Hello All,
OK, either I’m lazy - too many NY Times postings - and not enough original posts - or a shill for the NY Times.
I read a few newspapers and other pubs each morning while I eat my gruel … and when I see something interesting I have this overpowering urge to share, being overcome with online disinhibition effect.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15257832
Rather than thinking of disinhibition as the revealing of an underlying “true self,” we can conceptualize it as a shift to a constellation within self-structure, involving clusters of affect and cognition that differ from the in-person constellation.
And, since we do not have trolls on ST, this posting may be rated low on the scale of improving your racing speed … be forwarned and move on now if your time is scarce today.
Actually I don’t think we have many trolls on ST … even threads like - ‘which is better? sewups or clinchers?’ usually present some useful information and have a comforting efffect of being something we expect like an old soft easy chair. Same with power cranks. In fact I think I am having power crank withdrawl.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/opinion/30zhuo.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212
Excerpts:
Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its roots go much farther back. Even in the fourth century B.C., Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges.
That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught.
Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly.
Psychological research has proven again and again that anonymity increases unethical behavior. Road rage bubbles up in the relative anonymity of one’s car. And in the online world, which can offer total anonymity, the effect is even more pronounced. People — even ordinary, good people — often change their behavior in radical ways.
There’s even a term for it: the online disinhibition effect.
Many forums and online communities are looking for ways to strike back.
At Facebook, where I’ve worked on the design of the public commenting widget, the approach is to try to replicate real-world social norms by emphasizing the human qualities of conversation. People’s faces, real names and brief biographies (“John Doe from Lexington”) are placed next to their public comments, to establish a baseline of responsibility.
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Cheers,
Neal
