That’s kind of how it is but the other way. I’ve noticed people just assume really quickly then write some rude reply and the clearly forming hive mind jumps in… not fun
Following this logic, it’s human behaviour that predates the internet. And social media catalyses it - what you write is exposed to more people, who know even less about you than RL people would, with access to even less of the context necessary to take conclusions about you and what you say. The “let’s fill holes with shit we just made up!” process is still the same, but now there are even more holes to fill.
And the dogpiling you mentioned (forming hive mind jumps in)? Well, it’s still that “treating the unknown as if it was certain”, but on steroids. Instead of treating what people say as potentially true/false, they treat it as certainly true/false and good/bad and anyone disagreeing/agreeing with you must be picking the right/wrong side.
Perhaps that’s a sign that our human nature leans towards tribalism, not towards rationality.
I don’t know a good solution for that. What I’ve been doing is
pre-emptively blocking
disregarding intentions - so I don’t become part of the problem (or, if I am part of the problem, become less of)
going “old man screams at cloud” style when I see this sort of assumption online, in the hopes that it changes something
removing egregious examples of people who behave like this, specially in an accusatory way, from communities that I moderate.
I believe that most of what some call “toxic” online behaviour boils down to people who treat the unknown as if it was certain.
That’s kind of how it is but the other way. I’ve noticed people just assume really quickly then write some rude reply and the clearly forming hive mind jumps in… not fun
Following this logic, it’s human behaviour that predates the internet. And social media catalyses it - what you write is exposed to more people, who know even less about you than RL people would, with access to even less of the context necessary to take conclusions about you and what you say. The “let’s fill holes with shit we just made up!” process is still the same, but now there are even more holes to fill.
And the dogpiling you mentioned (forming hive mind jumps in)? Well, it’s still that “treating the unknown as if it was certain”, but on steroids. Instead of treating what people say as potentially true/false, they treat it as certainly true/false and good/bad and anyone disagreeing/agreeing with you must be picking the right/wrong side.
Perhaps that’s a sign that our human nature leans towards tribalism, not towards rationality.
I don’t know a good solution for that. What I’ve been doing is