The Sunday Start-Times had a half page opinion article by Simon Cunliffe who says, “I am a Twitter-virgin. I do not subscribe, have not used, and do not intend to become a Twitter devotee.” Having stated that he has no experience of Twitter, he then goes on to assert, “Twitter encourages directness, blunting the social niceties and conventions of more considered interactions… Tweets have little room for subtlety and even less for nuance.”
I use Twitter pretty much daily and have over 74,000 followers. Contrary to Twitter-virgin Simon Cunliffe, my experience on Twitter has been generally positive. The part of the Twitterverse I inhabit is generally concerned with people improving their own lives, helping others with their own goals, and having a bit of fun along the way. I have had a few souring experiences. Yes, they are upsetting. Rule 1: don’t feed the trolls (note to self). Unfollow means they cannot Direct Message, and all they write is public. Block means you do not read their upsetting tweet. Block and report is a top-level response to nastiness.
New Zealand-born Australian television personality, Charlotte Dawson, has been in the news (and is the background to Simon Cunliffe’s article) for hospitalisation for suicidal tendencies encouraged by some tweets. Nothing, I believe, justifies tweets like that.
The law varies from country to country in relation to social media. Generally it is struggling to keep pace with social media developments. It is difficult, for example, to be clear who owns online messages – and, hence, who has legal responsibility for them. There is a strong school of thought, for example, that if Jimmy makes a comment on a business’ Facebook Page that the business holds responsibility for Jimmy’s comment and should be monitoring the Page and removing unacceptable comments. Others would argue Jimmy retains ownership and responsibility for the comment. Facebook, in many contexts, might argue that it owns the comment and information provided.
I am clear that this post is my intellectual property, and I am responsible for its content. When it comes to the comments you place here, I regard myself as having some moral responsibility, and it is possible I have some legal responsibility for them.
I also hold that you, posting comments, have a moral responsibility as you post. And possibly a legal responsibility.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. (James 3:5-6)
In several discussions here I have always held that cyberspace is not “unreal”. I am affected by what I read, just as I am affected by what I hear. I am affected, positively and negatively, by what you write to me online. I am affected, positively and negatively, by people I have never met. The ethics of online conversations, then, IMO are not significantly different to the ethics of non-virtual conversations.
- On this site I ask that people use their ordinary names. A couple of people are exempt from this – I know who they are, and their ordinary names. There are particular reasons they are exempt. I am interested in conversations here that generate light and little heat.
- I do not accept ad hominems on this site. I intend this to be a safe place where we can hold and express differences of opinion respectfully. Disagreeing with a person’s position and doing so by pointing out a negative characteristic of the person supporting it is unacceptable. Disagreeing with a person’s position and appearing to argue against it by denigrating an unrelated belief of the person supporting it is also ad hominem. Putting people into a category that they themselves do not use of themselves, and arguing against the constructed category, rather than responding to the particular belief or comment is also ad hominem.
- Read what a person actually says. Don’t skim quickly, assume, reply.
- St Ignatius Loyola cautioned us to attempt to put the best construct that we could muster on a person’s statement. If we cannot do that, the appropriate response is firstly to ask the person to clarify. We do not argue with a straw man (the misrepresentation of a person’s position).
- Flaming, the posting of a provocative or offensive message (“flamebait”) with the intention of provoking anger or argument (a “flame”), is unacceptable.
- Just as we bring prayer to our non-virtual activities, asking God to bless all we think, say, and do, so we pray about what we do and say online. Prayer does not make it right (“I have prayed about it” can be one of the biggest moral cop-outs). But it is a rare person who has not realised that, in the world of instant reply, pausing before pressing “send” is one of the most important disciplines in the digital age.
Many of these points apply well beyond this site. And in the non-virtual world.
Can I express again my appreciation for you as the community that gathers around this site, your generosity of spirit, and your willingness to listen and dialogue respectfully. In this last week I mentioned to a couple of you that the conversation was tending towards more heat than light; on both occasions my point was taken most graciously and the conversation continued positively and helpfully. Thank you.
Some sites (unlike this one) are perfectly happy to have people use a pseudonym. If it is the truth of the point, rather than who says it, that is important – that has its own integrity. Ad hominems from pseudonymous people remain unacceptable on such sites.
What do you think of my online-behaviour points? Can you add some of your own?
If you found this post helpful, please consider “liking” the Facebook Liturgy Page, or use the RSS feed.
I think your points are fair and reasonable, and our web interactions would be much improved if more commenters adopted them.
However, it is also apparent to me that that there is a significant temptation to go that bit further in a comment because the chances of repercussions are very slim.
Having been the victim of bullying in my younger days I can sympathise with Dawson, but I cannot comprehend how she got into this position simply through recieving tweets… there must be some other component.
Thanks, Claron. I guess I hope people’s ethics can move beyond the stage where we do things because of repercussions to us. And you are correct, Dawson has had these issues. The tweets she received were unacceptable. Blessings.
I once commented on another Christian site, under an identity I use to make political points – however, I merely commented on the religious import of the post. Some eejit obviously traced back to my political blog, and then left a comment below mine using the “c”-word. I was horrified, and haven’t been back to the site for fear of again attracting a comment of the sort that people don’t go onto Christian sites to see.
Perhaps I should have changed avatars; on the other hand, perhaps an online behaviour point might be to respond to what a person says in a comment, and not on other sites?
If I understand you correctly, Ed, I agree – we should place comments where they connect directly with the thread. If someone, for example, was referring to me and this post and disagreeing strongly with what I am saying, I would think it was at least courteous to let me know so that I could respond. Blessings.
Hi Bosco
What you write here, in my opinion, is little more than early netiquette with the exception of updated media use coverage. I have been around BBS sites, bulletin boards, all pre-internet stuff and ‘rules of engagement’ all insisted on no ‘flaming’.
Moderators were the key then but with the availability of internet moderation became impossible yet early adopters of internet insisted these rules remain and were repeated often in magazines to do with computers.
It is a shame we don’t see these ‘rules of engagement’ any longer printed regularly as each generation moves along, it just might help people think about there actions even briefly.
I always remember being told if you wouldn’t want your mother to read it don’t post it! 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement, Jason. Blessings.
As an infrequent poster here but fairly frequent visitor to the site, can I just say that I am very appreciative of the safe place you have created here, Bosco.
When I first ventured online, the first online community I joined had a policy of everyone using pseudonyms in a form which reflected the purpose of the community (talking about books we enjoyed). For a while I used my pseudonym from that site everywhere online and I like to think my online persona was actually more civil than my offline persona.
I know that some people are much less civil online than offline but I don’t really understand it. I feel that the persona I project online is still me and I want other people to like and respect that persona. Also I find having to write and edit my writing means my hair-trigger temper is kept more under control and it’s so much easier just to leave a situation when you’re online.
Thanks for your points and encouragement, Robert. Blessings.
I would have thought that the application of good manners might be expected? Or are they out-dated now?
Peace.