In the light of recent heated, and sometimes insulting posts that some
members of this scientific newsgroup have written about other members,
coincided with an article written in the Last Word section of the
Newscientist.

The question was this:
"When a thread or topic is started on a user-generated forum on the
internet, it isn't long before one of the contributors makes a seemingly
unprovoked attack on a total stranger. What is it about non-face-to-face
contact of this kind that makes this more common than it would otherwise
be?"

And two quite interesting answers were these:

Answer 1:
"In 1987, psychologists Mary Culnan and Lynne Markus refined the "reduced
cues theory" to explain potentially abusive behaviour online.

They suggested that computer-mediated communication is inferior to
face-to-face contact because social cues such as body language, tone, volume
and intensity of speech are lacking. An online conversation therefore,
except when a webcam or microphone is used, takes place in a what is termed
a "social vacuum". The reduced cues that are available to each correspondent
can lead to a lack of individual identity (deindividuation), which in turn
undermines any social and normative influences.

Overall the lack of these strong influences can lead to forms of uninhibited
and atypical behaviour. Behind a computer screen you are usually fairly safe
from physical retaliation. This creates a sense of safety and a disguise for
participants which is further reinforced by the control individuals can
exert over their online identity.

On user-generated forums, for example, you can choose what profile
information about yourself is displayed, fabricate that information and in
most cases choose not to disclose it to fellow participants at all.
Similarly, in virtual worlds you can take on a name and an avatar which is
entirely unlike the real you.

As to the motive behind an unprovoked attack, human beings are undeniably
complex creatures: the reasons could range from simply having a bad day at
work to wanting the excitement of causing trouble."

Answer 2:
Social interaction depends on innate and acquired attitudes, including the
urge to be imposing, formidable or dominant. Contrary factors, such as fear,
upbringing, affection or social pressures, tend to dampen down extremes of
behaviour and prevent loss of control.

A healthy balance of all these produces negative feedback that structures
one's behaviour in a socially desirable manner. Remove this feedback, and
misfits, habitual victims of bullying or products of unhappy backgrounds
revel in the freedom to indulge in bullying or sadism that has driven
sensitive victims to suicide.

More sensible recipients of this kind of correspondence simply wipe off such
nuisances in their "kill" lists or otherwise "kill them with silence", as
the Japanese wisely put it.

However, people who indulge in abuse and bullying are widespread on internet
forums, where they cannot be touched.

Other expressions of perceived immunity include football hooliganism in
large crowds, and car drivers who feel safe insulting or threatening others.
George Orwell characterised such impulses as "the irresponsible violence of
the powerless".

Similar behaviour is common among animals, most familiarly lapdogs in
vehicles, or safe behind high fences. They pose and threaten like monsters,
but then panic abjectly if their protection fails and someone calls their
bluff.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk