To me, the social aspects of the Internet are always interesting and often thought provoking. I bumped into some relevant material and thought I would link some older material again.

(It's been a while and the archives for this are currently under construction)

Some profane language here, if you have delicate sensibilities, I'm asking you to please deal!

First up: A simple cartoon detailing the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19



This one is actually e-mail related, but the psychology is applicable to Internet conversation forums:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/health/psychology/20essa.html?_r=1&ref=health& oref=slogin



A personal favorite, Internet Flame Warriors Illustrated:

http://redwing.hutman.net/%7Emreed/



Finally some heavy reading, for those so interested:

http://www.samblackman.org/Articles/Suler.pdf

The "Flame Warriors" is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. It gets one thinking too, who am I? Don't answer that. :o)

That's the best part! Everyone of us exhibits a few of these traits, from time to time. It's actually quite useful to learn to recognize them and then act accordingly!

And that's the bifurcation bit, in a nutshell. Nearly all people, who engage one another online, tend to do things they would not otherwise do, given the social norms in meat space.

So true, I do believe, however, some of us still have high aspirations...
http://www.trcbsa.org/E_Service_Center/E-Forms/Eagle/Eagle%20Scout%20OATH.pdf
...even if a bit of the other personalities creep to the surface. :o)