This is the one comment I hear more than any other when I am talking to someone about their behavior on the Forum.

My biggest question to them is ...why??

If you are telling me that you are a polite, well mannered, tactful individual in every day life, why are not that way on the Forum?

The answer I get the most often is an astonished..*But its a BB Forum..I can act like whomever I want!*

The sad fact is folks really believe that these days. that they can be and act like complete and utter jerks just because they are talking on the Internet. That because they are hiding behind a keyboard and monitor they can be mean, nasty, rude and violent. That because for the most part they are anonymous they can treat people in whatever fashion they desire.

Guess what? The very fact that you are willing to do that when no one is looking directly at you...says alot about your integrity and just what sort of character you truly have.

Then we have the attention seekers. The ones that whine, lie, make up fake illnesses for money and just are over the top emotional baggage handlers. It amazes me that folks even buy into most of this stuff because as one person pointed out to me recently, this is the Internet unless you have actually seen the person face-to-face you really are just taking their word for anything they are saying.

Kids today are being hurt, killed and/or abused in some fashion because they are treating the Internet as if it is a game. The local news in my area just reported yet another young girl DEAD because she thought she was chit-chatting with another girl her age in an IM chat room. She thought nothing of giving out her name, her address and her phone number.

She was actually talking to an older woman who had much worse things in mind and now that girl has paid the price of her ignorance with her life. The report also stated that this young girl had been engaging in online sexual acts with what she *thought* was another girl her age....they were both 15 years old.... But many times as she wrote she made the comment...*You know I don't act this way in RL!!!* (big smiley face).

There are people on the other side of that screen you are writing your words on. There are people taking to heart the things you are writing. YOU could be hurting someone right now, YOU could be making someone really happy right now, or YOU could be setting yourself up for something you never imagined...... Take some responsibility for yourself. If you are old enough to be sitting there posting in a BB Forum then YOU are old enough to be held accountable for yourself and what you write. Quit blaming other people and what they write for your attitude and your snotty, mean, nasty posts. Quit blaming others if you have a good day or a bad day. If you think you are grown enough to be on the Forum...then be grown enough to be accountable for your own words.

and that is some *Enlightenment Tame Style*
see on the flip side gaterites.................

2 Comments:

 Tracy Jane wrote:

1:05 PM     LINK

Good on you for speaking out about this, Tame! I'm always talking to my pupils about internet safety and they never take it to heart. As for the people who think they can act however they like.... sigh. Don't get it.

There's part of me that understands genuine misinterpretation, after all, there's only so much you can write in an online post. Sometimes feelings and messages are misunderstood. But to be purposefully acting "out of character", as it were, just because you're on a BB forum is crazy.

I know that people probably see me very differently to how I actually am. And I know that veterans such as yourself, who have known me since way back when, will think of me differently to newer posters (I probably seem quite cold and standoffish because my mind's on work rather than alcohol these days!).

But at the end of the day, I'm still ME. I wouldn't pretend to be anyone else.

You are responsible for your own actions online, just as you are in real life.

 Paul wrote:

1:45 PM     LINK

"applause"

i agree with everything you said

PA-pharaoh atem

Blogs are the author's personal space and represent solely the views of the author, and not necessary those of GateWorld.net and its owner. Entries are not edited or reviewed by GateWorld before publication.