I have been on the net since the 80s. There has always been one rule above the others: Do not feed the trolls.
Others include moderate, and take the good and leave the rest.
I believe that most of what some call “toxic” online behaviour boils down to people who treat the unknown as if it was certain.
That’s kind of how it is but the other way. I’ve noticed people just assume really quickly then write some rude reply and the clearly forming hive mind jumps in… not fun
Following this logic, it’s human behaviour that predates the internet. And social media catalyses it - what you write is exposed to more people, who know even less about you than RL people would, with access to even less of the context necessary to take conclusions about you and what you say. The “let’s fill holes with shit we just made up!” process is still the same, but now there are even more holes to fill.
And the dogpiling you mentioned (forming hive mind jumps in)? Well, it’s still that “treating the unknown as if it was certain”, but on steroids. Instead of treating what people say as potentially true/false, they treat it as certainly true/false and good/bad and anyone disagreeing/agreeing with you must be picking the right/wrong side.
Perhaps that’s a sign that our human nature leans towards tribalism, not towards rationality.
I don’t know a good solution for that. What I’ve been doing is
- pre-emptively blocking
- disregarding intentions - so I don’t become part of the problem (or, if I am part of the problem, become less of)
- going “old man screams at cloud” style when I see this sort of assumption online, in the hopes that it changes something
- removing egregious examples of people who behave like this, specially in an accusatory way, from communities that I moderate.
People using somewhat anonymous accounts feel that they can get away with behavior that would otherwise not be tolerated in real life. If someone doesn’t want to be subjected to such behavior, then there are few options. One of them being refraining from using online forums.
Facebook has a “real name” policy. It doesn’t work, some people create plausibly sounding fake accounts, while others get banned for not sounding plausible enough. Chinese social networks require official ID registration, they’re still full of trolls, bullying, and fake accounts. The EU is working on an expanded Digital ID service suite… theoretically it could be done well, but based on past experiences, I remain somewhat skeptical.
It wouldn’t accept my real name as apparently I had an account. I had to use a fake one. It was perfectly happy.
That was a couple of years ago though.
Good on you for using your real name. Just as some criticize wikipedia for anonymitity, I wonder if a forum with real names would cause people to be more respectful.
Your an admin here, can I ask which com is best for selfhosting?
I wonder if a forum with real names would cause people to be more respectful.
Permies.com requires people to use their real name (at least something that sounds real) and there’s very little toxicity there. Although how much that affects things I don’t know, as the mods are very active, and quick to ban.
which com is best for selfhosting?
Not sure what you mean. Would you, please, elaborate?
I think I meant which community is best to discuss selfhosting here.
IMO the technology community.
