Internet Community Issues

INTERNET COMMUNITY ISSUES

Internet users around the world form a community and, like any social organization, the community exhibits the entire range of behavior, from considerate and creative to insulting and damaging. Unfortunately, the anonymous nature of Internet interaction tends to bring out the worst in some people. The fear of embarrassment or shame that governs behavior in face-to-face encounters is lessened when people meet on the Internet. This means that some individuals act very differently than they would if they were in a public forum, ruining the Internet experience for many people.

Flaming is one of the most frequently encountered examples of rude Internet behavior. Guidelines for good Internet behavior, called netiquette, have been developed to encourage people to interact productively. Moderated environments are another solution to inappropriate behavior. They allow a moderator to police behavior in certain settings such as chat rooms, mailing lists, and message boards.

Flaming

Flaming is the Internet equivalent of insulting someone in a face-to-face setting. Flaming often occurs in public forums, such as emails, message boards, or chat rooms. Taking advantage of their anonymity, some people seem to take a perverse joy in being as rude as possible, to the point that they drive people away. Flame wars are flames that are traded back and forth, often among multiple parties. The best policy is to ignore flames. Anyone using a public Internet forum should be aware of the basic rules of behavior to avoid doing anything that might provoke flaming.

Netiquette

The term netiquette is a result of combining the words Net and etiquette. Netiquette exists to address behavior problems such as flaming and sending rude or hurtful email messages. Most netiquette is based on the Golden Rule, which stipulates that people should treat others as they would like others to treat them. Some netiquette deals with certain Internet conventions that need to be learned in order not to inadvertently offend other users. For example, newcomers commonly type messages in all capital letters without realizing that, by convention, this is commonly understood to mean that the writer is shouting. Without intending it, an email writer using all capital letters will make people uncomfortable or angry.

Moderated Environments

Moderated environments are the answer for many people who want to avoid the seedy side of the Internet. Many chat rooms, message boards, and mailing lists have a moderator, an individual with the power to filter messages and ban people who break the rules. Rules violations can be anything from hurling insults to simply straying off-topic. A moderator running a chat room on travel, for example, might ban people for excessively discussing their favorite movies. Usually, a moderator has complete power over the situation and can ban people in any way he or she sees fit. If a moderator is too harsh, people might switch to another group.