TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

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I know.... (5.00 / 4) (#13)
by kredwyn on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 12:19:51 AM EST

It's just a bit hard to get used to after 4+ years...ummm...elsewhere.

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: I don't think it's a bad thing (none / 0) (#148)
by dianem on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 12:25:09 PM EST

Most of the rules here are similar to those we would have at a social event in the real world. We're expected to be polite, to not dominate the conversation, to give other's time to speak, and to be able to hold a conversation without jumping off in 12 different directions. Sometimes conversations evolve, but it would be odd if I were talking about swimming and somebody jumped in with a comment about cars.
I was ...elsewhere... for a while, and the lack of civility eventually became grating. People will say and do things behind the anonymity of a computer that they would never dream of doing in public. I found myself getting more angry and swearing a lot more, generally in response to someone else's anger and swearing. I suppose that there are places in the real world where such behaviour is the norm, but I would not be likely to go to those places, and I don't like to think that I would routinely behave that way.
It takes a bit of effort to get used to behaving on the internet the same way you would behave at a social event in the real world, but I think that it is a more sensible way to exist.

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