Well it's a form of anonymous communication that lets you spout whatever you want without any real tangible ramifications. So that alone tends to encourage people to say things they wouldn't often say IRL. There is apparently just a significant portion of humanity, who take pleasure in saying terrible things in a public forum, regardless of context or reason, other than that endorphin rush they feel I guess.
I've personally never had that impulse, though I would be lying if I said I've NEVER posted a heated rant/vent for no reason other than I wanted to get it out there. And I've had a number of heated exchanges with people, on these forums, and things like YT comments, because it was just, a bad day, a subject I am passionate about that someone is horribly misrepresenting, etc. But, I've lost count of the number of times I've typed something out and before I hit enter just went "....nah, but, why though? Seriously what do I hope to accomplish with this post? It's just going to piss me off further, when they don't get it, and I know they won't get it. So....yeah nah" *delete*
Because I do think that we should self-monitor our online lives and behavior a lot more, and that it would make things a bit better in the world. We like to think our online personas don't have an impact, but, they really do. While I can't prove it, I firmly believe that I actually witnessed an online chat, that lead to someone committing suicide.
I'll be spare on the details, but it was an online chat site to play roleplaying games online, and we were just in the lobby chatting. There was one guy, who was known to have some emotional stability/depression issues going on. While he wasn't a complete asshole, he was fairly abrasive at times in the chat, but hardly the worst example on the site. Well, he was talking about how he was having some issues lately, but that he was glad to have the chat community, as he enjoyed his time with them. And someone else made a comment, and I'm paraphrasing. "lulz, you are kidding right? You're one of the more toxic people we have here! Half of what you say is hurtful and rude." Now this was ironic to me, as the person posting it, was probably the most passive aggressive shitbag on the site, in my opinion anyway. The guy she insulted didn't post anything else, we saw a notification of him logging off maybe....2 minutes later? And another friend of his came on the next day, to report he'd committed suicide that night. Now, again, this is pure speculation, but even before I knew he killed himself, it definitely seemed to me, that the other person's post, bothered him enough, to make him log off, I assumed to cool down or whatever.
So, yeah, stop being internet shitbags people. Be excellent to each other. Cliché words from a cheezy movie, but they are more true the older I get. The way you interact with people, directly, or after the fact in the form of your internet history, that sticks around after you've move onto something else, has an impact. Like a turd on the sidewalk, that you step on without noticing.
Just, be kind. It's really not that hard. Sure you won't always accomplish it, I sure as hell have my days, but make an EFFORT to reduce your shitstains on humanity. Then, shock of shocks, maybe everything won't be so shitty anymore.
