I'm not sure you were around for the great Gnome vs KDE wars of the 2000's. It was pretty toxic and "win-at-all-costs" back then :-)
When I released my app 8-years ago, I thought support would be my most hated part of releasing a product. To my surprise, it was one of the most rewarding parts, I met some great people via email, some I will visit one day.
But support has its ugly "toxic" side as well. This is particularly prevalent in 1-star reviews for trivial issues. All the reviewer sees is a box to vent their thoughts without considering that there is a real person on the other side. But I'm a real person who cares and some comments do stir bad emotions. This has brought some of my lowest and darkest days of app development.
Sometimes I will make contact with the reviewer and as soon as they get to know me as a real person, they are friendlier and more respectful.
The faceless nature of the internet causes people to treat others poorly. In the real world where we meet people in face-to-face, our initial and natural position is to treat each other with respect.
So here are a few ideas:
1. imagine a person, someones face, not a textbox, website or company - add a persona to him or her.
2. Ask this simple question "Would I treat or talk to someone (my friend) like this in real-life?"
3. Would you be proud of the way you're conversing if people you admire were watching, e.g., respected colleagues, friends, parents.
Like anything else, I think a big part of this is how you are raised.
There are plenty of people that treat others terribly, in real life, without any anonymity whatsoever. Likewise, there are plenty of people that treat other anonymous posters on the internet respectfully.
As with everything, parenting and social norms just need to catch up to technology. We need to instill in our children the idea that being rude to anonymous strangers is a bad thing, just as it is a bad thing to be rude to strangers in real life, just as it is a bad thing to be horrible to people you already know.
Agreed. If you have a bad upbringing and treat people poorly, when you enter a new environment, e.g., a workplace, the new environment would quickly teach the new person the proper way to act.
Likewise, on the internet, we need to encourage people to behave nicely and discourage bad behaviour. And we do, this is what this post is about. I guess we need more of it.
Two acronyms I love are "RTFM" and "TL;DR" - they are short, quick and carry a lot of meaning. I would feel stink if I asked a question and got "RTFM" as a reply, it would highlight my laziness.
I've wondered if an acronym to say "You aren't being nice" or something to that effect would help.
When I released my app 8-years ago, I thought support would be my most hated part of releasing a product. To my surprise, it was one of the most rewarding parts, I met some great people via email, some I will visit one day.
But support has its ugly "toxic" side as well. This is particularly prevalent in 1-star reviews for trivial issues. All the reviewer sees is a box to vent their thoughts without considering that there is a real person on the other side. But I'm a real person who cares and some comments do stir bad emotions. This has brought some of my lowest and darkest days of app development.
Sometimes I will make contact with the reviewer and as soon as they get to know me as a real person, they are friendlier and more respectful.
The faceless nature of the internet causes people to treat others poorly. In the real world where we meet people in face-to-face, our initial and natural position is to treat each other with respect.
So here are a few ideas: 1. imagine a person, someones face, not a textbox, website or company - add a persona to him or her. 2. Ask this simple question "Would I treat or talk to someone (my friend) like this in real-life?" 3. Would you be proud of the way you're conversing if people you admire were watching, e.g., respected colleagues, friends, parents.
This will change the way you write.