# Rudeness, threats make the Web a cruel world



## Scott (Jul 31, 2007)

Rudeness, threats make the Web a cruel world


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## jbergsing (Aug 1, 2007)

It's a sad reality. Janet Kornblum misses the bigger picture, of course. The ugliness of today's "cyberworld" clearly demonstrates the extent of the depravity of our fallen world but it is an interesting piece, nonetheless. 

Fortunately our board doesn't permit annonymity so such problems (theoretically) should not occur here. This is one of the policies that attracted me to PB.


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## Semper Fidelis (Aug 1, 2007)

Yeah, we have our rancor and rudeness (including me at times) but I really love the atmosphere here in general.

I used to frequent a Web Hosting forum and check in occasionally. I had interacted in the "Lounge" but it's simply maddening.

Most forums like that are actually filled with young teens or extremely rude people. 

I recently piped in to answer a fellow's technical question. It turns out this guy was about 60. I dispassionately asked him to be more precise in what his specific complaint was and he snapped back at me as being uninformed. I politely asked him again and he was incredibly rude in reply.

My biggest problem in forums is my real world job. You simply won't find an organization that will eat your lunch more if you shoot from the hip and are caught on it. We'll spend months planning for things to try and anticipate everything that can go wrong. We have meeting after meeting in which assumptions are challenged, pointed questions are asked, and people are regularly personally chided for being unprepared. It's literally like swimming with the sharks but once you know how to do your job and your homework you do OK.

Then you go on the Net and anybody with a computer and an Internet connection is suddenly offering their opinion.

And they live in a society that tells them that their opinion is valuable because, after all, everyone needs to be _affirmed_. Nobody is told, any more, to sit down and that they haven't yet earned the right to have their opinions heard.

Thus the Internet is a wasteland of the moronic.


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## ReformedWretch (Aug 1, 2007)

> Thus the Internet is a wasteland of the moronic.



I've learned this the hard way at other forums.


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## ReformedWretch (Aug 1, 2007)

Rich

I sort of took your thoughts here (in my words) to another forum where I encounter younger, rude posters and here is a response I got from the forum owner. (He doesn't care if I post it here)

I, for one, hope to never get to a stage in my life where I feel justified "stifling" the opinion of youngsters, or make them afraid/embarrassed/uncomfortable voicing their opinion.

Do it respectfully, yes, of course.

But "sit down, you haven't earned the right to tell me what you think"? No sir.

That's a sure-fire way to disenfranchise youth, marginalize them, and potentially instill in them a weakness that they struggle with through their adult lives.

Not to mention the harmful (to me) "side effect" of losing the benefit of hearing "out-of-the-box" ideas that may be important for me to hear. Those opinions/ideas ARE valuable. Stifling them carte blanche does nothing but affirm MY opinions.


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## Semper Fidelis (Aug 1, 2007)

See, the difference between he and I is real-life experience training young men and women from the age of 18 into being thinkers and leaders.

In fact, I need to sign off here for a little bit because I'm about to go teach a class to some young Lance Corporals.

I didn't ever say that I don't want feedback from young people. The point is that a properly functioning society has the young, even with good ideas, requesting permission to speak first if they're in the company of their elders. The wise will always listen to the young and may even gain a perspective. Some are very bright and may even have new ideas.

But youth without discipline or respect are a gaggle. Youth that only talk amongst themselves and heed the counsel of their fellow, ignorant peers are fools. Youths that shoot their mouths off to those with experience lack sense.

And adults that don't train their children to respect elders are setting their kids off on the path to destruction.


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## ReformedWretch (Aug 1, 2007)

That's an argument I try and make nearly every single day.


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## Scott (Aug 2, 2007)

SemperFideles said:


> See, the difference between he and I is real-life experience training young men and women from the age of 18 into being thinkers and leaders.
> 
> In fact, I need to sign off here for a little bit because I'm about to go teach a class to some young Lance Corporals.
> 
> ...


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## turmeric (Aug 2, 2007)

Even Elihu (who In my humble opinion gets the best lines in Job besides God's) waited until his elders were all done - then he blew 'em away!


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## MrMerlin777 (Aug 2, 2007)

I cannot say that I've ever seen a need to be rude or threatening in any situation. There is a big difference between being firm and being crass and rude. There is a great gap between boistrious(sp?) threats and being able to back up what one says. And as far as the internet goes (forums etc) I can see no reason for threatening language at all.

Example: Even in a case where a poster get's out of line the MODS need not be rude. They only need to explain where the poster is out of line and if the warnings aren't heeded, lower the boom and ban them.

Where the rub comes in in my opinion is when forums aren't well moderated. People can get out of line and then a forum can become utter bedlam.

I'm thankfull we have good MODS here on the PB.


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