Monday, June 18, 2007
Web dialogs can really suck
Last December, I wrote about the 4 degrees of impersonal communications. The posting spoke of the way some people seem to lose sight of courtesy and common sense in their communications over "new" media.
My intent is to get my reader to look at issues a little differently - I am pleased when I can inflame your interest - I guess it means that I may be inspiring your thoughts with passion.
Mark Evans looks at Mathew Ingram's piece about on-line defamation from the Globe.
My own experience disagrees with Mark's statement that the blogosphere "has been fairly libel and slander-free."
Any other viewpoints?
Technorati Tags:
4 degrees, Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram
Face-to-face communications (a first degree interaction) has no record, no evidence beyond the memory of the participants. Telephony (second degree) may have a record, such as an audio voice message. Email (3rd degree) gets circulated, over and over. Thanks to search engines and web-archiving tools, the web (4th degree) offers a permanent record.Many of those who write or leave comments on blogs - and especially those that don't even have the courtesy or intestinal fortitude to use a real name - use language or tone that simply doesn't pass for reasonable discourse except perhaps in certain TV reality shows. Every time I get a comment notification, I brace myself for a tone that is too often uncivil.
Paradoxically, we seem to take more care in communications when the conversation can most easily be private and candid. Conversely, we pay less attention to etiquette and courtesy when the audience is global and of diuturnal impact.
My intent is to get my reader to look at issues a little differently - I am pleased when I can inflame your interest - I guess it means that I may be inspiring your thoughts with passion.
Mark Evans looks at Mathew Ingram's piece about on-line defamation from the Globe.
My own experience disagrees with Mark's statement that the blogosphere "has been fairly libel and slander-free."
Any other viewpoints?
Technorati Tags:
4 degrees, Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram
Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 6/18/2007 07:06:00 AM 
Comments:
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I agree with you that the blogosphere can be rough and tumble, sort of like Deadwood on a sunny day. As a participater on blogs for three years now, I can tell you that my experience on a newspaper site, like the Globe, can be quite unsatisfying as people stray off topic and use facts that are clearly not and use language that you can only find at your local bar at about last call.
However, on independent blogs - like yours - the tone I find is quite civil and the host has the power to nix any negative, libelous, blasphemous, etc. comments right out of the comment window. Further, the majority of the regular contributors to the blog have a tendancy to gang up on uncivil lurkers almost like community policing - only done by the community, not the police.
As for not using their real names, I have been guilty of that. Posting comments on a blog is a bit of a no-no for a lot of employers. If you say something that even hints at being confidential, propietary, libelous, discriminatory, etc. and it's found out, you'll get a rather large chunk of your hide taken out by HR, not to mention your boss of the moment. So a lot of people use prudence, rather than their real identity.
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However, on independent blogs - like yours - the tone I find is quite civil and the host has the power to nix any negative, libelous, blasphemous, etc. comments right out of the comment window. Further, the majority of the regular contributors to the blog have a tendancy to gang up on uncivil lurkers almost like community policing - only done by the community, not the police.
As for not using their real names, I have been guilty of that. Posting comments on a blog is a bit of a no-no for a lot of employers. If you say something that even hints at being confidential, propietary, libelous, discriminatory, etc. and it's found out, you'll get a rather large chunk of your hide taken out by HR, not to mention your boss of the moment. So a lot of people use prudence, rather than their real identity.
Posted by 
: 1:22 PM, June 18, 2007
: 1:22 PM, June 18, 2007 << Home
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