Huibert-Aalbers.com

When you write a blog you quickly learn that on the Internet not everyone is nice. There are simply tons of rude people out there that will not hesitate to insult you just for expressing opinions that do not closely match theirs. They usually hide themselves behind the anonymity that the web provides.

The problem is so widespread that I have to eliminate almost half of the messages posted on my blog (that is after deleting all the spam that I get almost daily). I used to work at HSBC back in the web early days, creating their banking portal, and I recall that most of the customer feedback sent to the bank through the Internet could mostly be described as a collection of insults. It was clear that they did not expect that someone would actually read their e-mails not to mention receiving a call from a senior manager. It was only then that they realized what they had done and apologized for the tone of their complaints.

These examples clearly show that most people behave differently online than in the real world. Why is that? How is it possible that polite persons suddenly behave like children? Well, it may be that some of those actually are children, but more seriously, the answer is obviously anonymity. We bloggers tend to behave better online simply because we know that anything we write will never be forgotten by search engines such as Google and that some of our posts may come back to byte us sometime in the future. On the other hand, anonymous users are not compelled to behave correctly.

So, how do we reign in these barbarians? As in real life, the best way to control bad behavior is social disapproval. I sincerely believe that kicking someone out of a mailing list for not following netiquette rules has positive effects, even if that person can easily rejoin the group under a new fake identity. Other options are reputation systems like the one used by eBay but based on the quality of the posts written by each member instead of their trustworthiness.

However, despite its flaws, the Internet is currently the only medium that allows for true discussion of all major themes without censorship, taboos or the interference of political correctness. This is something invaluable that we cannot afford to lose by implementing secure identity validation systems. If the price to pay for true liberty is having to live with rude people I am more than happy to pay it. I still hope though that sometime in the future we will all learn to live in virtual worlds behaving with respect for others so that no one can ever be tempted to curtail our liberties on this wonderful media.