[Hudlug] Completely OT: the power of the internet for consume r rights!!! :-)

[Chris Lindley]

On Tue, 2002-10-15 at 08:49, Ben Potter wrote:
> A bit similar to this, not a forum thread, but a similar story
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27433.html
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/31/27441.html
> 
> Its daft enough to do it in the first place(for either story), to bragg
> about it is idiotic, but to post her license plate? I really didn't think
> anybody could be that moronic

I think the lesson to be learned from these incidents, (and I'm sure
that they're not isolated ones) is that the  internet is well and truly
a public forum.  Like it or hate it, it has irrevocably become a part of
the real world.  Whatever you do here is open to many many people, and
preserved for posterity in a way that private letters, phone calls etc.
could never be.  I do know that searching on my name on google usenet
archive's does sometimes come up with well embarrassing posts.  Thank
god there's no Fidonet BBS archive as well!!!  (..or is there!!).

I suppose the main difference with email is how easy this type of
"gossip" can propagate. Gossip, verbally communicated, can travel fast,
but has the "chinese whispers" effect.  However since these type of
email gossips are communicated verbatim, then the original story stays
true, and is communicated very quickly and v.widely

It does suprise me when people think that "on the 'net" that they are
anonymous, and how easily flame wars happen when some person feels
grieved or insulted, and lashes out in a way that they would never even
think about in "real life". They feel disconnected and protected by the
perceived anonymity.  

Another example of this disconnection was quite nicely demonstrated in
the Sunday times computer section. This week, there is a story of how a
surf shop destroyed by a flood, was saved by the online part of the
business.  The proprietor made an interesting and perhaps insightful
statement when he said "What is good about selling online, is that
customers appear to forget that they are spending money. When people
came into the shop tehy usually buy one item, but onkine they are click
happy. They might mean to order one T-shirt, but often end up ordering
more.  It's as if they think it's not realy happening".  That last
statement seems to sum up the vast majority of internet users,
especially ones who've come to the net in the last two years.  There's
this disconnection between the real world and this thing people call the
internet! 

Perhaps when a sufficient amount of events like this occur, people will
treat


Hmm, I seem to have been rambling for far too long!!!

Cheers
Chris

> 
> Ben Potter
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Lindley [mailto:chris.lindley@scotgate.org]
> Sent: 14 October 2002 20:54
> To: hudlug@mailman.lug.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [Hudlug] Completely OT: the power of the internet for
> consumer rights!!! :-)
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2002-10-14 at 20:49, Chris Lindley wrote:
> 
> Oh and to summarise the whole thread, read this post from the web admin
> of the web forum.
> 
> 
> http://forums.mustangworks.com/showthread.php?s=ff74b46ed83b4e64dcf59eeba903
> 2395&threadid=29134&perpage=15&pagenumber=31
> 
> 
> Cheers
> Chris
> 
> -- 
>   Chris Lindley                                  
>   chris.lindley@scotgate.org          chrishl@bmb.leeds.ac.uk
>   ICQ#157144010	    AIM#fergycool    jabber#fergy    IRC#Ferg
>   Climb up it, kayak down it + make sure it runs on GNU/Linux
> 
> 
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-- 
  Chris Lindley                                  
  chris.lindley@scotgate.org          chrishl@bmb.leeds.ac.uk
  ICQ#157144010	    AIM#fergycool    jabber#fergy    IRC#Ferg
  Climb up it, kayak down it + make sure it runs on GNU/Linux