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This is a critical element of why online discussion forums and anonymity are so powerfully liberating. You can discard the social masks you wear among friends a
by robbedpeter 5y ago
This is a critical element of why online discussion forums and anonymity are so powerfully liberating. You can discard the social masks you wear among friends and family, and try different ideas and viewpoints. There's no price to be paid at the judgment of strangers.
It's perceived to be significantly more difficult to approach strangers in the real world, and successful relationships seem to fix people into whatever patterns initiated it.
Successfully developing the ability to approach strangers in real life is more potent than anything online - it can be unhealthy, as with pickup artists, or joining evangelistic cults, mlm, and so on, but socialization at that level seems to be a common trait among highly interesting people.
- thrdbndndn 5y agoIronically, I don't find discussion online any liberating (and I don't know why).
- notenoughhorses 5y agoI like it, but it doesn’t feel liberating. It feels like you need to be very careful, because if you express yourself in a way that could be taken the wrong way, it will be! But I like getting the insight into how many different people think. Edit: typo
- ssdspoimdsjvv 5y agoOnline discussions lack tone of voice, intonation, etc. and any form of non-verbal communication which makes it really hard to judge the intention of the other person. And of course pure anonymity makes it possible to be an asshole without having to suffer the consequences.
- robbedpeter 5y agoConsider the absolute freedom of 4chan folks. They can say literally anything, and land in good discussions whenever they choose, if they're willing to tolerate the noise. Can't really get that in real life except among really close friends.
- Ntrails 5y agoBasically there are not many places you can take a premise at face value and just throw thoughts out without worrying about consequence to social standing etc.
- afarrell 5y agoThey also lack the ability to signal listening.
- Akronymus 5y agoThat is partially what I like about 4chan. Nobody even really tries to be nice in the first place. Which, personally, is something I almost crave, due to constantly having to tiptoe around.
- 1_player 5y agoOn the internet you can be whoever you want to be, including a total jerkwad. It's much harder to do in person, as the punishment is quite high unless you enjoy getting your ass kicked by a stranger. Like someone else previously said, we need to invent a way to kick somebody's ass over the internet. Then we'll enjoy real time worldwide pleasant anonymity and thoughtful discussion.
- alreadypeople 5y agoum OT ...and i thought this post was about the story on goodnews, some days ago, somthing with 'slacker'-checkouts in dutch-supermarkets, for the elderly, having time for a 'natter' tcha ?! ^^
- tchalla 5y agoMost online discussion portals carry pseudonyms with profile history. Hence, they do suffer from similar issues.
- hammock 5y agoAnd there is a certain neuroticism that leads some people to review your post history before making a snarky comment. I have noticed that, but it's not the norm.
- Nerwesta 5y agoYes sometimes it's sneaky, some aren't even hiding they stalked you before engaging a conversation.
- skinkestek 5y agoI sometimes look up peoples history before replying. It tells me if I should reply carefully and nicely because someone is just having a bad day or don't know the language - or if I should just drop the reply and flag instead.
- huachimingo 5y agoYou havent touched anonymous boards? Compared to Imageboards (4-chan,etc), textboards are more calm and slow.
- heresie-dabord 5y ago> why online discussion forums and anonymity are so powerfully liberating My interpretation of this phenomenon is that significant (but subconscious) physical and social constraints are not removed from strangers who meet in person. There is risk and danger, there is wealth, language and vocalic register, and there is sexual politics. Humans evolved with these sociological pressures and most humans understand and conform to them. But on the InterWobbles, people can be very wrong, flagrantly ignorant and completely inhumane without the probable damage to reputation (real-world personal cost). Until their identities are leaked, of course... Then they realise the reputational cost of being wrong-headed, flagrantly ignorant, and inhumane. And they seek forgiveness ("escape from personal cost"). The InterWobbles have released the bottled demon and given us the 21st century's InterWobble Edition of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.[1] [1] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm
- Rd6n6 5y ago> This is a critical element of why online discussion forums and anonymity are so powerfully liberating(…)There's no price to be paid at the judgment of strangers I think the other is anonymity: you can talk about whatever you like without fearing consequences. That isn’t the case so much any more. There are bots scraping this conversation right now in hopes of identifying and profiling us