I'm amazed at the different reactions we get from the variety of posts here at Neatorama. Some items have no comments at all; others have discussions that go on for days. The same thing happens at the Neatorama forums and in the Upcoming Queue section. Some discussions are overwhelmingly positive or negative, others feature a lot of differing opinions, and some veer off-topic into something completely different. What kind of web commenter are you? Veteran journalist Michael Malone takes a look at the different types of commenters.
There are a couple of dozen types identified altogether. Link -via Geek Like Me
(image credit: ABC News)
The Troll -- Everyone knows this guy (and it's usually a guy), who intentionally visits sites in order to stir things up, provoke a furious reaction from other posters and then disappear. Classic examples are the Free Republic types who visit Daily Kos and vice versa.
The Skimmer -- The commenter, usually sour, who reads only a headline or sentence of a piece, draws exactly the wrong conclusion, and then embarks on an embarrassing rant.
The Kumbaya -- These folks always show up two-thirds of the way through any heated on-line debate and ask, "Why can't we all just get along?" They are inevitably ignored or trashed.
The Parser -- What would we do without the Internet Grammar Police? These folks assiduously correct the online writings of others -- never quite catching on that the Web is designed to be fast, fresh and sloppy.
There are a couple of dozen types identified altogether. Link -via Geek Like Me
(image credit: ABC News)
I didn't see myself in any of those listed though :( Maybe a Tomboy? But I don't play WoW in my underwear.. just my pjs :P heh
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/index.htm
It is an illustrated list of different kinds of internet flamers. Hit the "begin" button on the right to go through the list.
Not an underware gamer? Hmm, you should try it sometime.
also Kumbaya
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."
DaveL - The words are "What did" not "Waddid". Just so you know.
If 95% think one way on a controversial topic, and the "troll" thinks another way, that will almost always "provoke a furious reaction" no matter how respectful the post is.
One-sided blogs are generally intolerant of opposing views. They like to have their own website without input from the other side. Anyone who comes in is viciously attacked until one side gets tired of posting.
But the "troll" in this case is blamed, with almost no responsibility on the many posters who attack him.
dogrun81, as I understand it, the "troll" designation is for those who make deliberately incendiary comments just for the sake of stirring up trouble. However, many people apparently have difficultly distinguishing between that behavior and sincerely voicing an unpopular opinion (though to be fair, trolls often try to appear as the latter type).
There was a link once at Neatorama that had cartoons of Internet character types. It was cute.
f u cn rd ths u prbly dnt nd the int grm plc
You know what’s worse? The people that listen to them and do nothing but complain about them.
if you think "correct" (meaning standardized) spelling is optional, here's a sample text from Chaucer from a time when "correct" spelling didn't exist (not as we know it today, at least):
Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury.
01 Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
02 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
03 And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
04 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
05 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
06 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
07 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
08 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
09 And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
11 So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially, from every shires ende
16 Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende,
ALL HAIL THE ETERNAL VIGILANCE OF THE INTERNET SPELLING AND GRAMMAR POLICE!