I'm starting to think the concept of something being "toxic" is borderline nonsensical. It's sort of a word that has been repurposed to identify the inherent tr

I'm starting to think the concept of something being "toxic" is borderline nonsensical. It's sort of a word that has been repurposed to identify the inherent tragedy of the commons. It's like a non-religious version of "fallen" nature of man. I'm not religious, but I grew up with that term thrown around with a sigh. To illustrate what I'm thinking of... things that are "toxic": people experiencing road rage and people who cut in lines of traffic and the people who honk at them in anger, people who talk during movies and the people who shush them overtly, hecklers at shows, etc... Any situation where there are quasi-anonymous status, and challenges to any social transgressions are powerless at best, and unhelpful at worst, will lead to "toxic" culture. Yea, it's not all good vibes, and people can be assholes. The reason I'm still on hacker news and reddit and NOT on twitter is exactly because the voting mechanism and reasonable moderation is the best defense against the amount of insane sociopathy on the internet. It is interesting though, for people here like the author, for whom there is no expectation of the tragedy of the commons that I do worry a bit about. If you find the city intolerable because other people can be assholes, move to the suburbs. If you find hacker news intolerable because of the assholes, sure get off the internet, but the problem isn't the internet, the problem is the human condition.