Most people that know me will most likely atest to the fact that I'm quite a polite guy, maybe a bit of a cheeky sod but a fair minded kind of chap who minds his P's and Q's. Unless you're whining constantly on comms or chat in MW2 in which case you will be the target of some imaginative ridicule on my part.
The thing is, when it comes to forum and blog posts, the vast majority of people will not know me, nor I them. So it constantly astounds and depresses me that there are so many idiots out there that feel the anonymity of the internet gives them permission to be unpleasant to other people who have a differing opinion. Disagreeing and discussing issues is fine, healthy even and if that's all they were doing then that'd be fine. But no, not only do they seem to automatically oppose what people say but they then seem to want to verbally attack the other person which is just not on.
As we all know, the medium of the internet has a tendency to allow intent to be miss-interpreted which can cause conflict. So with the knowledge that what you read on screen isn't necessarily what was meant and that the person on the other end of the wires doesn't know me, I try particularly hard to conduct myself like a true English gentleman, ask for clarification if I'm dubious and never (well rarely) belittle people on forums. All I ask is that they extend me the same courtesy.
Mind you, I also lurk on a number of forums that declare they take a dim view of such things and yet seem to completely ignore it, even when blatant trolling is occuring, it does make it rather hard not to follow suit and flame the trolls because it can be damn good fun.
We're all only human, but frankly that's just an excuse. Yes we're only human, but we should be trying to be more than we are, raise the bar and both expect and demand better!
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