music whilst
older listeners dislike them because they are so unfamiliar. Maybe
sociopathic behaviour on Usenet will peak and then diminish as new
generations of users arrive.

>                                                             I am firmly
> convinced the the government has the axe poised to kill it (at least the
> prevent it from being carried on the govt. funded NSFNet) and this kind
> of behavior does not help a bit.

Imminent death of the net predicted! Panic panic panic!               :-)

>                                  What scares me is the possibility that
> this kind of behavior will carry over into real life as more and more
> people become "tube literate". It would really be scary if we had a
> bunch of "Joe English"'s running around insulting people and starting
> riots and the like. 

Never been to New York?

Er, seriously though, I think it's more likely that real life will start
to impinge upon Usenet. Once the net is an everyday thing that people are
comfortable using, their behaviour will (I think) begin to change for the
better.

> >To the fellow who posts the episode credits - keep it up, and to
> >"Dr. Rabbit", call me at that number that I sent to you via e-mail
> >and we'll see about getting together. To the rest of you - Ciao.

Personally, I can't believe that the real Steven Spielberg would give
up so easily, nor that he would be willing to dismiss thousands of
net readers simply because a few people flamed him in an alt group.

> >Oh, and no one that I know has approached me and asked about USENET, so
> >the person who claims that I said that I didn't know anything about
> >USENET is fibbing.
>  
> Some people on the net are consummate liars - don't let it get you 
> down. 

Many people in real life are liars, too. Many people in real life are
hostile and ill-mannered. That's not a good reason for trying to
abandon real life.

> Take Care,
> R.A. Rabbit
> >>> BAN: Nuclear Power, US Intervention in South America, Toxic Waste
> >>> (Including dip) Trash Incinerators, Nuclear Weapons, Poverty, 
> >>> Racism, Sexism, Specieism, etc... Write to: Toons for a Better World,
> >>> 2001 Yatza St., Toontown, CA 90128 E-MAIL: rabbit@buster.ddmi.com

Yeah. Love the "Followup-To: misc.test" in the header. Tres amusant.


mathew.
--
Mantis Consultants, Unit 56, St. John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge. CB4 4WS.
mathew@mantis.co.uk \\ "CP/M is to metric as cockroaches are to a Timex watch"
ukc!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew -------------------\\ - booter@catnip.berkeley.ca.us