This article immediatly made me think about some stats which I recently read in some newspaper: when people are driving cars, they easily get nervous hiding behind the anonymity provided by the speed and vehicle. Actually, I believe that a lot of people undergo the social pressure when they are clearly identified and therefore react according to their social background within the limits of their own censorship. But we the same people are hidden, then the social pressure cannot apply any longer, there is no fear to be judged or misjudged. And therefore, they act (or react) closer to their guts than to their brain. Another aspect is that people who are shy, complexed or who do not have a strong personality in real life tend to turn to the anonymity to create either the character they would like to be or to make their inner pressure or aggressivity gush out using words which would relieve them quickly, in short overreact. Though this may sound like 2-cent psychology, I believe that this can explain the majority of the flamings in the context of anonymity. And it has its good and bad sides.
Slashdot Mirror
This article immediatly made me think about some stats which I recently read in some newspaper: when people are driving cars, they easily get nervous hiding behind the anonymity provided by the speed and vehicle. Actually, I believe that a lot of people undergo the social pressure when they are clearly identified and therefore react according to their social background within the limits of their own censorship. But we the same people are hidden, then the social pressure cannot apply any longer, there is no fear to be judged or misjudged. And therefore, they act (or react) closer to their guts than to their brain. Another aspect is that people who are shy, complexed or who do not have a strong personality in real life tend to turn to the anonymity to create either the character they would like to be or to make their inner pressure or aggressivity gush out using words which would relieve them quickly, in short overreact. Though this may sound like 2-cent psychology, I believe that this can explain the majority of the flamings in the context of anonymity. And it has its good and bad sides.