Faceless communication online turns ugly

“When your windows are rolled up, you feel relatively anonymous,” says Wallace, author of the book “The Psychology of the Internet.” “Not long ago I saw someone I knew going down the street furiously honking at the car in front of them. I turned the corner and waved and suddenly they weren’t anonymous anymore. You could see the incredible shame come over them because they’d demonstrated this behavior that from their perspective was out of character. Anonymity can draw out some very troubling behavior.”

NVDL: I had the experience where 3 avatars starting assassinating my reputation on a public internet forum. That is, until I found out who they really were - guys I had studied with, friends of friends, cycling companions. I called one of the guys up and he was incredibly sheepish. He apologised but refused to do so on the forum where he had been insulting. The other fella was tougher to call to order. I happened to have his wife's email, so copied some of his vitriol and emailed it to her.
He then sent me a private message to apologise, but again didn't want to risk losing face by apologising in public.

I have to say the average propensity to go rogue on the internet points to me at the sickness that underlies our society. The average person online - even if educated and well brought up - seems to be a prickly cactus incapable of doing anything benign online. Intwisting.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com One minute, they’re nice, normal people. The next, they’re frothing at the mouse. “I definitely believe that anonymity affects the frequency of antisocial behavior among individuals to some extent, even when these individuals have a reasonable sense of morality — so-called ‘ordinary people,’” says study author Tatsuya Nogami of Nagoya University in Japan. “In my personal opinion, people generally try to comply with social norms in everyday life, even when such compliance with norms and rules conflicts with their personal self-interests. However, if you can get what you want without receiving any punishment or negative evaluations from others, are you still 100 percent sure that you’ll always refrain from engaging in that kind of undesirable behavior?”