I
used to be
Eagle Scout or fairly close to it. I truly believed forums could be great exchanges of meaningful and useful information shared in a friendly manner by people with like interests. I thought having shared interests would make a forum where you could ask any question, no matter how clueless, and be answered in a sociable, thoughtful, informative way. I also believed that playing a MMORPG would be like being an actor in a world where everyone acted their role too; and you were automatically "one of the gang". I was in reality asking to be mocked, insulted, ignored (esp. ignored), attacked, reviled - I really was shocked all those years ago.
I remember my first online chess games. I was a fairly good tournament player, no master but I had expert-level performances in several over-the-board tournaments, so I thought I wouldn't be out of place at the ICC. Played some 5 minutes games against I don't recall his name, won all of them - and this guy starting blasting me with insults, racist comments, obscenities. Welcome to online gaming, the sport of kings! I learned to turn the comments off (which turns off the social aspects too, unfortunately) but I've had similar experiences all over the 'net.
I try not to be confrontational and not to make things personal. I slip on occasion, but I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've intentionally stirred things up. It's happened here, but it was truly unintentional - and frankly, given the abrupt and curt responses many people post, mine was still rather tame.
I think what keeps me from being a Flame Warrior is
I don't care enough about what anonymous people think to try and persuade them or inform them or flame them. I'm thinking that other people don't care either. I mean I see lots of - in many threads - very sharp, cutting, argumentative responses to other people's post that if done in real life, I think would generate lots of irritation and animosity.
For example, in real life, if you and a friend were talking about a movie and someone walked in and said, "That? I hated it, it's stupid, and only idiots would find it interesting" and went on his way, we both would think he was a jerk. Yet on a forum, you can do virtually that or close to that and no one thinks twice. Hell, they're doing it too.
certain topics trigger my interest and then I can be a mean b*st*rd. Taking a look at my total posts and join date might give you some insight .. on most other fora, I even have less posts per day hehe.
