Techdirt editorial: Why People Are Such Jerks Online

For me, well I am a bigger ass hole in person than I am online (I know that is hard to believe, but it's true).

There are some people in the world, like me, that enjoy being a huge jerk and it does not matter where or when.

from user "anon":

fuck you all, i'm invisible and say anything i want.

love it.

i suppose i can't fault techdirt for doing good reporting and citing "the latest research.... on how brains process messages during conversation", but they're really over-thinking this.

rc, that "what happened to digg" article by wil wheaton you pointed to earlier this week referenced what i consider the most concise description of this phenomena, and i don't think it required a research fellowship to complete. behold The Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

behold

I contend that they would be closer to the truth if they reversed the order and the "reason" (anonymity). Basically, people struggle to contain their fundamental tendency toward fuckwadism when in situations where they are easily identified.

That's an awesome word, which I will have to add to my forum, blog, road rage vocabularly. Thank you.

This discussion has been going on since the first BBS popped up in the early 80's.

I say pretty much the same thing online and offline but you might not get whether or not I'm serious when you can't see my smiling face and the empty pints of beer sitting next to me when I say it. ;)

Visible or invisible, they can all go fuck themselves if something I said gets their panties in a twist.

you might not get whether or not I'm serious when you can't see my smiling face and the empty pints of beer sitting next to me when I say it.

Same here, but I don't use emoticons --make 'em wonder.

The Vanishing Post

Welcome to the real online world, Scott.

via Eric Myer

Remove all consequences for an action and people are free to act like the ass they are. ; )