What can you do when folks on the internet trash your good name in Internet Forums, Blog Comments or in Online Bulletin Boards? Well, the real answer is not a whole lot. Not too long ago, I found some folks trashing some friends of mine online and then I entered the commotion and refuted the slanderous remarks.
Soon, I found myself the victim of the same. My friend was then sticking up for me online instead of the other way around. They told me they were watching the bulletin board and forum and going to bat for me. So, I said thanks;
“I thank you for going to bat for me on the Internet, but it is really not necessary. I can take it, I’ve been called worse things.”
You see, it’s almost not worth participating in all the name calling or letting yourself get dragged into a cat fight filled with sound and fury. You know, when a bunch of people attack someone they do not know, even parade around as if they are me using my name in answering their own BS comments, you just have to laugh at the childish nature of it all.
One of the problems with the Internet is anyone can make up anything thing they want to say and put it out there, and well, it’s really hard to prove you did not kick your dog. So, that is the nature of the Internet right?
Here we have the greatest communication device ever created and what do people use it for? The same petty crap that they do in real life; in fact, probably all the things they wish they could say in public but are afraid to, now they say on the Internet using fake names, handles and avatars? I worry that as the Internet brings us all closer together, that the problem with communication technologies is not the communication device, it is the humans themselves. It’s really a shame when you think about it.