When No One is Watching...

[BishopofAges]

First off, discard any weird ideas you might have had about the contents of this post. What I have in mind is in topic with something that bugs me to no end: Character.

Most of you, myself included, may have an elder or friend who used the phrase "Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking." A good few of us took it to heart and may have become better people for it or worse, depending on your goals. However, what perplexes me to utter confusion is the behavior of people online.

In our world today, if you so much as post an article on social media or comment on a blog, there is a chance that someone may hate your post so much that they threaten you with death. Personally, I treat it as childish behavior, like in a game in the backyard when one kid starts losing, gets mad and screams "I'll kill you!" and a kid-fight breaks out. Bumps and bruises occur but no actual life threatening injury occurs. While you and I may scoff at the idea of someone coming to your house to kill you over something so minute, it begs a couple questions.

Why is it so easy to threaten people over the net? Is it the veil of anonymity that empowers people to do or say things they wouldn't dare to in real life?

What do you do when treated this way in your personal blogs, social media, or during in-game chat?

 

[BishopofAges]

You answered your own question. People will do shitty things when there are no consequences for them.

Okay, it is easy when there are no consequences, but there are vast amounts of people who choose not to step over that line. So what do you believe makes the difference between someone who threatens others over the net, and someone who doesn't? If they both believe a piece of work is worth some hatered, what pushes one to open up an email with "You and your whole family ought to die" and what pushes another to use a more subtle approach.

Also, have you ever encountered that kind of reaction when online and how did you react?

 

[Esotera]

I'm pretty much going with the anonymity option too, but maybe the fact that threats on the internet aren't really as serious as someone doing it in person. For example, which would be more distressing: being told by a stranger that they're going to rape you in the face, when they're playing COD, or when they're standing right next to you. Nobody really believes threats on the internet as long as they're not sustained.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

For personal blogs, I don't have any.
For social media, I only use Facebook and only have contact with people I know and like anyway.
For online gaming, I only play TF2 online and the servers I go on are filled with friendly (drunk) people and are heavily modded.

So yeah, can't say I've ever had an issue with this from personal experience.

As to why people do it, this image kind of sums it up for me:

 

[Zhukov]

On top of the anonymity thing, I suspect it's simply a lot easier to be nasty to an image and some text on your computer screen. As opposed to a flesh-and-blood person standing in front of you and looking you in the face. And who might just kick your teeth in if you cross the line. Or get their brother/dad/boyfriend/all of the above to do it for them.

 

[BishopofAges]

This sort of thing makes me wonder who people truly are, if they are the people we see they are or if they are who they assume when no one is around. If it turned out to be a strange combo of both it kind of disturbs me even when death threats aren't sustained.

I'm probably overreacting, because a lot of what people say and do on the net is akin to what people say or do when driving, road rage and whatnot. When you're safe in your car you might tell someone you could kick their ass, only to speed away when you see a door open up.

edit: not really a topic change but a question to further discussion: What behaviors do you find confusing or disturbing?

 

[A_Parked_Car]

Well, it would certainly have a lot to do with anonymity. There aren't really any consequences for just insulting someone online short of getting a slap-on-the-wrist or a ban from some of the better moderated websites. There is no threat of getting the crap beaten out of you or you having to stand behind your statements. You just slink out of the internet, insult the person, then slink back. I have a very low opinion of humanity, so really people's behavior on the internet is hardly surprising to me. I'm more surprised when some people actually remain civil.

Of course people's behavior online goes well beyond just insults. I deliberately avoid getting into any discussion of certain subjects on forums, because it is next to impossible to have a reasonable debate over any meaningful issue online. It doesn't matter how wrong the person is, you will almost never be able to convince them that they are wrong. If you try to create an argument and back it up with evidence they will just write 'TLR',which by the way, is basically short-hand for 'I'm a semi-literate neanderthal who can't comprehend anything more than a couple of sentence fragments'.

For example, I was bored and decided to watch Vietnam in HD on Youtube yesterday, and speaking as a military history graduate student, the amount of ignorance and stupidity in the comments section was mind-numbing. Again, it is the anonymity. Most people aren't going to say such stupid things if they were sitting in a classroom learning about the subject, because they know that their misinformed (and quite often racist) comments are going to come under attack by several other people. They would actually have to present evidence to support their argument and defend themselves against criticism, which most people don't want. It is much easier to pull their head out of their ass, spout ignorance, then shove their head right back up their ass before anyone can debate them. The internet makes that process simple.

edit: not really a topic change but a question to further discussion: What behaviors do you find confusing or disturbing?

Behaviors? Well I have always found the practice of one-night-stands to be completely baffling and a bit disturbing I suppose.

 

[BarkBarker]

The people in this world that are truly evil are the ones who would do as they wish, do what is wrong because they are not punished for it, there are many who would loot kill steal and do as they want if there wasn't punishment, they are the people who lack the necessary controls and principles to be be allowed freedom, no man deserves freedom, but every man deserves a chance to prove his worth of freedom and many have done so when the internet gives them the mask they need to escape us, so to answer your question, a lack of consequence is a enabler, look at bratty kids, they scream and kick ***** because they have enablers, people who don't punish, but they are children, they have yet to come to a mind of their own and run on basic urges and instincts most of the time, so we must show them a better way....well these fucking brats have internet access at the ages of as low as 4 and the bratty children are often grown up now and like to lash out when they think they can get away with it, because they know that if we as a species EVER saw someone act like a fucking brat without a mask, we would bring the hammer of society down on them,punishment is what stops them and allows them to learn, some will, some won't, but then the people who don't don't often get very far.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

If I'm bored I play along and I I'm not I do absolutely nothing. It's just strangers talking to each other through a tube.

 

[EeveeElectro]

People who threaten others with death online over something trivial usually have some deep, unsettling issues. They know they can't threaten people in real life or walk around pointing a blade at people, so they use the Internet as their outlet.

It's not as easy as they think to be anonymous. Let them have their little tantrum and ignore it.

 

[MummyTongue]

What do you do when treated this way in your personal blogs, social media, or during in-game chat?

I tell them to bring it. In Texas we have Stand-your-ground laws and I have a .44 Magnum polished up and waiting for them.

That usually does the trick of shutting up the standard run of the mill emboldened internet prick.

 

[Akytalusia]

anonymity does things to people. i'm unaffected. i'm the same in every medium. as for how i deal with others doing it, i mark them as such and move on. simple as that.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Don't have a personal blog (well I do, but I don't maintain it), don't use social media, and I don't play games online. This behaviour sure as hell doesn't make me want to start doing so either. And the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory doesn't cover death threats being made to video game developers.

 

[Something Amyss]

Okay, it is easy when there are no consequences, but there are vast amounts of people who choose not to step over that line. So what do you believe makes the difference between someone who threatens others over the net, and someone who doesn't? If they both believe a piece of work is worth some hatered, what pushes one to open up an email with "You and your whole family ought to die" and what pushes another to use a more subtle approach.

Also, have you ever encountered that kind of reaction when online and how did you react?

Some of us are more prone to go with our baser instincts. Some want people to hurt. I mean, you might as well ask why bullies exist.

Your true character exists outside social parameters. Those are what restrain us. People who make death threats seem to be demonstrating who they truly are.

I really do wonder if I'm just wired different sometimes, because most of this just baffles me. I don't know why I'd behave different when I think nobody can see me. I mean, I've had bad days, but I tend to react poorly in public as well as private.

 

[Something Amyss]

What do you do when treated this way in your personal blogs, social media, or during in-game chat?

I tell them to bring it. In Texas we have Stand-your-ground laws and I have a .44 Magnum polished up and waiting for them.

That usually does the trick of shutting up the standard run of the mill emboldened internet prick.

Which works great unless they also have a gun and claim "stand your ground."

Florida and Texas have both had cases establish that even the instigator can claim "stand your ground" if they felt threatened. I mean, good on you (I guess) if you're the one who shoots first, but this kind of threat only works for as long as nobody rises to it.

 

[Simple Bluff]

I'm not a fan of pseudo - highbrow armchair psychology (unless you're an actual psychologist). That said, watch me become a massive hypocrite before your very eyes!

I suspect it's simply a lot easier to be nasty to an image and some text on your computer screen. As opposed to a flesh-and-blood person standing in front of you and looking you in the face. And who might just kick your teeth in if you cross the line. Or get their brother/dad/boyfriend/all of the above to do it for them.

I honestly think it's a matter of this more so than anonymity (maybe not for people who deliberately troll, but that doesn't seem to be what the OP is concerned with). In real life, when we're talking to someone, we're dealing with a living breathing person - something tangible. The same doesn't apply to the internet. We all know of course, that the person we just sent a death threat to as a real life human, with a life and ambitions etc., but the human element is lost somewhere in the transition. There's nothing tangible to anchor our emotions - they become incorporeal. Or so I believe.

Another thing to consider is the medium. Conversations go far too fast to get particularly riled up about anything. We may respond to something said that bothers us, but even in a debate the topic will fluctuate until we move past it, usually. On the internet, there's no rush to respond. When we read something, we have a lot more time to think about it and whatever lingering unpleasant feelings we have has time to grow. Maybe I'm the only one (but I doubt it) but I find the more I think about something I dislike (like a movie or game or whatever) the more reasons I'm able to come up with for why I dislike it, and the more it bothers me.

I dunno though, really.

 

[Noetherian]

I think the line between "I did NOT enjoy this!" and "You and your family should die in a fire made of cancerous bears!" (or more serious-sounding variations thereof) is meant to be one of humor, and generally speaks to an underlying frustration having little to do with the article.

One thing internet culture has had going for it from what seems to have been the very beginning is a stalwart refusal to draw lines and say "we won't go there." Got a question? The internet will take it on, no matter how strange or offensive (provided you can find the right page or forum). In fact, the internet will generally take your question and try to outdo it, patting itself on the back at every turn. This spirit of openness and self-congratulation has given rise to a sense of pride; here on the internet, there is a place for everyone and everything! If you don't consider that an accomplishment, you may as well say technology has done nothing good for society. (While I'm sure some people do believe this, I'm getting away from my point.)

As with all small groups which are forced to expand, the early internet users were eventually forced to deal with new members of the online community who did not embrace those values to the same extent. In layman's terms, some people just don't enjoy [insert goatse or similarly offensive internet in-joke here] or feel a sense of accomplishment and inclusion from having it forced on them. Some users dealt with this conflict by sequestering their offensive humor (e.g. leaving that stuff to 4chan/SomethingAwful/wherever else). Others became outraged that they were no longer "allowed" to let it all hang out and were instead being asked to constrain themselves online just as they would be expected to do offline. (See also: debates regarding harassment in "gamer culture")

I tend to read "go kill yourself" comments as being a remnant of earlier, bare-it-all offensive humor and/or simply an immature rebellion against the perceived hostility of social constraints. It's not fun to be told "you can't do that." Personally, I take a lot more satisfaction in thinking "I could do this, but I won't, because both I and the original poster will get more enjoyment out of something constructive" etc. etc. Whatever works for you.

tl;dr It's not so much anonymity as precedent; there is a culture of offensiveness online which people derive satisfaction from participating in-- because someone IS watching.