Post ARlVI4aG4Ol0DkmoKW by ignis@poketopia.city
(DIR) More posts by ignis@poketopia.city
(DIR) Post #ARlVHi4Fmi5IO7dwOG by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:39:20Z
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Writing this here because I haven't set up a Wordpress yet, and this is still kinda a working theory. I would hope for some thoughts from you guys!I was talking with some friends IRL over dinner. We touched on some hot topics, such as "the neurodiversity movement and the fact that some psychiatrists dislike it" and "are protests good or bad".I noticed that while these topics would create flamewars online, IRL, it was just a passing mention. Why the difference?
(DIR) Post #ARlVHk6oCBJgicr0eO by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:42:44Z
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People behave better without the protection of the screen. IRL, we all knew each other's real names, faces, and if a fight broke out, the cops would be called. We wouldn't want to fight physically, either. This keeps people civil. It's also easier to show friendliness via tone.Partial counterpoint: Real-name policies on Facebook don't seem to reduce flamewarring behaviour. IRL, using nicknames doesn't increase it too.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHly1HpTUTwl1EG by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:44:44Z
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We are speaking to less people IRL. The more people have access to a post (e.g. on the public internet, or in a large chatroom), the larger the possibility that two or more people with strong, opposing opinions will engage. This happens even if most readers don't have strong opinions on the subject.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHnm2ZL545NATpo by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:47:02Z
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No permanant storage. When someone mentioned that psychiatrists disliked the ND movement, I wanted to ask about that but the conversation moved on. Without a "chat history", I was unable to scroll back and "fume at the message" until I replied with a strong opposing opinion. Now, I don't care much anymore.This may be implemented by self-destructing messages + a social contract in small groups. However, this is not practical in large groups.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHpWs2i8PWu5OT2 by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:53:05Z
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Friends vs content producers/consumers. I had this idea of this division between friends (small groups, but you can talk about whatever you want) vs content producers/consumers (follow a large number of people, but please stay on topic).However there're large counterpoints to this. With friends, you can't actually talk about whatever you want. Politics are a big friendship breaker. Or if you keep venting into a group chat, people might tire of it.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHrNj9g0dH7p7Ue by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T17:57:57Z
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So let's change this theory up. Perhaps it's more about "staying on topic", no matter if you're talking with friends or with fans.Take friends for example. I posted some cool things about AI into a group chat, then a friend inside said that they weren't comfortable with AI. That's fine. IRL, or in group chats, we can talk about different things with different friends or groups; in this case, I can talk about it with other friends.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHtPDd6OHYKXL60 by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:01:34Z
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Then let's take fans for example. You might be pretty annoyed that I'm not posting furry, TF or ABDL content if you followed me for that. This is another example of needing to "stay on topic".Let's try applying this. First, microblogging platforms. The format encourages people to post multiple topics under a single account -- art, politics, venting, food, good-mornings. It's unlikely you'll agree 100% with them, thus frustration when you disagree.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHvAP59jD0xcXHU by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:12:32Z
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However, this doesn't account for flamewars in forums, Reddit threads or comment sections. Let's do some introspection -- I was part of many Unity vs Unreal flamewars in the past on Reddit. What would I have done if someone talked about how much they loved Unreal and hated Unity IRL?Idk. Perhaps I would have asked to change the topic (theory 4). Or I would have tried to ignore it (theory 3), and come back later, assuming change of mind isn't possible.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHwz8K1tweaMYzY by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:15:49Z
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This is just a working theory. The reason why we're so angry online is:1. People behave better IRL due to not wanting physical fights.2. Less people can see/hear the messages, which lessens the possibility of people with strong opinions on it.3. No "chat history", so you can't easily "fume over" an old message; what's past is past.4. You can stay on topic better because you can talk about different things with different audiences, physically.
(DIR) Post #ARlVHytBF8KOYhapzU by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:18:40Z
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And the flipside, actionable things:1. A button to punch the other user. I'm kidding.2. If you don't need millions of people to be able to see your post, don't post publicly; use messaging apps.3. Use self-destructing messages or IRC, plus a social contract to not record those messages automatically. To be consistent with my "indexing is fine" stance, this only applies to small groups where you can trust every person.
(DIR) Post #ARlVI0g8ab5E6pVRwG by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:27:18Z
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4.Small friend groups on messaging apps: Already happens naturally. Generally anything goes (depends on friend group) until someone voices discomfort, then if you want to continue, make another group or use DMs.Big topic-based forums: I don't know. Lock threads? Tell users to have their drama privately? Standard forum stuff.Big microblogging accounts: Split into multiple topics; a vent account (aka a spam account), an art account, etc.
(DIR) Post #ARlVI2hH5LBIMw3NzM by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:27:48Z
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Organised from most useful, IMO, to the least useful.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19331681.2021.1950095 (Amazing paper, open access)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_(Internet)https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/12/guardianweeklytechnologysection.privacyhttps://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/flame-wars-prevent-them-stop-them-fix-the-community/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4120995 (Paywalled)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet_Death_Penalty (lmao it's the original fediblock 😆 )
(DIR) Post #ARlVI46ppnDmkV1JT6 by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T21:36:15Z
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(Alternatively, for #3, you can simply do it for yourself as a way to keep yourself calm; other people keeping a record of the chat history might not matter much.)
(DIR) Post #ARlVI4aG4Ol0DkmoKW by ignis@poketopia.city
2023-01-17T18:37:00Z
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Why Are We So Angry Online? (A thread, working theory)#Sociology #Drama #FlameWars #Internet