Are you as rude in real life as you are on PH?

[Big Robbo]

Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:

One of the problems is, is that written word conveys no sentiment to its audience. If I were at the pub with a friend, and he said something stupid, and I said 'don't be a tt' whilst smiling, he'd know I wasn't insulting him. Say the same online, and it's just 'don't be a tt', hence the need for LOL, smiling face JK. Which can make you feel like a 12 year old on Facebook. I'd guess a lot of the time people can read too much in to written word.

That is the proverbial nail hit on the head. I in real life don't take it so seriously but on a forum there are people who are so sure their opinion is the only one that matters and anything constructive that goes against them is wrong. Those people are the type that I can't help but wind up. The only person whos opinion of me mattered was my mum everybody else..meh

[cologne2792]

I thought long about this and have realised that in my 50 years on the planet I've yet to find a single situation in which being rude to people, either online or face to face, actually helps.

It usually causes more problems than it solves and I have enough problems in life without adding to them.

Just don't say anything online that you wouldn't say to someone in person.

[coldel]

Unfortunately I think on certain bits of PH posters are out to prove they are right (even if they are not), rather than put forward a point, listen to the response, learn and move on. Have seen pages of the same drivel go on and on. My other major gripe is when people start responses like this...

WRONG. blah blah blah.

People just don't talk like this in reality, if they did they would sound, erm, a bit simple. As well as probably very quickly experience what its like to be punched in the face.

Or feel that their point is not landing UNLESS THEY WRITE IT LIKE THIS or like this

Because people reading the text cannot read normal case unbolded text

I have had an experience of meeting someone at a car meet who abused me on a forum (not PH) once and he was a short fat guy who looked about as tough as a soggy sausage, I was polite to him and when it dawned on him who I was he went bright red sloped off all quiet and wouldn't speak to me for the rest of the meet

[Clockwork Cupcake]

coldel said:

WRONG. blah blah blah.

This is my #1 pet hate of internet posting styles and is guaranteed to get my back up.

Much parodied by SniffPetrol in his "Ask A Total Prick From An Internet Forum" series.

[coldel]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Much parodied by SniffPetrol in his "Ask A Total Prick From An Internet Forum" series.

Brilliant, and yes must have drawn some very good inspiration from certain PH posters!

[Monkeylegend]

gooner1 said:

Monkeylegend said:

TheJimi said:

I take PH seriously, in that I behave as I would in a face to face situation. 

Easily offended?  No.

You do realise that it’s possible to voice opinions and disagreements without actually being offended?  Kinda surprised you haven’t trotted out the snowflake schtick as well.

You only call poster snowflakes when you take it to seriously

too. No offence.

None taken

[br d]

TheJimi said:

I take PH seriously, in that I behave as I would in a face to face situation. 

Easily offended?  No.

You do realise that it’s possible to voice opinions and disagreements without actually being offended?  Kinda surprised you haven’t trotted out the snowflake schtick as well.

I think you are one of the better posters on here Jim, I've enjoyed reading your stuff for years and you are always measured in your responses and even when angry you make your points without too much drama. I do think you're something of a rare beast though, we've never met of course but you come over as someone without ego issues, to you I'm sure that treating every medium exactly the same seems completely natural but most of us are weaker than that.

I do see the other side, to a lot of people this is somewhere they can adopt a persona for at least some of the time and I genuinely think most posters wouldn't much resemble the shouty nutters many seem to become at times if you met them in real life.

There are some people on here who I find myself infuriated with but I have to take a breath and realise they would probably be pretty good company over a pint (admittedly there are one or two who I wouldn't cross the road to piss on even though I've had no interaction with them outside of these forums!) and lets face it I'm hardly virtuous, I know I've talked out of my arse on here plenty of times so you have to give and take.

We do appear to be all front though, I can't think of any occasion where a disagreement has been taken offline and carried into the real world, which I have seen in corners of the internet far sparser than Pistonheads.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

br d said:

We do appear to be all front though, I can't think of any occasion where a disagreement has been taken offline and carried into the real world, which I have seen in corners of the internet far sparser than Pistonheads.

Sadly it has happened, especially when we used to have BTaP and Pistonfest, but thankfully it is very rare.

[irocfan]

xjay1337 said:

The moderators never seem to act on the obvious insults. But it seems in NPE, they will ban you for disagreeing with them!?

The moderators do not own the forum, so I feel it unfair they act in such an obviously biased way.

yyyyyeeaaaaaaaa the moderation on here is errrrrrm patchy - and, to make matters worse, not open for discussion. That's about as much as I'm willing to go down that particular rabbit-hole

[RDMcG]

My assumption from the beginning is that the web is far from anonymous. I’ve been involved with the web since inception and assume that every KB stroke can be intercepted.
I generally avoid bun fights but would observe that the web is indeed very real because it drives real actions ,creates real communities and creates real beliefs.
If someone calls out another as a fool or launches a stream of invective there is no percentage in joining. No good result will emerge.