What happened to politeness in internet forums!

[Ps762 0]

Hi!

 

Just thought I'd ask a question which I have been wondering for a while. Back when I started flightsimming a lot a few years ago the internet was a very different place. People used to be nice to each other and say hi and thanks on posts and stuff. But these days the kind of people who can interact like this are kinda rare. So what happened to the internet?! It's not just here but also a lot of aviation sites and non-aviation too. Now people just bark random comments at each other at best! I mean are we not edjucated and well brought up. So why when online do people (not everyone) act so unfriendly these days?

 

Anyone else notice this change or am I nuts? Any thoughts welcome.

 

Many thanks,

 

Pierre

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Back in the days of Compuserve we had the GO FSFORUM and yes their was a different vibe back then compared to today. I think the biggest difference was that the Internet was still very new for many people and those early social networks were made up of a very small crowd of computer savvy individuals.

 

Today even my Great Grandmother is on the Social Networks so with the large masses we have today brings in people from all walks of life. This also includes the annoying ones as well.

 

I find the Hanger Chat on here to be a great spot in the net as we are for the most part like minded individuals just hanging out and sharing stories and views on world events. Their are still cool places in the net away from the masses.

 

Cheers

[Ps762 0]

Hi!

 

Thanks for the reply. Glad to know it wasn't just my imagination! You're right there are still good places to go on the internet but you just have to find them now. The main flightsim sites are still pretty good but I'm also beginning to find a lot of friendly/mature flightsimmers hanging out on smaller niche sites too. There's not too much intelligent posting on Airliners.net anymore which is a shame but hey all things can't last forever!

 

Many thanks,

 

Pierre

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Hi Pierre,

 

In my opinion attitudes of the members are more civil in Avsim than they were years ago. There is a great deal of effort made here to try to both set a polite example by staff, and to encourage others to be the same.

 

Sometimes it may seem that we have a long way to go, but we hope to get there in our own little corner of the internet world.

 

Kind regards,

[Ps762 0]

Hello,

 

Many thanks for the reply and I appreciate the work you guys do to try to promote a civil and intelligent site with a passion for aviation. The flightsim sites are a lot better than most of the internet these days I agree. But some of the great writers and stuff have moved on, people like Steve "Bear" Cartwright from Avsim and Andrew Herd from Flightsim. I was never around flightsim during the Fs98 days but it was the first sim I bought in maybe 2002 in my local PC store bargain bin. When I discovered the amount and quality of addons for it available online for free I was literally blown away! I had never or have never since seen a hobby where so much was done within the hobby for free by members to make it better. These days flightsimming is still great but there are less of the things I like, like people posting whole trips in the screenshot forum and stuff. Maybe it is just my personal taste or something.

 

Anyway thanks again for the hard work. Flightsim sites are a great place for those with a passion for aviation. Why else would real airline captains write trip reports for a bunch of nerds to read (I'm thinking of Capt. Tony Vallilo!).

 

Many thanks,

 

Pierre

[gojozoom 21]

I've been experiencing the same. Long story short: as frustration increases moral goes down. When I say frustration, I mean negative effects from the world outthere.. Life gets faster, expectations raise up high, more stress, more fear, etc, etc.... No-one has the time, energy, nor the mood for being nice anymore.

 

Also, on a forum you can say whatever without taking any responsibility... Nobody is afraid of being banned anymore....They just join another forum...

 

In my opinion this is nothing to do with the internet. It's the people...

 

Sorry if my response feels a bit dark, but I think it's realistic.

 

And I join the others saying Thank You AVSIM!

 

Dan

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Steve "Bear" Cartwright from Avsim

 

I can assure you that Steve is still around and contributing when his time allows. He's a busy guy and shows up here fairly frequently in spite of it.

[SKEWR 364]

Anonymity...

 

People who would not dare to mutter any rudeness, in the real world, are emboldened by the fact that you are not face to face with anyone on the internet. There are no consequences for typing things that would get most people in serious trouble.

 

There are so many miserable and/or immature people who like to move their negativity to others. To be able to do that, with no consequence, is a drink too sweet to pass up for that segment of the population. Espeically if the segment can't say it in their everyday lives.

 

The AVSIM forums are quite tame compared to WoW, Something Awful and 4chan. Just occasional posts that are questionable IMO. Examples: thinly veiled political issues (Air Force One discussion...), heavily masked racism, light trolling (you know those popcorn threads... Airbus v. Boeing, CS v PMDG, etc...) and sensitive "fanbois" (when their particular add on dev or "Flight" is attacked). With flight simming being such a niche thing, one really can't afford to be shut out of ANY Flight SIm forum. So that and the mods are keeping AVSIM in good shape.

 

In do agree the world economy and all the negativity these days will increase rude posts. We just have to always take the high road and report where needed.

[xplanery 250]

Avsim forums are probably by far the most polite forums I have ever actively used, and generally international FS/Aviation forums seem to be doing well in this area when compared to most other forums.

 

When I compare this place and one Finnish FS/Aviation forum the difference is like day and night with the Finnish one being full of negativity and whining, I guess it's a cultural issue, people seem to be more polite elsewhere. Not to even mention forums of local news sites, they are full of junk.

[Bob Scott 7,715]

There are people in this world that do not love their fellow man, and I HATE those people! -T. Lehrer

 

:rolleyes:

[Ps762 0]

Hi!

 

Many thanks for the replies. It's nice to hear from other simmers who believe that being polite and friendly is a better way to go. I mean it's not like we need to impress anyone or be "cool". We are flightsimmers (aka total nerds!) (well at least I am!).

 

It happens in the real world too. Today I went cycling to my local bank and some random person shouted abuse from a passing car. I mean how sad do you have to be to do that? Not to mention being a total coward!

 

Anyway many thanks,

 

Pierre

[Luis_KMIA 242]

It's the whole "internet tough guy" phenomenon, where these people hide behind their anonymity. I'll stick to polite discussions on any FS topic, even if it means respectfully disagreeing. There is no room for hate.

[Airbus Commander 563]

I think there are many reasons for the way people carry on on internet forums. I always think it strange to see people post heat of the moment posts on forums, and all I can think to myself is that, you've have 5 mins to think through your answer, yet you still chose to say that? It's not like real life where if you spend 5 mins trying to come up with a response, people would get no where, all you have there is 5 seconds, so heat of the moment posts are more understandable.

 

I think anonymity can be a big part of it. You see it a lot one really big forums, where no one knows each other or has a sense of who the other person is, all they are is a name on a screen, abusive comments will be most prevalent on forums such as those. Then there are the medium sized forums such as Avsim, where you'd recognise some people and have a fairly good idea about them and what they're like, as you can put a face to a name, or so to speak, you can build up a respect and appreciation for the person over time, by drawing on your memories of your previous interactions with them. Then there are small forums, like we have at work, where it's not just a name, you know the person, you met them two days ago, you know their wives and kids names, you've sat beside them at a training course or the staff BBQ, you've shared experiences with them. The level of disrespect there is almost non-existent.

 

I for one think Avsim isn't all that abusive at all, certainly not in comparison to other sites, most people on here share a passion for aviation and it shows. As Cory said, there are disputes, or rather disagreements here and there, but that's half the fun, if everyone was the exact same then the world would be a very dull place.

 

Regards,

Ró.

[Great Ozzie 101]

heavily masked racism

 

I judge a man by the color of his font.

[Ps762 0]

Hi!

 

Many thanks for the replies. It is a strange phenomenon I must admit. Sometimes it makes little sense to me. For example a year ago I underwent neurosurgery (I am ok now touch wood). My surgeon was luckily one of the top neurosurgeons in the country and well known even globally. He was one of the most humble, polite, thoughtful men I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Yet some guy who works at the checkout in my local supermarket can be completely full of himself!

 

To me it makes no sense!

 

Many thanks,

 

Pierre