Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Apr 23rd 2016, 12:23 pm
#16
Boomshacalaca!!
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: South of the North Pole.......Colorado
Posts: 5,066
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
IMO, people tend to like to hide behind the anonymity of forums. I also find it interesting how people react when I shrug shoulders and humbly quip, "Opinions vary ...."; for some reason, certain people then escalate and really fly off the handle. You can't be rational with irrationality, I guess!
Its all an elaborate social study.
.... whenever someone would say to me, 'turn the other cheek'; I assumed that they merely couldn't properly see my moon.
Its all an elaborate social study.
.... whenever someone would say to me, 'turn the other cheek'; I assumed that they merely couldn't properly see my moon.
and
Apr 24th 2016, 2:46 am
#18
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,430
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
On BE, I'm more likely to express opinions about race and politics. When there is a thread that's actually dedicated to race/politics, I feel that is the one place that I can be as bombastic as I like because the setting is appropriate. It is never appropriate to force my opinions on co-workers or clientele, and I certainly don't like it when they force their opinions on me (unless we're in agreement, of course 
). Same thing with family and friends, they all know how I feel about most things and, if we don't hold the same views, we can always find something less contentious to discuss.
). Same thing with family and friends, they all know how I feel about most things and, if we don't hold the same views, we can always find something less contentious to discuss.
Apr 24th 2016, 2:48 am
#19
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Just wanted to say that I would never call you bombastic.
Apr 25th 2016, 4:11 am
#21
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Was Virginia, now Yorkshire.
Posts: 2,333
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
In an online community like this where people are regular posters and get to know each other then generally people are quite respectful of each other. I think most people post their honest opinion - it's just too much hard work to project another personality over months and years and it's usually fairly easy to spot the wind up merchants. Whether that honest opinion is delivered more bluntly than in real life I think depends on the poster.
However, elsewhere in places such as comments on news stories where there isn't a sense of community, its disappointing how quickly comments can descend into the aggressive and hostile name calling and insults. The Guardian and Telegraph below the line commentators usually have a fairly coherent position, but other places such as HuffPro and CNN and Fox usually have me backing away pretty quickly, particularly political articles, regardless of which party people claim to support. Depressing insight into the human psyche.
However, elsewhere in places such as comments on news stories where there isn't a sense of community, its disappointing how quickly comments can descend into the aggressive and hostile name calling and insults. The Guardian and Telegraph below the line commentators usually have a fairly coherent position, but other places such as HuffPro and CNN and Fox usually have me backing away pretty quickly, particularly political articles, regardless of which party people claim to support. Depressing insight into the human psyche.
Apr 25th 2016, 4:46 am
#22
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2011
Location: "LA LA Land"
Posts: 2,448
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
How often on online forums like BE and social media like Facebook that someone's opinions completely surprise you or are taken in the wrong context?
Do people state their opinions more openly and more aggressively online than if they were face to face with the other people they are conversing with??
Just curious as to what other people think. I have recently been surprised by a few people I know quite well being very outspoken and hostile on subjects I really didn't think they ever had much interest in, let alone a very forceful and aggressive opinion. I just can't imagine them acting this way if it was a discussion we were having together.
People can be weird
Do people state their opinions more openly and more aggressively online than if they were face to face with the other people they are conversing with??
Just curious as to what other people think. I have recently been surprised by a few people I know quite well being very outspoken and hostile on subjects I really didn't think they ever had much interest in, let alone a very forceful and aggressive opinion. I just can't imagine them acting this way if it was a discussion we were having together.
People can be weird
"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear"
That sometimes happens here for me. The very act of posting focuses and crystallizes my thinking. The expression ie my own post is sometimes a revelation (to me
)
Apr 25th 2016, 5:06 am
#23
Deep in the woods of CT
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 7,015
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Once I posted, "With all due respect, [what the person I was responding to had said was not correct]." The rest of the post was (to my mind, anyway) equally polite. I got a ticked-off response that people only use that phrase when they are disagreeing! Well, yeah!!!
Apr 25th 2016, 5:17 am
#24
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2011
Location: "LA LA Land"
Posts: 2,448
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Apr 25th 2016, 5:22 am
#25
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Was Virginia, now Yorkshire.
Posts: 2,333
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
That's because "with all due respect" means exactly the opposite. Think Sir Humphrey Appleby.
Apr 25th 2016, 5:52 am
#27
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Monterey, CA
Posts: 2,554
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Every online forum is the same. In fact, not just forums. Read the comments section on the majority of YouTube videos. As far as I'm concerned, anyone that gets upset about something some total stranger says on an Internet forum should probably stay away from Internet forums.
Apr 25th 2016, 6:38 am
#28
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Was Virginia, now Yorkshire.
Posts: 2,333
Apr 25th 2016, 7:16 am
#30
In the pink
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 3,324
Re: Opinions: Expressing them online versus face to face.
Outside of my home I rarely argue with anyone. If I am with someone who has strong opinions about something that I don't agree with, I just stay quiet. My USC family members are quite opinionated. My mum brought me up never to argue with relatives, so I don't. I just don't respond to them, or change the subject when I can.
Inside our house, anything goes. We can shout, yell, argue, whatever. We don't take offense.
On this forum, I like to state my opinion, because I think that's what's forums are actually for. People ask for advice, and everyone gives their opinion. The last time I gave an opinion somebody remarked that I was "spewing my guts out." Therefore, I decided it wasn't worth it, and have retreated somewhat. I'm thinking why bother?
Inside our house, anything goes. We can shout, yell, argue, whatever. We don't take offense.
On this forum, I like to state my opinion, because I think that's what's forums are actually for. People ask for advice, and everyone gives their opinion. The last time I gave an opinion somebody remarked that I was "spewing my guts out." Therefore, I decided it wasn't worth it, and have retreated somewhat. I'm thinking why bother?
