There's something about certain methods of communication that seem to bring out the worst in people. I shun IRC for example, there's nothing wrong with it in principle, but in practice over the years, I observed it seems to attract far too much twattish behavior. Whatever channel, whatever topic - IRC seems to breed "regulars" somewhat akin to stereotypical jobless pub regulars. Always there, always ready with a cocky comment, and generally not very friendly. You either fit in and get the in-jokes and internal culture or you don't.
I used to belong to a long-defunct telnet talker (like IRC, more geeky in nature) and after a couple of years, realised I'd become one of those horrid regulars myself, spending every spare moment "inside" it. Promptly prised myself away from it!
Similar with most web forums - it doesn't take much reading to find flame wars and pig ignorance towards others. Probably again symptomatic of "regulars" who inhabit them.
The worst offender is probably YouTube comments. Regardless of the video, flame-bait or downright nasty comments are always there. That one truly puzzles me, but I try not to even gaze at comments now - they only depress me.
As for IM conversations, I think it depends. Sometimes people just pass casual messages back and forth while getting on with something else. This is normally how I use IMs - MSN and sometimes a few others are always on, but I don't start them with the intention of talking for a couple of hours. I think the majority of people on my lists are the same. Usually online, but not for the purpose of being online - more akin to not turning your phone off. It's just there, and easy to use as and when (but less intrusive than a phone - telephone conversations dominate your time, the beauty of IM talk is that you're *not* required to dedicate your time on it...)
Consequently sometimes I don't reply for a while, sometimes other people don't. I'm cool with this - the exception being when perhaps I'm engrossed in a dedicated conversation. Then it's annoying when it abruptly ends (I am guilty of this sin though, when something RL happens, so can't complain much).
As for twitter, and the whole online social networking "revolution" - well. Tried it, now I presently shun that too. Did the twitter thing, and found it to be a gross display of narcissism exhibited by too many users. Comments for comments sake, pretty much a public popularity contest. I was never the competitive sort, so that's a big reason why I deleted the damn thing. The more different social networking tools cross over, the more I push them away. They're not solving problems in my view, they're creating them.
People need to appreciate life and the value of real friendships, relationships, objects and events more - turning every aspect of everyones life into a few irrelevant words lost in a sea of utter crap devalues everything. That's a bigger issue for me that online etiquette.
That the term "facebook friends" even exists illustrates this problem. Friends who aren't actually friends but casual acquaintances, sometimes people we don't even know - but referred to as friends, and added to an ever-increasing pool. Again, a poor show and even worse measure of popularity, I feel.
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I used to belong to a long-defunct telnet talker (like IRC, more geeky in nature) and after a couple of years, realised I'd become one of those horrid regulars myself, spending every spare moment "inside" it. Promptly prised myself away from it!
Similar with most web forums - it doesn't take much reading to find flame wars and pig ignorance towards others. Probably again symptomatic of "regulars" who inhabit them.
The worst offender is probably YouTube comments. Regardless of the video, flame-bait or downright nasty comments are always there. That one truly puzzles me, but I try not to even gaze at comments now - they only depress me.
As for IM conversations, I think it depends. Sometimes people just pass casual messages back and forth while getting on with something else. This is normally how I use IMs - MSN and sometimes a few others are always on, but I don't start them with the intention of talking for a couple of hours. I think the majority of people on my lists are the same. Usually online, but not for the purpose of being online - more akin to not turning your phone off. It's just there, and easy to use as and when (but less intrusive than a phone - telephone conversations dominate your time, the beauty of IM talk is that you're *not* required to dedicate your time on it...)
Consequently sometimes I don't reply for a while, sometimes other people don't. I'm cool with this - the exception being when perhaps I'm engrossed in a dedicated conversation. Then it's annoying when it abruptly ends (I am guilty of this sin though, when something RL happens, so can't complain much).
As for twitter, and the whole online social networking "revolution" - well. Tried it, now I presently shun that too. Did the twitter thing, and found it to be a gross display of narcissism exhibited by too many users. Comments for comments sake, pretty much a public popularity contest. I was never the competitive sort, so that's a big reason why I deleted the damn thing. The more different social networking tools cross over, the more I push them away. They're not solving problems in my view, they're creating them.
People need to appreciate life and the value of real friendships, relationships, objects and events more - turning every aspect of everyones life into a few irrelevant words lost in a sea of utter crap devalues everything. That's a bigger issue for me that online etiquette.
That the term "facebook friends" even exists illustrates this problem. Friends who aren't actually friends but casual acquaintances, sometimes people we don't even know - but referred to as friends, and added to an ever-increasing pool. Again, a poor show and even worse measure of popularity, I feel.