Rules of the Internet Translate to Real Life

May 18, 2010 13:51

First and foremost among the rules necessary for living a happy and drama-free life on the internet is this:




Troll (n.):
1. a member of a race of fearsome creatures from Norse mythology.
2. (internet) someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the primary intent of provoking the other users.

Someone apparently needs to explain this rule to pretty much everyone in the business school, cause DANG.

Have you ever accidentally hit 'reply all' when you actually meant 'reply'? Well, apparently someone did that and worse early this morning at my workplace. Names will have to remain un-named, but let's just say it's someone who really ought to know better... especially when the end result is forwarding a vaguely racist chain letter to every single person in the school.

I read it and it was distasteful. Something about comparing Obama's election to a series of photographs of really bad truck wrecks. As I said: distasteful and nothing I agree with. However, the email clearly not meant for me so what do I care? He's entitled to his opinions even if they're different from mine. In addition, there was an email apology from the offender immediately afterward making it clear that he knew in was an inappropriate email had not intended it for public consumption as it were. End of story, right? Who HASN'T accidentally hit 'send' on something they really wish they hadn't?

Nope, not the end. There is something in the neighborhood of fourteen emails in my in-box starting with a fairly trollish response that I won't go into too much detail over. So far there have been way too many responses, including a public statement-type email from the Dean.

Seriously, if there is one lesson I have learned from the internet and wish I could pass on to more people it is to know when to drop the subject and walk away. Some conversations serve no purpose except to get people upset. This is one of those conversations (an argument, really) that there is no winning and is gearing up to get some poor idiot fired because he doesn't have politically correct or popular opinions. If I pitched a fit over every single email I got that I disagreed with politically/morally/religiously then the chain letters I get from my aunt would have given me an aneurysm years ago.

Part of me wants to forward the 'Do not feed the troll' image above to everyone involved, but then I'd be breaking my own rule, wouldn't I?

workplace wank, fucking tuesday, really? seriously?, epic fail is epic, internet wank

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