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> No normal adult with a job, maybe a family, maybe a pet, and a million other things to do has time for this. This is simply not true. "Normal", regular peopl

> No normal adult with a job, maybe a family, maybe a pet, and a million other things to do has time for this. This is simply not true. "Normal", regular people do this too. I remember a while back a Finnish journalist wrote an article about meeting one of his online abusers[1], who had - on a Finnish copy of 4chan - wished that an immigrant would stab him and his whole family to death. Turned out the offender was a regular family man with a job and young children. He could not offer an explanation for his words and was not politically active. These boards, their super hateful environment, and the presumed anonymity can get even a normal person to sling online hate. Even this person in the article said that his public persona in his normal life was completely different and not representative of his online comments. [1] https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/05/30/nettivihaa-tyossaan-kohtaava-sami-koivisto-tapasi-miehen-joka-toivoi-hanen https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/05/30/nettivihaa-tyossaan... (in Finnish) EDIT: Found it in English: https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/11/06/face-to-face-with-a-man-who-wished-an-asylum-seeker-would-kill-my-family-the https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/11/06/face-to-face-with-a...

appleflaxen 6y ago
that's really interesting. thanks for the relevant anecdote. But say that guy works for me, and he is hiding his behavior well. What am I supposed to do with that possibility?
- mdoms 6y ago
  As an employer or manager frankly it's neither your responsibility nor your business to investigate how your reports are spending their personal time. First of all, don't lose any sleep over it. If one of your guys is a huge troll it's not your fault that you didn't know. These assholes are going to look like everyday normal people in RL. Secondly don't go snooping on your employees without cause. This should go without saying.
BTCOG 6y ago
plenty of these people leaving super hateful comments all around the internet are just everday, nice friendly people who choose to say whatever the fuck they want on a forum or chan. It seems a lot of people throughout this very thread, would rather reduce them all to a certain ideology or hardcore stereotype all 4chan users as only white males. You couldn't be more wrong about that. Tons of people get on there and talk a bunch of trash like it's a video game and then go back to their "life."

appleflaxen 6y ago

that's really interesting. thanks for the relevant anecdote. But say that guy works for me, and he is hiding his behavior well. What am I supposed to do with that possibility?

mdoms 6y ago
As an employer or manager frankly it's neither your responsibility nor your business to investigate how your reports are spending their personal time. First of all, don't lose any sleep over it. If one of your guys is a huge troll it's not your fault that you didn't know. These assholes are going to look like everyday normal people in RL. Secondly don't go snooping on your employees without cause. This should go without saying.

BTCOG 6y ago

plenty of these people leaving super hateful comments all around the internet are just everday, nice friendly people who choose to say whatever the fuck they want on a forum or chan. It seems a lot of people throughout this very thread, would rather reduce them all to a certain ideology or hardcore stereotype all 4chan users as only white males. You couldn't be more wrong about that. Tons of people get on there and talk a bunch of trash like it's a video game and then go back to their "life."