I ask the question in my latest on Huffington Post Chicago. (Thanks to Paul Engleman for getting me thinking about this, and thanks to Steve Crescenzo for the opening anecdote.)
Comments
Kristensays
While I enjoyed your post as I usually do, I think I enjoyed reading the comments even more!
I find it absolutely fascinating how people react to things online and how they seem to “go after” other commenters with a vehemence that always makes me wonder whether they’d be quite so aggressive if they were face-to-face rather than behind a computer screen.
Someone should really get a government grant and do a study on “The Psychological constructs underlying Online commenting patterns”…or something.
I bet you could get a million or two for that, since we seem happy as clams to give people money for studies like “the environmental impacts of cow farts” (Eileen told me about that one, and she lives in Oregon, so I assume she knows that’s for real).
While I enjoyed your post as I usually do, I think I enjoyed reading the comments even more!
I find it absolutely fascinating how people react to things online and how they seem to “go after” other commenters with a vehemence that always makes me wonder whether they’d be quite so aggressive if they were face-to-face rather than behind a computer screen.
Someone should really get a government grant and do a study on “The Psychological constructs underlying Online commenting patterns”…or something.
I bet you could get a million or two for that, since we seem happy as clams to give people money for studies like “the environmental impacts of cow farts” (Eileen told me about that one, and she lives in Oregon, so I assume she knows that’s for real).
Thanks, Kristen. Some related thoughts on this coming up in a post tomorrow or next week.