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> If someone misunderstands or mocks you, let them. Very easy to say when you aren't going viral and 100,000+ people aren't trying to get you fired or hurling

> If someone misunderstands or mocks you, let them. Very easy to say when you aren't going viral and 100,000+ people aren't trying to get you fired or hurling insults at you ranging from calling you an idiot to telling you to die. I'm not saying you're wrong but it's much easier said than done.

amplex1337 2y ago
It is definitely easier to ignore when there are 100,000 comments than 100, this is correct. You really need to be in control of what you want to spend your time on these days, and replying to cancerous YouTube comments is not one of them generally. Let it be.
- BadHumans 2y ago
  I think you are missing my point and maybe you are assuming anonymity but there is point where it isn't as simple as ignoring hateful comments because these people try to push into your life. There are countless examples of people being doxxed and being harassed at work because of something they said online.
bcrosby95 2y ago
This is why I run multiple online identities. I learned back in the '90s when I got death threats because of my MUD character (a text based multiplayer rpg). I knew people who had their power pulled in real life by rival guilds so they could kill them when they disconnected.
- cutemonster 2y ago
  > had their power pulled in real life You can't mean someone physically disconnected their power cables? How is that possible (aren't players in different cities, even countries, don't know each other's IRL identities?)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - bcrosby95 2y ago
    They physically flipped the main breaker in their box. Real life details leak. And especially back then, players generally lived in certain population centers. Each guild had about 50 people. I lived in the same city as at least one person of a rival guild.
Karunamon 2y ago
Trying to get people fired crosses a line into harassment, as far as I'm concerned. But if we are talking about mere words on the screen, nothing else, then you do have the ability to turn the device off and walk away.
vlachen 2y ago
I think you brush across a couple of the important things to note about social media: 1) The disconnect between people that allows for such othering. Anecdotally, I can't imagine but a small handful of people I've met who would be willing to walk up to someone and verbally wish for the other person's death. I know we can point to many times in history where that attitude has resulted in the death of many people, but I view those as exceptions to everyday life. Not saying my view is correct, but only explaining my approach with this statement. 2) Scale. Imagine a group of 100,000 people showing up in the real world to yell, scream, and chant death threats at one person. That would be a massive event. Even gathering 1,000 people against a single person would be noteworthy in many locations. So the The Internet, which is mostly comprised of Social Media at this point, has moved to be able to allow people to disconnect others from humanity and gather in vitriol spewing hordes, and a single individual would be hard pressed to deal with such force against them while still trying to engage with their reason for being there.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
  You, and I, and everyone else talking about this... we evolved to live in small bands of humans, never more than maybe 200 total. That we would have sane responses or reactions to a gather of 1,000 people haranguing us is impossible. A caveman who had 1,000 people mocking and insulting and screeching at him would shut down mentally. And you and I are still that caveman. 100,000? Brain explodes. And that's what's happening right now, today. It's short circuiting any possible counter-reaction we could have to abuse. This is why everyone's sort of worried about cancellation, but we're also a little reluctant to talk about it too. I see no evidence that the problem is about to correct itself and end up being no big deal. I see alot of evidence that it's only just stumbling around and will become an even bigger problem... the people participating in this stuff, they're learning new tricks, learning to self-organize better. We'll have shit like anonymous tutorials about how to look someone up and ruin their lives perfectly efficiently ("Then, call and ask for the HR department between the hours of 10am and 11:20am local, because that's when they're most receptive. Please use this verbiage, in a slow and calm voice."). Even my example's bad, I can't keep up with the state-of-the-art.

amplex1337 2y ago

It is definitely easier to ignore when there are 100,000 comments than 100, this is correct. You really need to be in control of what you want to spend your time on these days, and replying to cancerous YouTube comments is not one of them generally. Let it be.

BadHumans 2y ago
I think you are missing my point and maybe you are assuming anonymity but there is point where it isn't as simple as ignoring hateful comments because these people try to push into your life. There are countless examples of people being doxxed and being harassed at work because of something they said online.

bcrosby95 2y ago

This is why I run multiple online identities. I learned back in the '90s when I got death threats because of my MUD character (a text based multiplayer rpg). I knew people who had their power pulled in real life by rival guilds so they could kill them when they disconnected.

cutemonster 2y ago
> had their power pulled in real life You can't mean someone physically disconnected their power cables? How is that possible (aren't players in different cities, even countries, don't know each other's IRL identities?)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bcrosby95 2y ago
  They physically flipped the main breaker in their box. Real life details leak. And especially back then, players generally lived in certain population centers. Each guild had about 50 people. I lived in the same city as at least one person of a rival guild.

Karunamon 2y ago

Trying to get people fired crosses a line into harassment, as far as I'm concerned. But if we are talking about mere words on the screen, nothing else, then you do have the ability to turn the device off and walk away.

vlachen 2y ago

I think you brush across a couple of the important things to note about social media: 1) The disconnect between people that allows for such othering. Anecdotally, I can't imagine but a small handful of people I've met who would be willing to walk up to someone and verbally wish for the other person's death. I know we can point to many times in history where that attitude has resulted in the death of many people, but I view those as exceptions to everyday life. Not saying my view is correct, but only explaining my approach with this statement. 2) Scale. Imagine a group of 100,000 people showing up in the real world to yell, scream, and chant death threats at one person. That would be a massive event. Even gathering 1,000 people against a single person would be noteworthy in many locations. So the The Internet, which is mostly comprised of Social Media at this point, has moved to be able to allow people to disconnect others from humanity and gather in vitriol spewing hordes, and a single individual would be hard pressed to deal with such force against them while still trying to engage with their reason for being there.

NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
You, and I, and everyone else talking about this... we evolved to live in small bands of humans, never more than maybe 200 total. That we would have sane responses or reactions to a gather of 1,000 people haranguing us is impossible. A caveman who had 1,000 people mocking and insulting and screeching at him would shut down mentally. And you and I are still that caveman. 100,000? Brain explodes. And that's what's happening right now, today. It's short circuiting any possible counter-reaction we could have to abuse. This is why everyone's sort of worried about cancellation, but we're also a little reluctant to talk about it too. I see no evidence that the problem is about to correct itself and end up being no big deal. I see alot of evidence that it's only just stumbling around and will become an even bigger problem... the people participating in this stuff, they're learning new tricks, learning to self-organize better. We'll have shit like anonymous tutorials about how to look someone up and ruin their lives perfectly efficiently ("Then, call and ask for the HR department between the hours of 10am and 11:20am local, because that's when they're most receptive. Please use this verbiage, in a slow and calm voice."). Even my example's bad, I can't keep up with the state-of-the-art.