Why Trolls and Flames Happen

AnonymousHack writes "New Scientist examines why people are in general more rude and abusive online. 'Psychologically, we are "distant" from the person we're talking to and less focused on our own identity. As a result we're more prone to aggressive behavior' says one psychologist, who also cites research showing messages received by email are always perceived more negatively than on the phone." Just more proof for the Greater Internet F***wad Theory.

Comments

many people think negative criticism is a troll.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that when you post to a forum, showing off a coin
for example, that when people post their opinion anything
negative is seen as a troll or a flame.

They go into the post thinking this is fun not realizing
that criticism should be welcome and can improve them as
a collector.

Or another person may simply not like their coin, see problems
with it they do not, or know they paid too high a price.

All this combined makes others think they are being negative
for no good reason and should have simply ignored the post
and moved on.

I disagree with these people who have thin skin and should
be happy they got honest feedback from someone who could
very well know much more then them.

Hey, as long as they do not use name-calling they should be
free to be as negative about the topic as they like. I find
i learn more from the negative comments that get discussed
then from the people who simply say, "nice coin" just to be nice.

Re:And then there are the people who are opinionat

[ackthpt]

And regard off-kilter research like this as flawed not just in its basic design, but unproveable by any statistically sound method, using self-selected groups of college students who tend to like to flame more than the general population, and to whom trash-talking is an art, not a crime.
But that's the real world viewpoint.

A bit over 20 years ago I found the first open and anonymous form of many I'd see, at college. Eventually I was hired on as a programmer and rewrote the system for greater capacity and enabling cursor animations in messages (it was pretty cool, honestly.) The thing that seemed to happen almost immediately, though, was flame wars (don't mention 'gun control') and some trolling. I think it is pretty simple human nature to speak more openly or play villain when there's a poor chance of getting caught. It was a bit different in those days, however, as we had system accounts and terminal lines, which made finding mean people a bit easier, if you were a fairly clever user.

This is nothing new

[rodney dill]

This is not related just to the electronic age. If anyone has ever written a letter to you with some criticism (e.g. parental letter) It is usually a far more cutting communication than person to person. Phone communication is somewhere in the middle. I once had a work associate that I communicated with email (at first) almost exclusively. His notes were condescending, pontificating, degrading... without apparent purpose. He was somewhat better on the phone. Eventually when I dealt with him in person he was somewhat reasonable.

Able to vent.

[iknownuttin]

Another obvious factor is that, if you insult someone online, it's unlikely you'll face any physical retaliation for it.

I'd like to add: or be fired, yelled a by your wife, etc....

Commenting online is a why to vent anger at at shit you can't normally vent at. I've seen many comment here about how "stupid" their management or users are/is. And I bet, most of the time, folks wouldn't talk like that at work - but they do here. I think being online is a way to deal with aggression. In short, I'd rather have you folks flame me, or whatever, online than shoot me at work.

terse does not mean rude

[petes_PoV]

When we write online, most people keep it fairly short - partly because their readers won;t read past the first paragraph (and they want to get a lot of stuff in) and partly because writing is quite slow - especially when you have to think, write, re-read, correct and then commit.

This is in contrast to spoken communication, which is much easier to assimilate and can therefore go on for longer. It also contains more emotion than simple writing, so the actual words are less important than the intonation - which is almost completely missing from text.

People frequently mistake short comments for either sarcasm or impatience and this gives the impression that written communication (esp. in email, netnews) that the writer does not respect the audience.

I beleive this is incorrect, when I insult someone they will be left in no doubt they have been insulted. I think over time, most people will come to realise the difference between rudeness and terseness. There will always be a few however, who take exception at everything. there's no helping these individuals.

Re:And then there are the people who are opinionat

[xappax]

In the real world, that would get you dropped

That's really not true though. I mean, if you track down a really macho belligerent guy and determinedly heckle him in front of his friends, maybe you'll evoke a violent response. But the vast majority of the time, when you insult or act offensively to a stranger you'll get one of two responses:
- They'll ignore you or otherwise try to avoid confrontation.
- They'll express anger or threaten you aggressively, but not follow through.

People always want to make you believe they're going to "kick your ass" when they're angry, and they may even half-believe it themselves. But people are actually rarely willing to be violent to a stranger for a trivial reason.

I think that perhaps the perceived threat is what matters though. Whether or not people will actually attack you for being rude in RL, it's a possibility we can imagine, and fear of that possibility might keep us in line.

Thank you for demonstrating your ignorance

[nunyadambinness]

I made a comment to the head of the Psych department that Psychology was nothing more than the vieled scientific study of the completely fucking obvious.

And you were wrong. Nicely done.

Let me ask you a question Mr. I took a first-level psych course, so I know all I need to know. Why does someone who gets hit over the head every day for five years expect to get hit on the head tomorrow?

More importantly, and a tremendous demonstration of why you need to maybe take a second psych course, why does someone who gets hit over the head on random days have a MUCH STRONGER response than someone who gets hit every day?

They do. You didn't know that. And it's certainly not obvious.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason you found things so obvious is the lack of sophistication of your first level course?

You'd think that to someone as intelligent as you that would be... obvious.

Fists Work

[Tablizer]

I think the fear of being bopped in the nose keeps otherwise obnoxious people from being overly obnoxious in public. If the worse somebody can do is flame you back, you are more willing to be verbally aggressive online. It is similar to how people, usually teens, who shout something rude at strangers from a passing car wouldn't do the same if standing 5 feet away. The same "hit and run" principle happens on the net.