Message Board Psychology 101

[Caveman]

I've been pondering this a bit lately and I thought it might make an interesting thread, especially considering how quickly this board can escalate to open hostility.

Except for the last couple of days I've primarily been a lurker on this board for the past few months. I post something every once and a while but generally I just read the stuff others post. When I started on here a couple of years ago I posted all the time but I started to notice that my internet persona was quite a bit more aggressive than in my real life. I'm an opinionated guy but I also get along well with most folks. Unless I'm delusional (not unlikely ) I never seem to find myself in engaged in any hostile confrontations as I go about my daily life. So why was it that I found myself at odds with some of you on a regular basis? I'm not talking about often but certainly more than in the real world. I decided that I didn't like engaging in verbal combat so I opted out and just lurked for a few months. I also noticed some other folks that didn't post as often as they used to but I would also see them logged on.

Here's what i want to talk about. What is it about us that makes us more contentious behind the anonymity of a keyboard? The simple answer would be cowardice. We are safe in our anonymity. I don't really think that's the case for most of us but it bears mentioning. So what is the real answer and what can we do about it? Or is it just me that takes on a slightly different personality in cyberspace? I don't think that's true either. So what is the dynamic that takes place here and why does any controversial topic quickly degenerate into a cyber-brawl? I know that I am making a concerted effort to not engage in any argumentative threads simply because I don't like the way I sometimes overreact. I find it interesting that for some reason messsage boards bring to the fore a side of my personality that I sometimes find disagreeable.

I'm convinced that most of us could discuss this stuff over a beer or a cup of coffee in a much lest contentious manner, but in here we get stupid. Any thoughts?

 

[Timebuilder]

The board doesn't make me any more aggressive than I would normally be.

In fact, it makes me a little more eager to share an insight, because in real life we don't stand still long enough to have that kind of fellowship.

I'd have to spend a month at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum to find a guy who can describe the prefight of a DC6 like Mar just did, maybe a little more luck finding the ignition description from Asquared, and I'd have an equally hard time finding someone who has either the questions or the hostility about God that I find in just a couple of posts here.

Normally, we wouldn't know who these people are with such information and questions. We have opportunities here that don't normally pesent themselves, either by interest, inclination, or convenience.

Now if one has a desire to be wholly disageeable, or need to blow off some steam, this is one of the places that has the least dangerous impact to life and limb.

Anyway, it's like a microcosm of the pilot community: the opinions, the beefs, the experiences, and the insights.

And pilots DO talk about all kinds of things.

 

[GogglesPisano]

The problem with this board is that anonymity breeds bravado and insult. I think I was guilty of it to back during the Mesa takeover attempt.

I just want you guys to know I love each and everyone one of you, (even the arch conservative bible-thumpers.)

 

[Birdstrike]

Howard Johnson Is Right!

What you got here are your real pilots that get all the hot planes and you got your pudknockers.

Right now I'm a world-class pudknocker in my current job and I'm not real happy about it. So that's part of it - while I do what I can to change my circumstances, many of us like and need to let off a little steam on a virtual board.

We can't act this way in real life or we'd get fired. But this is a cyber world and it's relaxing to call you an idiot for your comments about Flightsimmers, for example. Don't take it personally you Jarhead.

 

[Timebuilder]

A Blazing Saddles reference!



Mongo like!!!

 

[Birdstrike]

Aw, (slaps guy through wall) ,

Mongo

straight!

 

[TonyC]

What is it about us that makes us more contentious behind the anonymity of a keyboard?

Any thoughts?

It reminds me of the way we're inclined (I assume it's not JUST me) to attack when we're separated from the object of our ire by a windshield. You know, the other guy in traffic commits a crime against humanity in your presence (like changing lanes without signaling) and you have plenty to say about it. If you're sitting on the passenger side of your Mom's car and she commits the same crime, your expressions of disgust are somewhat more tempered.

It's much more difficult, sometimes, to be civil when you're not looking at a person face-to-face. It's amazing we as a society have been able to communicate through the written word at all. Or have we?

 

[huncowboy]

My $0.02 is that this board is not different from any other boards.
You get plenty flame wars in other boards as well. It is up to you to turn page or dive into the topic. Actually some flame wars on this board told me a lot about this industry.

Why fighting? Like others have said it, here with my 170 pounds I can shout at anyone... worst case I’ll get kicked. I would definitely think about it twice doing it on the street face to face, even against a child I wouldn’t. Just like the reason I obey every speed limit (lately... since I am thinking about aviation seriously) is the penalty. Remove it and I'll buy a valentine and am flying 120 on I95… for a while that is

 

[Timebuilder]

If you're sitting on the passenger side of your Mom's car and she commits the same crime, your expressions of disgust are somewhat more tempered.

Ah. I see you know my mom. We don't let her drive any more.

 

[FL000]

Having just gotten out of rush hour traffic in ATL, I was going to make a driving comparison also...slightly different though. I'd equate the anonymity here to the "force field" the car gives you. Some may inclined to yell at or flip off another driver while in a car, but what about when someone irritates you to the same degree when you're face to face? Not so confrontational, are you? I admit it. I'm not.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

I strongly believe that religion is the opium of the uneducated masses, and like to point that out every chance I get. Most of the people I know in real life wholeheartedly agree, while the ones that don't usually mutter something about old habits and how they're hard to break.

And in real life you don't have Google to help you w/various biblical garbage props and doctored pictures of the ark, so that keeps the arguments to a minimum.

 

[Jmmccutc]

Re: Re: Message Board Psychology 101

If you're sitting on the passenger side of your Mom's car and she commits the same crime, your expressions of disgust are somewhat more tempered.

told my old lady to stop f*cking arround and drive before she killed us...didn't go over well...

 

[Jmmccutc]

also it doesn't matter to me if it's -20 outside i still have my window down so that i can yell at idots as they walk infront of me, college campuses are a magnet for idiots (and Grade A women) i swear...

 

[Fly2Scuba]

I strongly believe that religion is the opium of the uneducated masses, and like to point that out every chance I get. Most of the people I know in real life wholeheartedly agree, while the ones that don't usually mutter something about old habits and how they're hard to break.

And in real life you don't have Google to help you w/various biblical garbage props and doctored pictures of the ark, so that keeps the arguments to a minimum.

Dear Satan:

Isn't Sadam in need of some loving hatred?

 

[prodigal]

Maybe it's also just another example of the coarsening of our society in general. Granted, the anonymity brings it out quicker, but it's hard to imagine such a lack of respect and decorum in social discourse in earlier times. Lest it sound like I'm preachy, I've probably also been guilty a time or two in the past.

BTW Vlad, I'd respectfully submit that ignorance is the true opiate of the masses. How else can one explain liberals and democrats?

You see, all this anonymity is going to my head.

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

In real life Vlad would not have the intestinal fortitude to say this out loud, particularly not to me. Though at one time I may have agreed with a statement like this, I no longer do. At some point, Vlad will peel the mask off these organizations that his indoctrinators have put on for him and discover who has been divorced from reality. Probably about the time he attends his 15 or 20 year high school reunion.

WTF are you, man?

I do, and quite often, say this out loud. Even my friends from fanatical religious families agree that religion is a sham, but it's kind of hard for them to let go after all these years. So I let them wallow in it, and don't really loose any sleep over it.

And if you like to circle jerk with your preaching buddies and keep spreading the gospel, fine, just know that I am not bound by any of that good vs. evil sh1t and have no qualms about taking off the mask of indocrination and opening up a can of whoop ass.

As far as staying incognito on the internet, well, that's something you older folks need to come in terms with. Unless you want your beacon score to take a dive

 

[FlyComAirJets]

Because we can.

Remember back to the early days of the internet, posters who didn't use the proper syntax or show enough computer savvy were mercilessly savaged -- it was called flaming. It is still with us. Witness the often ridiculed Guat who committed the cardinal sin of posting his (OK it was kinda goofy) picture as his avatar.

Besides, nothing kills a thread more than everyone having the same, middle of the road opinion. Controversy stirs debate. It's cathartic and it's stimulating. It ferments a response. As to whether you will sway the opinion one way or the other of those to whom you post a response, I wouldn't count on it. But as for the lurkers out there, that is more of a variable.

The power of the internet allows boastful braggadocio that once was more appropriate in a bar to be repeated over and over across a world wide forum. Imagine what some guy in Latvia thinks about all this.("I tink I vill valk to Amerika!")

 

[Typhoon1244]

Okay, here's my two cents:

There's not very much skin between what's in my head and what I type on Flightinfo. I've always tried to be very honest...tried to keep the rhetorical B.S. to a minimum. In a conversation at a dinner party, it's often necessary to "go with the flow," even though you may not agree, for the sake of social courtesy...but not here. Anonymity eliminates the requirement for social courtesy, so it's easy to be coldly honest.

Now when you've "played nice" at dinner parties (etc.) for long enough, it's refreshing to be free of the bonds of that courtesy and say what you really think. That can lead a person to be overly zealous in expressing their beliefs. We spend so much time tailoring our expression to who we're with, when we finally get to speak our minds it comes out in a big, ugly gush. Instead of saying "I have no faith in the President's leadership," I might say "George W. is a pinheaded imbecile!" Instead of saying "John Kerry's political credibility is quite fragile," I might say "John Kerry's a communist traitor!"

So then what happens? People like A Squared and Chas decide, "boy, that Typhoon guy is a real jerk!" You all may find this silly in light of our anonymity, but finding out that somebody on Flightinfo thinks I'm an as_hole will darn near ruin a whole day for me. Why? Because believe it or not, I'm really a nice guy. (Just ask Ailerongirl! )

So here comes the next question: who are we really? Are we the "socially courteous" people we interact with every day? Or are we the passionate, argumentative people on Flightinfo.com?

 

[Jmmccutc]

i told myself i wasn't gonna get in on this debate, but i'm really getting fed up...this reminds me of grade school; everyone crying about how little timmy made fun of you...

see i think the difference between me and what everyone else is saying is that i'm as straight forward in person as i am on this board, i'm the nicest person you ever will meet, but i don't tolerate stupid people well...(don't think i mean the kid in school that couldn't pass a test, i mean no common sense)...and it's not like i go out of my way to hide that...

part of the bueaty of flight info is the fact you don't see the other person on the end of the the other computer...and that's a good thing cause i'm ugly as all get out...that lack of human interaction is what allows us to be so brutally honest...there is nothing wrong with being honest as long as you don't belittle someone...perfect example is CitationKid, you guys cut that boy up and down for what? a good laugh...

and like typhoon124 said, chas will think i'm a prick, but oh well i don't care...Comm air said, Besides, nothing kills a thread more than everyone had the same, middle of the road opinion...this couldn't be more true...

i think the reason we have raging debates about god, politics, and just nonsense (my drunk posts included) is because our normal everyday lives are so uptight that we need to blow some steam...i hope you guys atleast laugh when i put up my drunk posts, that's the whole idea, i told Ailerongirl that i like to shake the starch out of the old timers' uniforms everyonce in a while (any one over 25 is an old timer far as i'm concerned)...believe me in real life i'd never tell some of these guys what i thought, they might take offense to it, coming from a smart ass kid...here i hope they laugh at me...

ok, now that i've ranted and raved for the last 5 minutes and accomplished nothing i'll stop, thanks for the spotlight...

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

i told Ailerongirl that i like to shake the starch out of the old timers' uniforms everyonce in a while (any one over 25 is an old timer far as i'm concerned)

d.a.m.n, kid, that hurts