Sensitivity and the Internet?

[Lapine Lequesne]

I've had this discussion in my computers class, and just ran across an instance of it. To keep the thread from being anecdotal, I'll skip to your spoons:

Lately, it feels like rules online have been becoming a bit stricter and stricter. I've noticed over the time I've been on gaia that the rules in some areas get much more stricter (don't hurt this users feelans or u r ban!) where other areas get much more lax (misplaced threads)

I feel that as I grew up with the internet, if you got your feelings hurt it was tough luck. Now a days, the consequences for hurting someone's feelings is much more harsh than before.

With users able to ignore you, and it being more obvious than ever, it's easy to see where some users are more thin-skinned than others. Are gaians getting more... what's the word.
Soft-skinned? Babyish? Yeah, whatever that is- are we getting more sensitive than before? Is computer etiquette teaching kids to keep their opinions to themselves, and if someone expresses theirs-- its trolling!


Shameless humor:

[Super Fightin Prototype]

Part of the problem with the internet is you can't always judge the tone of people responding. I tend to read certain statements towards me in a belittling, mocking tone because of my... life experiences.

That's not to say I assume people are trolling when they make statements I don't like, but I do question the intent of someone when I post a drawing and they say "am i kawaii uguu?" because sometimes it's not about what you say, but how you say it.

[Sir Black Tea]

I think it's the weird culture of youth today. I've been mean to a lot of people, and nowadays people literally tell me, "You are not allowed to say that/be mean to me," usually when I'm just blunt with a harsh opinion or truth. Maybe they interpreted all of those anti-bullying afterschool specials as "PEOPLE CAN NEVER BE MEAN TO YOU EVER" and not "Ignore/report/stand up for yourself when someone is unnecessarily mean."

Throughout my time on the internet I learned that there were mean people (The GD/CB, and maybe on a larger scale 4chan or Encyclopedia Dramatica) and not to deal or bother with them, not condemn them forever.

[Bratsche]

there's a pretty thin line between tones on the internet: for example, sometimes I can't tell when someone's being sarcastic.
so, if a person says something to another person, it's the other person's interpretation of its tone and intent; and people who are more sensitive might just interpret it differently.
it just depends on the person of question.

[Seabook Arno]

Sir Black Tea

I think it's the weird culture of youth today. I've been mean to a lot of people, and nowadays people literally tell me, "You are not allowed to say that/be mean to me," usually when I'm just blunt with a harsh opinion or truth. Maybe they interpreted all of those anti-bullying afterschool specials as "PEOPLE CAN NEVER BE MEAN TO YOU EVER" and not "Ignore/report/stand up for yourself when someone is unnecessarily mean."

Throughout my time on the internet I learned that there were mean people (The GD/CB, and maybe on a larger scale 4chan or Encyclopedia Dramatica) and not to deal or bother with them, not condemn them forever.

This. 100x this. I don't know where or when people got the idea that having an opinion opposite of their own is considered offensive or insensitive.

[Super Fightin Prototype]

Seabook Arno

Sir Black Tea

I think it's the weird culture of youth today. I've been mean to a lot of people, and nowadays people literally tell me, "You are not allowed to say that/be mean to me," usually when I'm just blunt with a harsh opinion or truth. Maybe they interpreted all of those anti-bullying afterschool specials as "PEOPLE CAN NEVER BE MEAN TO YOU EVER" and not "Ignore/report/stand up for yourself when someone is unnecessarily mean."

Throughout my time on the internet I learned that there were mean people (The GD/CB, and maybe on a larger scale 4chan or Encyclopedia Dramatica) and not to deal or bother with them, not condemn them forever.

This. 100x this. I don't know where or when people got the idea that having an opinion opposite of their own is considered offensive or insensitive.

It happens all the time when people discover there are people with differing music tastes. emotion_awesome Probably before the internet was even conceived.

[Erinnerung]

So, bullies can't hurt people without consequences as easily now?

I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

[Lapine Lequesne]

Super Fightin Prototype

Part of the problem with the internet is you can't always judge the tone of people responding. I tend to read certain statements towards me in a belittling, mocking tone because of my... life experiences. That's not to say I assume people are trolling when they make statements I don't like, but I do question the intent of someone when I post a drawing and they say "am i kawaii uguu?"

Yeah that kind of comment sounds passive aggressive; I can see why someone on the internet would be sick of anime stuff (with the weeaboo's general "image" wink

Sucks theres no verbal or visual ques to what people are saying. sad

[Lapine Lequesne]

Erinnerung

So, bullies can't hurt people without consequences as easily now?

I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

Having a different opinion from someone isn't bullying? I think you missed what I may have been saying. People get easily offended, and report or over-react because lately it feels like anything that doesn't agree with your train of thoughts is trolling.

Ive ran into it in several games.

A: I love dogs!
B: Uhh, Iunno. I dont like dogs. Think cats are better, yknow?
A: OMG. D:< DOGS R BEST U NOOB. REPORT.

[Lapine Lequesne]

Super Fightin Prototype

Seabook Arno

Sir Black Tea

I think it's the weird culture of youth today. I've been mean to a lot of people, and nowadays people literally tell me, "You are not allowed to say that/be mean to me," usually when I'm just blunt with a harsh opinion or truth. Maybe they interpreted all of those anti-bullying afterschool specials as "PEOPLE CAN NEVER BE MEAN TO YOU EVER" and not "Ignore/report/stand up for yourself when someone is unnecessarily mean."

Throughout my time on the internet I learned that there were mean people (The GD/CB, and maybe on a larger scale 4chan or Encyclopedia Dramatica) and not to deal or bother with them, not condemn them forever.

This. 100x this. I don't know where or when people got the idea that having an opinion opposite of their own is considered offensive or insensitive.

It happens all the time when people discover there are people with differing music tastes. emotion_awesome Probably before the internet was even conceived.

This is me tipping your post a thousand times.

[Sweet Angel Mary]

It's weird, today i learned someone ignored me and i really liked this person. i kinda want to know why i'm ignored. i know i come off harsher than i mean to be, i never type things properly.

[Lapine Lequesne]

Sweet Angel Mary

It's weird, today i learned someone ignored me and i really liked this person. i kinda want to know why i'm ignored. i know i come off harsher than i mean to be, i never type things properly.

I kinda liked the old ignore system.
It took me much logner to find out I was ignored. Now I know within minutes. (Which kinda helps you pinpoint why you get ignored)

Shame you got DELETED from this person's gaia-life though. D:
Maybe you were too good for them B)

[nosonia]

laws are getting stricter on sites and also liability
when we were young and the internet wasn't such a huge part of people's lives there wasn't much of internet bullying so much as cybering and silly text-based issues

however a lot of today's youth are killing themselves or struggling with depression over bullying
the internet is the scapegoat of modern times
sexism? blatantly used in such and such game or on such and such website because of insert stupid reason
people everywhere use the internet as a means of communication
we go to it because it is safe, since if we take precautions most people never find out who we really are

but websites can often come to blame for our actions instead
promoting bullying by not stopping it is a big liability issue
if anyone were to endanger themselves or others after being negatively spoken to on this site, gaia would face a lot of liability charges

they are taking precautions for themselves
whereas a misplaced thread, etc, are not a big deal because how much harm can it really do
in it's youth, gaia made rules based on what would make it a good, active, inviting website
now it makes rules based on what keeps it financially safe

[AliceLoathesWonderland]

I think that general politeness and common courtesy should be observed.
I mean this isn't 4chan or tumblr, this is Gaia, we don't come here to slum it, be abused or have obscenities spouted around us.

One thing i really wish they would police here is how people on zOMG use the shout function to spout vulgarities for everyone to hear. It's really really annoying and i loathe it. so much so i don't go into zOMG as much as i used to.

[AliceLoathesWonderland]

Sweet Angel Mary

It's weird, today i learned someone ignored me and i really liked this person. i kinda want to know why i'm ignored. i know i come off harsher than i mean to be, i never type things properly.

That's happened to me too
crying