Why are so many people jerks on the internet?

[chalmers]

I'd like this to be a relatively serious thread. I know what most of the popular answers are going to be already.

1. No fear of consequences.
2. Taking out the problems of their life anonymously.
3. They're jerks in real life.

The 3 places I see it most prevalent are:

OT forums.
Online gaming.
Comment sections of articles/youtube/etc

My question is more philosophical than anything. What makes people choose to act that way, given generally 2 choices? Act like a jerk/argue or act like a decent human being.

I would think that if acting that way made someone feel better about themselves (although superficial), wouldn't it just feel as good, if not better, to act kind and decent to people online?

So what makes so many people choose that route?

Even on here I see lots and lots of threads making fun of others in fairly hateful ways.

Any thoughts besides the obvious? Thanks.

 

[Newbian]

Fuck you!!!

But really, it's the internet.

 

[pontifex]

http://digg.com/story/r/Normal_Person_Anonymity_Audience_FUCKWAD


/thread

 

[Wyndru]

Ironically, there was another version of this image when I searched for this that had the name of a member here on it. Instead of dickwad, it said [something]wad. Could just be a common member name from another forum though. I'll be nice and not post it lol.

 

[yhelothar]

I think a big part of it is also the kind of people that tend to be tech geeks. I'm not saying tech geeks are jerks, but looking at the dominant MBTI types here, we tend to be more of an intellectual bunch that enjoy arguing and debating. Then add the anonymity to the equation, and you get a bunch of jerks.

If you go on other forums, like on yelp, people are really friendly and supportive there. But there is somewhat less anonymity there as your profile is tied to your real name and most people have a picture of themselves on there.

 

[chalmers]

Ironically, there was another version of this image when I searched for this that had the name of a member here on it. Instead of dickwad, it said [something]wad. Could just be a common member name from another forum though. I'll be nice and not post it lol.

That picture was going to be one of my obvious answers I listed in the OP.
You're describing what happens. I'm asking why.

 

[Newbian]

It's because of the internet that causes people to have bad dreams and makes them angry here.

I mean seriously, wtf was up with the dream I just had where homer simpson was skiing and took off on a huge jump and says "Help me Jebus" ( from one of their episodes) and raptor jesus shows up.

I blame the internet.

 

[chalmers]

http://digg.com/story/r/Normal_Person_Anonymity_Audience_FUCKWAD


/thread

Sorry, not /thread

You didn't explain anything, and neither does that picture. I want to discuss WHY that is the case. WHY people choose to act like asses online when it's just as easy to be friendly.

 

[Wyndru]

If you are not looking for the most likely/obvious causes, why do you care? You want to find out the most unlikely and un-obvious reasons? Are you doing a thesis on internet rudeness?

Or did you just want to see how obscure peeps can be in answering this question?

 

[Pardus]

Take the Jerk Test and Find Out

{take this test only when you have time to answer 100 questions}

 

[HeXen]

Forums like this are nothing. try a car audio forum like soundomain, tell them how much you think bandpass is awesome and let the funny happen as about 13 pages go by from your single post, you get made fun of, leading to death threats, then by page 13 +/-, your banned. lol..seriously.

but its the intranetz, get used to it, stop caring and have fun with it. that's why its called virtual

 

[Ichinisan]

Why are so many people jerks on the internet?

I think you know the answer.

 

[chalmers]

If you are not looking for the most likely/obvious causes, why do you care? You want to find out the most unlikely and un-obvious reasons? Are you doing a thesis on internet rudeness?

Or did you just want to see how obscure peeps can be in answering this question?

You're not understanding my question then.

I know that alot of people act like jerks online because of my obvious reasons. I'd like to know what steers them in that direction? What makes people log onto the internet and think "Well nobody knows who I am, time to act uncivilized!"

What is the difference between them and people who log onto the internet and think "Well I'm on the internet now, and I'm going to act totally normal."

 

[darkxshade]

I think we got it backwards... I think the internet shows peoples true faces. Or put another way, people only act nicer than they really are in the world because of fear of consequences and lack of anonymity.

If you see someone or something you don't like... you already have a reason. In real life you refrain from doing anything and restrain yourself. So the fact that you don't on the internet is a true showing of a persons real personality IMO.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

For Youtube:

People are stupid. Every time I read Youtube comments it forces me to think of all the retards out there. Even real mentally handicapped people are better than some of those Youtube retards.

That's why I rarely read Youtube comments.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

The devil makes them do it.

/Malak

 

[BassBomb]

i agree with 1 and 2, but not 3 as much. Because most people don't act that way in public because of the fear of consequences and no anonymity

 

[chalmers]

I think we got it backwards... I think the internet shows peoples true faces. Or put another way, people only act nicer than they really are in the world because of fear of consequences and lack of anonymity.

If you see someone or something you don't like... you already have a reason. In real life you refrain from doing anything and restrain yourself. So the fact that you don't on the internet is a true showing of a persons real personality IMO.

If that's the case, then the more likely answer is that most humans are inherently evil. I guess that could be it, but that's sad.

 

[dighn]

anonymity. it's so obvious. are you dumb?

 

[HeXen]

You're not understanding my question then.

I know that alot of people act like jerks online because of my obvious reasons. I'd like to know what steers them in that direction? What makes people log onto the internet and think "Well nobody knows who I am, time to act uncivilized!"

What is the difference between them and people who log onto the internet and think "Well I'm on the internet now, and I'm going to act totally normal."

the same as in real life. why did that mother put her baby in a stove? was she hungry, insane, what? why do little kids in parts of Africa carry machine guns, Why did that guy bump into me at Walmart and not say excuse me, How does someone live a normal life for 45 years and suddenly kill his family?...no one knows, no one cares, its just part of being in a society. There is no single psychological diagnosis that can answer any of it faithfully and that carries onto the internet the same

 

[ahenkel]

people that are dicks offline are probably dicks online too. The difference is offline most people on a daily basis have to deal with the same people everyday so they force themselves to tone it down to maintain all their jobs, relationships, and whatever else. Online though most people don't have any relationships they need to maintain. So you can act more like yourself.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I'm usually a dick on the internet because it's the fucking internet man. It gets old being polite, courteous, etc to your fellow man (which I am in real life) 100% of the time. Its nice to let loose and tell someone to fuck off.

 

[Wyndru]

You're not understanding my question then.

I know that alot of people act like jerks online because of my obvious reasons. I'd like to know what steers them in that direction? What makes people log onto the internet and think "Well nobody knows who I am, time to act uncivilized!"

What is the difference between them and people who log onto the internet and think "Well I'm on the internet now, and I'm going to act totally normal."

Your "steering" question seems a bit redundant though. It's almost like stating that a fire would start given all of the right circumstances (heat, oxygen, ignition source) yet wanting to know why those 3 ended up in the same place at the same time.

Your second question about the difference between them and people who are friendly probably just comes down to personality IMO. You could ask the same question about people who are super friendly on the forums, they probably have a friendly personality IRL too. I don't think anything sways people to be nice or mean other than how they act IRL. If they are the type of person to take advantage of the obvious reasons of anonymity and having an audience, they are more likely to be dicks online.

 

[darkxshade]

If that's the case, then the more likely answer is that most humans are inherently evil. I guess that could be it, but that's sad.

Well I wouldn't go that far, I'd say people inherently don't have much tolerance for each other. But it's not so black and white, there are good people in the world too and they are generally nice on the internet as well but even nice people can be provoked. You're talking about people who are flat out assholes.

The disparity exists because in real life there are good and bad people but even the bad people act nice as to avoid being seen as one because the real world has laws and expectations... and people have reputations. So on the whole, the world seem to have mostly good people. On the internet, there also exists the same good and bad people but because there are no laws and expectations, the good are easily provoked into attacking back so you sort of get the feeling that the internet as a whole are full of assholes.

 

[dighn]

My question is more philosophical than anything. What makes people choose to act that way, given generally 2 choices? Act like a jerk/argue or act like a decent human being.

I would think that if acting that way made someone feel better about themselves (although superficial), wouldn't it just feel as good, if not better, to act kind and decent to people online?

So what makes so many people choose that route?

I would say it's easier to act like a jerk. Acting like a jerk is all about knee-jerk reaction, lack of empathy and sense of superiority. It takes effort to think from the perspective of another and not go with your natural reaction to lash out at something you consider idiotic or offensive to your senses.