People seem to take words on the screen so seriously. Why? People fight, argue, and have massive explosions of emotion and written aggression. For what reason? People argue on Facebook and other social media and never say peep in real life.

Why is an internet argument SUCH A BIG DEAL, RAWR!!!!!!!!! (?)

I might post more on this later, but I thought I'd come in to give my two cents.

I see internet arguments as a way for a person who has nothing going in their life to attack others, and then get away with it, while bragging to any friends they may have about how awesome it makes them. If they have no friends, they put their bragging on facebook, and let everyone who knows that person know how "awesome" they are.

I tend to block people who argue needlessly. I'll put up with a person who makes clear concise fun statements that further a conversation, but when the person only argues for the sake of arguing or argues poorly (by typing in all caps, making millions of insults, etc), I won't listen.

If you wish to avoid arguments, here's my three step plan for everyone.

1. Find out who caused the argument.
2. Find out who helped further it.
3. Block all parties.

legacyme3 : Whoe well said.


It's normal for the interent.. every website has drama and/or arguments. Sometimes if somebody makes me reallly mad I might say something back.. thats true but I am never ugly and I try not to start or try to end arguments .. it's very childish.. and for people who feel bad about themselfs so to make them feel better they fight with other people or argue. It is a waste of time to me. And like Leggy said just block that person or user. A couple of years ago maybe last year I was the most immaturest girl you could meet.. very hyper and If I didn't get what I wanted I would get very mad. But I'v prayed every night for myself and hoping I can mature up and you know what I have which I'm very proud of. Because I hated being immature.. its just a lonely place to be at.. don't have many friends and if you do they think your weird or pathedic. But in the end all I can say is Block that user.. and if they try to contact you another way just ignore them.

Hope this helped.

Sincerely, lAuRa

Conflicts on the internet are usually unneccesary. I sometimes try to make peace with an argument depending on what it is and who its with.

honestly there is no justifiable cause for trolling. its just a quick giggle for the troll if you ask me. ive done my fair share of trolling back in my.... now. haha im 17 if i had a back in my day then i was trolling at like, 4

There really is no need for it, but I will admit I do like reading arguments on facebook. People are so stupid sometimes, and it's amusing to watch someone just dig themselves a deeper and deeper hole.

I will only participate in internet arguments if:

1. Someone is bullying a friend of mine. A good gay friend of mine was being picked on by a homophobic on facebook; I kinda needed to step in and stick up for my friend.

2. It's very logical. Of course then it's a debate and not really considered an argument, lol

"Why is an internet argument SUCH A BIG DEAL"

Because the internet is the only place where you have full control over freedom of speech. You can't really do it at a school or a job without getting in trouble for it. Your voice means more on the internet then it does in person. You are able to broadcast your argument in front of unlimited amounts of people from all over the world.

Some people do it for fun, others do it for profit or controversy to create buzz, and some do it cause they are serious about it.

I would be more worried about this in real life. Why do people take political conflicts so seriously? Why do people take the news and education so seriously? Why do people take sports and celebrities so seriously? Because society is a joke that is all there is too it.

rlmanthias01: Actually, I have learned that an argument is more like a debate. There was this DVD series my mom had me watch for high school that was titled Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning. I wish I could share more though. A quarrel (on the Internet) is probably what everyone here is discussing.

Upon reflection, I find it interesting how I have sometimes been sucked into some controversial debates that tend to boil down into flame wars --I am not the best with sarcasm so it is a little hard for me not to take someone's rant as serious.

JigSaw has a good point that freedom of speech has a higher degree on the Internet than in real life. It is because of the anonymity everyone has on the Internet they are emboldened to say what is really on their minds.

Sometimes I could bump into somebody on accident -- clearly on accident in real life, and they'll begin to sass me.

Heck, I was sassed at for going to the bathroom stall in the city instead of the urinals. o.O (I can't take a... in the urinal... DX)


So I suppose a large portion of why is just the personality and/or maturity of some people. I personally, almost never ever ever get mad when somebody tries to insult me via text. If anything, I actually begin to laugh because I think arguing over the internet is just plain pathetic. It's somebody I can't see, I can't hear, and will never meet again, why should I care?

Maybe other people just don't see it the same way. I could say "u suk" to somebody in an online game, and 10 seconds later I got 18 poorly typed out swear words at me. If I tried it to the next person, I might only just get laughed at.

So in my opinion, it's just the personality (or maturity) of the person. A lot of the people who do get angry over the text are generally (But not limited to) adolescents I find.

Some people feel big and bad posting in forums and chat rooms, writing things they would never say to someone's face. Some people find it amusing to insult a person's religion preference or lack there-of. Race, creed, and color are all open on the internet.
That's why I never post any personal information on the internet. There are some sick freaks out there.

The Internet is a scary and confusing place and everyone knows how obvious trolls are yet they still engage them but they're not stupid but see themselves as trolling back little do they know they're both getting into frenzied and needless arguments, if you see arguments caused by trolls the trolls are stupid for making it and the people who further it are just as stupid to get involved. just avoid I don't think you should block them completely but if they're consistently like this and only really have a life over the Internet or life over the Internet as a troll then yup I agree with legacy just block that shiz ;p

The internet may be intimidading to many people, especially when there are as many 12 to 13 year olds are out there.

People are much more confident on the Internet and will be ready to say more than they ever would in real life.
Also, the fact that your true identity is hidden plays a part.

Really, Internet arguments aren't all that big a deal.  In fact, I got curious on the subject and did some research on it awhile ago.

The basic pattern goes like this:  Someone gets a few threatening messages posted to their FB or PSN accounts, kid gets upset, kid does something drastic, news media picks up the story and runs with it because old folks and protective parents seem to have a phobia for anything electronic that would make an amish man look like an Apple store worker.

Well take a closer look and you'll find it goes more like this.  Kid gets bullied constantly at school, kid comes home where he thinks he's safest, bullies find out kid has gaming and social network accounts, kids last sanctuary gets shattered and he does something drastic, media rushes in and uses buzzwords like "The Facebook Burning" because the kid just set fire to said bullies houses.

I'll have to admit, I do have some what of a temper. Although it is hard for me to get mad, it is also hard for me to calm down. If someone does upset me, I will usually end up arguing or more, this also applies over the web.

well because they arent face to face and well people can get mad or they just troll

warmaker :

Yeah, as so many have said, they can get away with whatever they're saying. As JigSaw said, complete freedom of speech. The Internet means you are anonymous, as far as many are concerned.

But why they take things so seriously; it could be said that people have always taken the written word seriously. I think it's in the general consciousness that if something is written down, it's much more solid. It's a much stronger statement than if you say it. It is concrete. Perhaps this is why so many can ... at times, overreact.

If there are people there will be arguments. There will be drama. That is unavoidable. Friends have said to me;
"We've never fought, and we never will", at which point I generally wince a little and answer that with;
"We will, at some point... but I think we can work through it."
People will argue.
But indeed a good point in that everything seems a huge deal on the Internet, people fight about the most absurd things at times, to the point where I either look at them and sigh or laugh at the lengths they've gone to.

"Why is internet conflict so serious?"

I would have to say this is because the majority of conflicts are serious, whether they are on the internet or not. Your question answers it self because conflicts are serious in nature. Just look at the definition of conflict.

1. to come into collision or disagreement ; be contradictory , at variance , or in opposition
2. to fight or contend ; do battle
   

If either party weren't serious about the topic than there would be no conflict in my opinion. I am not sure how some one can contradict , oppose or contend with out being serious.

smotpoker86 :
Very well, use your definitions on me.  Allow me to reask the question.

Why do internet conflicts cause an incredible amount of anger and rage, whereas other conflict, such as who ate the last cookie or who's turn it is to wash the car, seem to be less violent.

The degree to which I've seen people respond to complete strangers is above and beyond normal conversation, even disagreements.  I was asking about why people react with such massive anger.

warmaker :   I agree people act differently towards complete strangers on the internet than strangers they actually meet. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that they don't have to deal with the people physically. This also isn't exclusive to the internet, some people tend to be  hostile towards telemarketers or people doing surveys over the phone. Trust me, I am one of the people who get angry at telemarketers .

I would also like to point out that just because some one says something that comes across as them being angry, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are angry. I mean when people type "LOL" or "haha" , most of the time they arn't actually laughing. I would say the majority of anger or rage on the internet comes from trolls and griefers. In these cases, the troll is usually trying to piss off random people and get a negative reaction from them. Understandably , people get angry at these trolls and griefers.

One other thing I would like to mention. Socialy the internet is a completely different structure than the real world. Im sure if you put thousands of random people into a room and they could all hear each other (something similar to Youtube or Facebook and not just being able to hear the people immediatly next to you), there would be many conflicts. Some of these conflicts would result in people getting angry