So perhaps they've adopted the voice that you have to when you're constantly speaking in front of an audience full of all your friends, family, co-workers, and

So perhaps they've adopted the voice that you have to when you're constantly speaking in front of an audience full of all your friends, family, co-workers, and even bosses. Interesting insight. Would not be surprising if message boards like this and some mailing lists socialize us in a way to say things that are relatively anodyne, given the strong bias against trolling and off-topic, ill-considered remarks. Also, we come to learn that we're writing for an audience composed of anyone who might be on the Internet (!). About this second point, I actually think that's a great thing. Because of it we're motivated to avoid writing to a select audience, saying things that would be hurtful to others if they were listening in on the conversation. It helps us to consider our comments within a larger context. The part about anodyne comments can't be overgeneralized -- think of the types of threads on reddit and 4chan. It might have something to do with being exposed to venues that are moderated or in which there is a reputation system.