Flutterby™! : Broken windows 2008-12-02 13:19:24.861194+00

Broken windows

2008-12-02 13:19:24.861194+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments

Jason Kottke asks if the "broken windows" theory holds online. I certainly think so. I think there's a ton we can do in setting the tone of online spaces to keep the trolls out. It's not foolproof, and there may be a certain level of popularity above which you have to constantly patrol for the trolls or just abandon the comments to them (ie: YouTube), but I think the only time we've had a challenge here was when TC made us the second hit for "French Military Victories"...

Yet again, the real measure of a person is what they do, when they know (or at least think) that they can not be found out.

You (Dan) set a tone on Flutterby that encourages intelligent conversation, and gather people of both like and different views into a group discusses things from multiple points of view. Not to create a single answer, but to explore the boundaries, tweak the status quo, and create understanding without forcing acceptance.

Flutterby is a reflection of the Dan Lyke that brings people together based on the criteria of intelligence and competence. the site design is not particularly sexy, or flashy, or Web 2.0-ish or Web 3.0-ish, the content rocks.

Want HTML oddities in your post? No bogus photos or click and drag smileys here, you better have text editing HTML chops if you want to do something bold with your posts.

I think there's a certain degree of anonymity on most online forums. Youtube, fark, slashdot, etc seem to attract this type of person. When you're anonymous you can be as bad tempered, snarky, or as much of a general shit as you'd like with no fear of consequence.

I've met a number of people in flutterby. They know who I am, some have my phone number and address even. I'm not anonymous here, so I think there's a more personal connection between people where we can't be an ass to someone intentionally because we personally know so many people here. When speaking in public forums with people we don't know, nor intend to ever personally meet, there's a much wider breadth of what we consider saying or doing because of a lack of consequences in real life.

That being said, I never post anonymously in any place I visit, nor do I post crap for the sake of posting crap. I usually try to put well-formed thoughts and opinions about the subject, or proper advice where applicable and warranted. I'm a strong believer that if you can't find something nice to say, don't say anything at all. I'm also a believer that no one's forcing some of these people to watch youtube videos and the like, so if it offends you so much, don't press the play button or change the page once you do.

John, hadn't seen that before, but that's funny. Mine's actually an expansion on what my sociology teacher used to refer to as "projectionism" which she theorized was an extension of how people want themselves to appear to others. Think along the lines of a chatroom, you meet someone or a group of people, you want to seem intelligent and worldly. You quote shakespeare with the help of google and understand what people say because you can instantly research the meaning of phrases like "the epitome of a hyperbole" without mispronouncing them or having to run to a dictionary.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, where you're not concerned about how you appear due to large public forums or a sense of anonymity, the want or need to impress people or receive their approval is absent. People can be cold and hurtful and they won't have to see the effects on others or even care since it's only people on the internet and not 'real' people anyway. I've found myself wondering how this will effect society as a whole. If people act like this on a regular basis, it will become habit eventually, and it's presence in society may lead to social acceptability and more relaxed morals and folkways in reference to how we treat others and socially interact on a face to face basis as well. Kind of scary in it's own way.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-12-02 18:08:59.083719+00 by: meuon [edit history]

I tend to believe and behave like anything I say can be attributed to me, on the front page of the regional newsrags, and that everyone is armed to the teeth. And I'm still a "loose cannon" :)