Has the internet opened you up to a world of people or made you intolerant and impatient of everyone who's not like you?

A little from column A, a little from column B.

I was actually thinking about this the other, day, and trying to think of the good things about ILX, and why I continue to post to it, even when it's an adversarial hellhole. And the truth is, beyond the many IRL friends I've made through it, it has actually occasionally completely opened my eyes to some things.

Most specifically, there are some posters who come from quite different backgrounds to me (Tuomas, Dee the Lurker, Vic spring to mind immediately) and some who just see the world differently to me (Nabisco, Gareth and I hate to say it but Stelfox when he's not being combatative) who have completely turned me around and changed my mind about beliefs I'd held for some time.

So, yes, it has opened my nind and my world up.

On the other hand, it's left me with close to zero tolerance for adolscent and post-adolescent boys, but that's not just the internet.

My answer:

Both, actually: it's global and it made me realize I hate almost the entire world.

-- boring. (gro...), November 21st, 2005.

See what I mean? I hate this prick.

plus those voice cracks are so cuet!

I think Mark was trying to clue you in that I'm "Not Kate" up there, boring.

Is this like "Spartacus" in inverse?

Errr, it would be really interesting if this thread could get back on topic. People on ILX go on about "discourse" or "discourse is dead" etc. on ILX, and it would be interesting (to me at least) to see if all this talk and debate actually accomplishes anything.

I'm fairly sure I was already b) before all this.

Ive had boyfriends, one night stands, late night gigglefests, long serious conversations, fights, breakups, the whole nine yards.

Love it, all of it, its life on crack.

The influence of the modern interweb on my life in numerous aspects (working, social, love/sex, political and cultural perspective) this decade has been effectively total, which pleases and alarms in equal measure.

Now THAT shit still blows me away.

Perhaps this is why I can't find it in my soul to care about people online: Everyone seems an actor moreso online than in real life and I have trouble giving a shit about actors. Also, people stop being polite online, as if it is a "Real World" episode or as if everyone is a shock jock DJ "keepin' it real", whereas in real life, people put on their actor faces to be civil to one another, lest they get their ass kicked. This little challenge of real life, remaining civil and getting people to like you in reality, is probably why I feel internet relationships are goofy and sad.

just intolerant and impatient of stupid people. but i didn't need the internet for that.

1992 - 2003: Definitely column A.
2003 - 2005: Definitely column B.

This is more me crystallizing the type of discourse I am looking for on the Internet (ie, low emotional investment goofing off) and developing very little patience for people who express that they don't feel the same way by chastising me.

(xpost: JBR totally on the money.)

This is the thing I dislike most about the Internet. No, I'm not ten kinds of dickhead because I don't like whatever it is you like. I'm just me.

The Internet has definitely opened up a whole world of people who are as curmudgeonly as I am, and that is good, because it gives me a sense of community without me ever having to answer the door or the phone.

it's not that i think i'm especially smart! i was a mediocre student in school and i still do horribly on tests. i would place my intelligence as somewhere above average, i guess. but it astonishes me how many people there are who get by just fine in life while at the same time being incapable of any kind of critical reasoning whatsofuckingever.

I suspect that current society / civilization / etc. is designed for unquestioningly "just get by" people.

I don't know why, but I still think the idea of finding love, friends and one-night stands through the internet is "wrong."

I know this is quite a common view, but what's the difference? 90% of the jobs I've had in the past 5 years I've found Through The Internet. I met two of my three bandmates Through The Internet. Why should it be any different to find like-minded people to hang out with, or even mate with?

I guess part of my problem is that I used to think of the internet, as this special, protected place that was free from the worst excesses of idiocy. And now the internet is a bit like the post-time travel future in Douglas Adams novels - just like everywhere else. The problem is with human nature, not something special and indefinable about the internet.

That's easy for me to say, granted, as I'm by and large not in the firing line (apart from one notable occasion).

Fact is, the closer the internet is to real life, as opposed to a 'tranquil utopia to go and chill out', the better.

I don't think that the "excesses of idiocy" should not exist, I just think there's an appropriate time and a place for them. And a realisation that there are some thing that just unacceptible ways to treat others, not just on the internet. I don't ask the internet to be utopia.

At the risk of getting into another "argh, oh no, ILX oh no" meta debate, there does seem to be a marked division in attitudes towards ILX. That a lot of people treat it like a pub - that yes, social controls are relaxed and discourse is freer, but there are still modes of behaviour. While others seem to treat it like a frat party - anything goes, behave however you like, because it's not your mess to clean up.

I suppose the internet gives you the safety of anonimity, You wouldn't go to a Pub, or even a frat party and call someone a cunt and show them pictures of disgusting porn. But you can do that on a message board, view the reaction and log off.