Squints
Helluva Engineer
- Messages
- 1,255
Spare me the platitudes. This here implies that there is a universal 'acceptable fashion' in which to behave which is not the case, never has been, and never will be. To think otherwise is completely out of touch with reality. Acceptable behavior at the dinner table at home is not the same as acceptable behavior while at a sports bar watching the game. Acceptable behavior at a birthday party is not the same as acceptable behavior at a wake. The way I behave on an online message board is not the same way I behave at work (though it's probably closer than you think ). What's acceptable is determined by a variety of factors of the environment the behavior is occurring in. Some of those include a set of rules that's agreed upon and enforced as well as community conventions that are adopted over time. You're a mod. If you truly think people are behaving in an unacceptable fashion you have the power to do something about it.This implies that we behave in an acceptable fashion only when we are forced to when the boss is watching. As Coach Wooten said awhile back, "character is what you do when nobody's watching".
I have always maintained that the anonymity aspect of these things embolden people to speak to and about others in ways in which you don't see in day to day interactions with other people. I like to believe even our most boorish and obnoxious posters here would actually be pretty decent people if one were to sitdown and discuss these matters over a beer or cocktail.
The anonymity plays a role but it's not as large as you'd think. Spend some time on social media where there isn't anonymity and you'll see people being behaving the same way and far worse. And I hope I'm misunderstanding you but being boorish or obnoxious on a message message board somehow makes you less then a decent person? I realize the level of sanctimoniousness on here the past few months has been through the roof but yeesh.