Netiquette: Response to David Pogue

Response to David Pogue's The Netiquette Diaries

I've had similar experiences in online communities where people have gone seemingly out of their way to be rude to me. At first, I was just hurt. Then something else occurred to me...

There is this sense that everyone and everything out there on the internet is there just for me-that we are somehow entitled to it because we have the ability to browse for information about anything we like at the tip of our fingertips.

This "My way right away" philosophy is causing our culture to expect this out of everything. What started as a sales ploy of Burger King became a national epidemic of selfishness.

On the internet, each of us are the most important thing and everything (and everyone) else are just there for our entertainment, enjoyment, criticism and disdain. It doesn't have to be malicious, and most of the time, I don't think it's meant to be-we've just come to expect that it's all here for us.

This mentality is not only found on the internet. American culture these days fosters it.

Two other comments resonated with me:

There are a lot of angry people out there; there are also a lot of stupid people out there.
Anonymity may be the culprit-it's much easier to say things when they aren't to someone's face.
Once we start being accountable for what we say and do on the internet, I think people will start being nicer to each other-without that accountability... well, you see what we get.