The Internet is an excellent lens for seeing how people act when there are no consequences for their actions. How people choose to use that anonymity says a lot about the person behind the screen.

Sadly there are many people rotting in jails the world over for expressing their strongly held beliefs and views on politics, religion, freedom of speech, human rights, etc, etc.
I wish there were no consequences for people expressing their views online but it is naive to think that we have the freedom to write whatever we want, it's a nice idea though.
In some countries you can't even google goddamnit

"it is naive to think that we have the freedom to write whatever we want"

I don't think so at all. By and large, that's exactly what we (you and me) have. Sure, there are extreme exceptions, but you, NigeeBaby, can type any combination of words you so desire in your next sentence, and there are exactly nil consequences.

@abge well said.

"but you, NigeeBaby, can type any combination of words you so desire in your next sentence, and there are exactly nil consequences."

I will never be naive enough to believe that and there is way too much evidence to the contrary. I try to be a resonable person so I don't look to offend but there are lots of people that have posted things on Facebook about ex-partners, teachers, bullies, people they don't like, etc, etc and have either been threatened, attacked or killed.
It's nice for some people that they think they can type away with impunity, my lad still believes in Santa Claus, but reality bites my friend ...... people have said things to me on here that if they said it to my face I'd knock them out. I realise there is a small amount of artistic license when you think your anonymous and nobody knows where you live.
But the Mods know who you are and the ISP knows where you are, it wouldn't take long to track you down, in fact I'm standing outside your place right now, I'm the one with the white mask, the orange boiler suit and the chain saw.

"people have said things to me on here that if they said it to my face I'd knock them out."

IF being the operative word here. It's precisely because they are not saying it to your face, and your inability to deliver any meaningful consequence to the behavior, that drives the no-holds-barred "etiquette" of the interwebs.

I really can't believe we're having this disagreement.

I fucked your mother, Nigee.
What's that you say, she's dead?
Yeah, because I fucked her to death.
And now she blows Hitler in hell.

Consequence pending? I think not.

I'm going to kill you Nigee, I'm going to kill you then rape your corpse. You and the Queen. Bombs to blow you up and big dildoes full of rape.

Consequence pending? I think not.

Hitler was a pretty cool guy and had a lot of really good ideas. It's a tragedy that he was taken from us without completing his work. Also the holocaust is a myth.

Consequence pending? I think not.

Jesus was both gay and fake.

Consequence pending? I think not.

A horse walks into a bar. Shortly after fucking Nigee's dead mother.

Consequence pending? I think not.

(seriously though, I hope your mom is alive and well)

Yellowjacket may not care a whit, but I was just inspired to mute him.

Consequence. FlemGem for the win.

I'm kindly inviting you to both (nigee and yellowjacket) shut up, not as a moderator, just as a person sick of reading this crap.

@YJ: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_President_of_the_United_States

In diplomacy, when you lie to someone it is considered a part of the game, that is why you sat down and entirely to be expected (i know someone pretty hard-core gamers who will not trust in-game liers when it comes to real life... and they shouhld never be allowed to play diplomacy)

How and Ever, this forum is not a game of diplomacy, it may be a game of 'dont feed the troll' - where you lose if you feed the trolls, and the trolls win...

It may be a place for civilised discussion, open-minded .... nah, it's just about the trolls isn't it... *sniff*

'A horse walks into a bar. Shortly after fucking Nigee's dead mother.

Consequence pending? I think not. '

the consequences may not directly affect you, and may be entirely minor... particluarliy if you're a troll in need of feeding...

@flemgem you make me sad. But you emphasize the point as to exactly why we don't need conversational controls - everybody has the freedom to mute idiots.

@jmo comes with the territory of being a mod, I suppose.

@THM again, I'm trying to talk about social consequences, not legal ones. Yes, clear threats can be prosecuted. I've tried to say this a few different ways now - though I suppose I may be confusing the issue with my previous question to Nigee regarding prison.

@ora really not trolling, just trying to prove a point in the most offensive manner possible, as per my usual. I like Nigee, I just don't see where he's coming from here.

@YJ

http://news.msn.com/us/student-stabbed-over-facebook-argument-at-pa-school

Consequences

exceptions that prove the rule, all.

I don't understand why I'm meeting with so much resistance on this, I would have thought it obvious. I do hope I haven't been painting in too absolute of terms, but doesn't it seem to you all that the real life consequences to online behavior are vanishingly small, especially if you were to compare them to the consequences of the same behavior in real life?

I think Mr. Jacket here is challenging us.

No, I'm really not. I just thought I offered up a pretty common sense explanation for the differences you see in online vs RL behavior, and found a surprising amount of disagreement.

Is non-anonymous online activity (ie Facebook, Instagram, what have you) lumped with online or RL?

well Lando, that's a very good question. Since its social networking, I act in a much more tempered manner there - after all these are real people I deal with on a day to day basis, not a bunch of jokers I just guffaw with like here. However, as abgemacht pointed out, there isn't much anonymity on facebook, so social conventions are much more applicable. There is a real consequence to mentioning Hitler on facebook

I do take your point though.

I'm happy to report that I'm more or less the same person... which is why I'm signed in to this site under my actual name. :)

my name is thucydides, but you can call me BeheadThoseWhoInsultIslam for short

There is 0 consequence to mentioning Hitler on facebook. Apart from the Likes of course.