Captain Obvious: The Internet is Filled with User Rage
Captain Obvious: The Internet is Filled with User Rage
Posted 11/05/2008 at 6:11am
| by Paul Lilly
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Tread carefully fellow surfers, for there are angry netizens all throughout the web. Apparently, the anonymity the internet provides has users flinging insults and saying things online they wouldn't otherwise say in a face to face confrontation. The epiphany comes courtesy of a CNN report, which points out that blogs and forum posts often times "descend into ad hominem attacks, insults, and plain old name-calling." Welcome to the internet, CNN.
The news site put a lot of research into its report and is worth reading if for no other reason than to see a major news outlet devote a paragraph to "lulz" and what the term means. True credit for this one goes out to The New York Times Magazine, who as CNN points out published a story about trolls back in August. As one ex-troll told the publication, "Lulz is watching someone lose their mind at their computer 2,000 miles away while you chat with friends and laugh."
And it's not just caffeinated teens who are responsible for internet-rage. CNN references the recent account of a 43-year-old Japanese woman who killed her online "husband's" avatar after he divorced her. And don't forget those "celebrity gossip sites [that] are full of snarky comments about stars."
Our response to the 1,200-world write-up? "No s*%t." Hit the jump and tell us yours.
Image Credit: Flame Warriors by Mike Reed
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lunchbox73
November 06, 2008 at 5:59am
STFU Spendrik!! Who the #%&* asked you!?!?! LOL, just kidding you're absolutely right. We walked right into that one.
This isn't exactly a phenomonon specific to the internet. People say stuff in hand written letters and even on the phone they wouldn't say in person. I know I'm more likely to chew out some incompetant person on the phone than if I was talking to that person face to face.
That guy type p...
November 06, 2008 at 7:53am
That's because face-to-face contact and a rude comment to an imcompetent employee can end in two ways:
- They try to get what you want as quickly as possible, making them feel a bit nervous. And giving you an ego boost.
- You get your the crap beaten out of you because he is frustraited because the guy in front of you made him feel nervous and want to take revenge on another ass-hole.
Either, the guy behind with his cellphone get to be the next YouTube Top 10 video for 10 minutes.
ghot
November 06, 2008 at 12:05am
That CNN is jealous.....that the internet is stealing some of their cloaked TV-rage lol?
Spendrik
November 05, 2008 at 8:34pm
LOL, I love how the comments here just validated the report. Yes, the report is reporting nothing "new" but you'll be surprised how insular the mainstream is. Like a poster said below, the report is not FOR us, but ABOUT us ... so take your nerd rage to the wotlk forums pls.
Devo85x
November 05, 2008 at 4:09pm
THIS JUST IN!!! BUSH BEAT AL GORE FOR THE PRESIDENCY!!! my god these guys are slow...
dstevens
November 05, 2008 at 11:50am
well now im sure someone at CNN thinks they deserve a pulitzer or somthing. sucks for them that it only took them, what? 15? years to see that people can talk more freely online and in a forum than they can in person. I can sit here and count half a dozen ppl i know that just cant talk to someone in person or on the phone. but sit down on yahoo and you will see a whole new side of them that you never thought existed. Theres no major reprocussions to internet forums, flaming, pwning, and speaking your mind in general. however be in the real world... where idiots shoot people for looking at them. yes that has happened i was there.... now you tell me how its not easier to be yourself when no ones around as compared to todays fairly fekked up social patterns in the real world? Wake up CNN... NY Times, and any other publication or "news" that thinks that they know somthign when they dont. whoever wrote that story shouldnt get a pulitzer.. they should be fired for taking 10 years to find this out.....
dc10ten
November 05, 2008 at 11:07am
The article by CNN isn't for us... it is simply about us. A lot of folks still are not in touch with the internet. It's getting there
lunchbox73
November 05, 2008 at 8:23am
Here are some more internet related story ideas for you CNN:
- Some web sites on the internet are related to pornography
- A few bad apples download music and software illegally
- Chatrooms are a great way for perverts to pick up 13 year old girls
- Information you learn from Yahoo Answers isn't always 100% accurate
That guy type p...
November 05, 2008 at 7:57am
Man. It seems that CNN will do any story these days. Maybe they should start going back to fearing the masses with news that a water bottle containing a clear liquid could be a bomb if held by someone with a dark complexion that's boarding your airplane. They were doing better at that then talking about stuff that everybody knows, and nobody really cares about. Unless your the Japanese man that killed himself, though he probably doesn't care now...
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