Do you agree that it's ok to behave inappropriately on the Internet, as long as you are a good person in real life?

No, I don’t agree with the suppositions.

One’s behavior on line should be consistent with behavior face to face. If one is incosnistent, then part of one’s life is a falsehood. One cannot have a partially true and partially false life, because that mean’s one’s life is not integrated, and thus has no integrity.

People who put a false persona on line live lives with no integrity.

I disagree with the premise that being online is not part of “real life”.
It most certainly is, because you are interacting with real people, just over a distance.
Rather than comparing the online/offline persona relationship to that of the videogame player character/real life person relationship, it is more akin to how you act in your home vs. in public, or privately vs. at the office.
You of course behave differently in each of those settings, which is a result of different expectations and possible consequences of your behaviour.

@ragingloli and I seem to be in agreement! Wow!

I agree with @ragingloli and @zenvelo. Unless the troll is a bot, of course it is real life, it just lacks accountability.

It’s not okay. Too many people are real nice to some and real a$$holes to others. It’s always best to be the best person you can be to all persons, no matter who they are or where you find them.

No. When I see someone being a real bitch on the internet (which includes Fluther), I think that they must be real pieces of work in real life, maybe with some type of disorder that they’re so vicious and vile on the internet.

I think you should be kind in all aspects of your life, including while online.
I know people who are kind in person, and trolls on the web.
I don’t know anyone who is a jerk in real life, and kind online.

Trolls must have trolling in them.

They’re chicken shit bullies is what they are.

It depends on context but generally no.

What I see most often here and elsewhere is that some people feel they can treat others horribly with no repercussions if it’s online. Boomers are by far some of the worst attitudes online, in my opinion.

Please explain “internet etiquette”.

Trolls on the internet are trolls in real life and also “two faced”!

I behave innapropriately everywhere. An internet persona has nothing to do it.

What shocks me is that you actually said asshole. I blame myself.

But except for that, I think I agree with lolli and zen (if those are their REAL names). In fact it may be possible that online interactions bring out the best in some people.

Unless they’re assholes.

I’m an asshole in real life too. ;)

@raum – It’s my fault.

You’re welcome.

You aren’t an asshole here @raum.

@KNOWITALL Boomers are by far some of the worst attitudes online, in my opinion.

It surprises me that you think that. I would guess that 75% of the people on fluther are boomers. Also, many, if not most, boomers were raised to be polite.

Yes we were raised to be polite.

@smudges Don’t get me wrong, I have a real soft spot for the elderly and always have.
But I’ve seen a lot online that have no filter and seem to truly not care whom they hurt. Like racial slurs or intentional misuse of pronouns, etc… It always catches me off guard for my elders to be crap humans.

I do think the internet functions as an outlet for people’s frustrations, anger, and shittiness that they can’t necessarily vent in person.

I am exactly the same online as I am in person. So that could be either good news or bad news for anyone considering being my friend. ;)

@cheebdragon basically treating everyone on the Internet nicely and respectfully like you do in real life.

@JLoon I wasn’t thinking of anyone here when I asked this. What I wrote was literally what I saw on a forum thread. It was from someone who tried to justify why that particular forum is so toxic and he had no problem with that. He basically said that he was a toxic person who liked to swear and offend other people there, but in real life he was an upstanding citizen who had a stable job, was nice to everyone and had a clean record. Therefore how he behaved on the Internet didn’t reflect who he was as a person. He then said that people who insisted on being respectful on the Internet were dull. The Internet was supposed to be a place where you had fun, not a place to act like a prude.

Then there was a Reddit post I saw. It was about someone’s friend who was a complete troll in online games but really nice in real life. The justification was that he thought people should stop taking their games seriously. Therefore it would be your fault if you got angry at a troll.

The online game I’m playing has some rather… problematic people. They seem to take great joy in being assholes, from insulting other players to interfering with the gameplay of other people just last night I almost lost the game because two assholes stood on my way to the finishing line refusing to move until it was almost time. And judging from their points, some of them have been there for a long time and have been assholes multiple times. That does make me wonder if they really believe the same thing as that forum guy, hence my question.

@KNOWITALL Could it be that the people you see aren’t being assholes, but are genuinely misinformed? Like they believe that what they are doing is right and have no idea how messed up they are being?

This question isn’t about people with problematic belief. It’s about people who are aware of what they are doing, but choose to do it anyway because they believe the Internet isn’t who they are.

@filmfann you will be surprised how many people are nice on the Internet but horrible in real life. There is this guy on Reddit I forgot his name who taught computing for everyone for free. He was at one point one of the most respected person on Reddit. Later people found out that he was a p*** who abused his own son and film it for money.

No!

@JLeslie could you elaborate?

@JLoon Also I don’t think you are an asshole here. I’m ok with rough language. I can have a good laugh at swearing too if it’s clever. What I don’t tolerate is actions that cause actual harm like personal attack or harassment.

@KNOWITALL Ok, now I’m gonna hafta belt ya one! I am not elderly! (ง︡’-’︠)ง

Just kidding. Yeah, I’ve seen them letting off steam also. The word ‘crotchety’ comes to mind. This is the only forum I’m on and I don’t do social media, so maybe I’m not exposed to it as much as you might be.

How you behave is real life, it doesn’t matter where. Behaving badly affects others, so if people don’t give a damn about hurting others, making fun of them, or they find it entertaining to lead people on and fool them, then that does not sound like a good person to me. People commit suicide from being harassed on social media. People vote for presidents because of social media. Governments and terrorists understand how powerful a tool social media is, and so do the trolls. It is not pretend, it is real.

GA, @JLeslie. ^^^ Well said.

@Mimishu1995 – You really think I’m not an asshole??

I need to adjust my goals ; )

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character.
Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.
—Chinese proverb

@raum You aren’t an asshole IRL. I know, I have met you!

People think they can act like jerks on the web because of the anonymity. It’s an “I am only one person out of billions all over the world going online. And I have a username, who’s gonna know?” attitude. But they are probably ass hats in real life as well. Just my own take on it.

Man, I’m losing street cred on this thread by the second.

@JLoon Maybe we need to up the ante? :P

I think the question needs some clarification. I have frequently voiced differing opinions from the echo chamber that haunts many of these pages. I have been accused of being inappropriate, and asshole and a troll because I have a different opinion. So what IS the definition of inappropriate, being an asshole, or being a troll? Apparently it is having a different opinion. So if this is so, what does it say that the echo chamber wants to suppress independent opinions?

It’s not due to difference of opinion @seawulf575. That’s just silly. It’s due to your attitudes when you express them.

@raum – I’m here to help, asshole ;D

@JLoon Less being helpful.
More assholery.

@raum – Deal!

Doesn’t one need a religious rectum to attain true ass holiness?

No just need to have a “rosy red rectum” ! !

@seawulf575 from my post earlier: This question isn’t about people with problematic belief. It’s about people who are aware of what they are doing, but choose to do it anyway because they believe the Internet isn’t who they are.

Do you believe in what you say, or do you know it’s wrong but still do it?

@Mimishu1995 I support everything I say, always have. But my response is that the view of inappropriate/troll/asshole is entirely on those hearing/reading responses. So what you end up with on this question is a group of people that all think the same, offer the same opinions, and assign names/attitudes to those that offer other opinions. So the definitions need to be set. Otherwise it is too easy to justify bias and attempts to shut down discourse because you don’t like what someone has to say.

@Dutchess_III Go back and look at just about any thread I have posted in. I don’t start getting snippy or bringing attitude until after others have already brought them to me. Funny you aren’t identifying that since it does play into this question.

@seawulf575 I support everything I say, always have.

Then this question isn’t about you. This question concerns more with people who are obviously being assholes for the fun of it. And example of it is the user who occasionally makes an account here and posts provocative questions/answers that are either sexual or telling people to kill themselves. Another example is the two people I met in my game. They barred the finishing line, making it impossible for other players to finish the game, while making taunting gestures and insulting people in the process. When it was only a few second left, they finally ran to the goal. By this time they had accumulated a long line of people waiting to get to the goal, and all the players were now left with a few seconds to get to the goal. By the end of the game only 8 out of 21 people got to the goal, while the game was supposed to accommodate 21 winners.

Unlike you, these people obviously don’t have any unpopular opinion that just so happens to go against the norm. They are just bad people who like to do bad things for the sake of it.

A surprising amount of people answer the question of why it’s wrong to do something by saying “You’ll get caught” or “What if someone did that same thing to you?” So it doesn’t surprise me that they would consider the internet a space to act out the urges they normally only suppress out of, basically, fear.

No. The anonymity of the internet gives rise to people treating each other without the dignity we would treat each other with in person…but insults given over the internet cut just as deeply.