For me, it was that the Internet never forgets and that you should never enter your real name. In my opinion, both of these rules are now completely ignored.
Never disclose any real personal info.
“Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory” was both a lie (typically invoked to defend/justify bigotry, bullying, and such) and it also served to normalize people being assholes on the internet. “Perfectly well adjusted wholesome ordinary people chant nazi slogans when they log onto the internet, for real guys! It says nothing about their character as people because for some magical reason the internet totally has no connections to lived human experiences!”
I’m glad that the so-called rule fell out of use and the excuse rings very hollow for most people now. Also, I noticed that many “ironic asshole” comedians and entertainers from the “le epic trolling” era wound up being actual assholes that hurt people outside of the act. “Million Dollar Extreme” and Justin Roiland come to mind.
Huh. I never saw that used as an excuse. I always took it as, “normal” people show their true colors when they feel divorced from consequences for their actions/speech
Same. I think OP may have missed the point, although they’re right that there’s more to it than the rule makes it seem like.
That’s crazy. Makes a lot of sense.
I always tried to be the “shockingly nice person to game with” whenever I could. It was a lot more fun than just being mean to people for no reason.
I never understood that impulse to scream epithets over xbox live or whatever.
I’ve found the best way to really infuriate online edgelords was to be patient yet firm with them.
Like a parent.
I’m a faithful follower of never using your real name in social parts of the internet. We don’t need to know and we don’t want to know. The only ones who would want to know are scammers or people wanting to give you a shitty time. I only use my real name online for people and places in where it’s required like talking to agents from my bank, insurance .etc And very few friends know my real name through FB and the circle anyways.
Don’t send nudes online to anybody. I know of some communities where people happily are flaunting it one moment then they make a post later whining about them being exploited or that they thought they were crafty hiding the nudes from someone they’re married with. They delete it but they’re too naive to think that what’s already out there, has most likely been saved by hundreds by now, so you’re fucked either way.
Another is, is that if you want to be understood, then you need to use proper spelling and grammar. I miss the days when you got kicked at because you used ‘u’ in replacement of ‘you’. It’s just two fucking extra letters you lazy asshole. These days saying stupid shit like; ‘yah fr u tha fam’ is somehow a complete sentence. No, I’m going to give you shit for it and if you want me to bother caring with what you have to say, fucking make some sense. I don’t even get offended by insults when they’re poorly spelled, it just tells me what kind of an inept moron you are.
yo u needa chillax bro lol
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I don’t think people really do that anymore, people got faster typing and autocorrect got good
I do use my real name in voice chats provided I’ve known the person for a few days at least, I hate being called by my username in voice
Yeah, for real. You’re the family.
I’m with you on the no real names, no nudes. “Don’t dox yourself” was the norm pre-Myspace. Facebook made it almost fashionable to do so.
I’m fine with shorthand and colloquialisms, especially in the era of the smartphone and their lack of physical keyboards.
It made sense with t9 texting. Smartphones have easy to use keyboards and autocorrect. No reason to still type like you have to make 7 or 8 key presses to type “you.”
Facebook made it almost fashionable to do so.
"
Zuck: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard just ask
Zuck: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
Friend: what!? how’d you manage that one?
Zuck: people just submitted it
Zuck: i don’t know why
Zuck: they “trust me”
Zuck: dumb fucks
"
I’m fine with shorthand and colloquialisms, especially in the era of the smartphone and their lack of physical keyboards.
It wasn’t even cool once t9 emulation came in. But writing with no regard for the audience, that’s apparently eternal.
Put in the effort or eat the down-votes.
yah fr u tha fam
The only abbreviations in that are fr and u. Fam is slang for family, not a text only abbreviation. “Tha” is just a transcription of how someone may say “the”. Like “da bomb”. “Yah” is either a typo of “yeah” or the same as “tha”. This feels more like an insult against people transcribing vernacular literally. Are you racist?
Yes I am racist. I’m racist to stupid fucks who deliberately twist contexts around to fit a projected narrative of theirs, you asshole.
You’re the one bringing the race into this, not me. This is simply a response. Let me remind you, since your braincells are in single digits, that this is a response to something you brought into the discussion that wasn’t otherwise warranted. Get a fucking clue.
Did you watch the clip? It’s clearly tongue in cheek. Way to self report though, jeez.
Nah, u wrong fo dat last part homie. Maybe if u tryna have an intellectual discussion then u can write in full n shi. But if it’s just a casual convo, then write casual
20 years ago, if someone said ‘u’ for ‘you’ then I assumed they were young. These days if I see someone use ‘u’ for ‘you’ I assume they are 60+.
These days if I see someone use ‘u’ for ‘you’ I assume they are 60+.
Nah. Indolence knows no cohort.
I’m a faithful follower of never using your real name in social parts of the internet. We don’t need to know and we don’t want to know.
Corollary: there are no girls on the Internet. The simplest way to promote gender equality is to not disclose gender in arbitrary conversation or in the profile. If you still do in an anonymous forum, you are likely trying to take advantage of privileges that the patriarchal societal structure offers you in that situation, and in doing so you are upholding it.
But then nobody can use gendered neopronouns.
Which IMO is a good thing. I don’t mind people having their own identity, but if nobody tracks pronouns (including traditional pronouns) then life becomes easier for everyone and there’s less drama. We need fewer pronouns, not more.
That sounds like something an agender person who just assumed they were cis because they went with the flow and never much thought about it would say.
It’s just something a person who wants to see everyone as a unique individual instead of putting them in a box says. Doesn’t matter if it’s about skin color, gender, age, etc. Make it okay to be somewhere vague on a multidimensional spectrum instead of having to make everything black or white. In the end none of these factors even matter when we’re discussing which Bionicle is best.
No, I’m not “assuming I’m cis”. I’m trying not to assume, period. I don’t need a label to know who I’m attracted to and it’s none of your business either.
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Don’t Feed the trolls
As in real life, it’s pretty sound advice to ignore, block or otherwise disengage from trolls and other forms of belligerents. Even in the '90s when I first started using the internet, the phrase of the day was “don’t feed the trolls”. But people just can’t help themselves. They will even reply saying “I know you’re a troll, but…”.
The Steam forums are a great example, where every other thread is a fake “is this game woke??” screed. The fact that you can be rewarded for being a cunt there with jesters (which translate into points that can be spent to buy profile items) just makes it a thousand times worse. You get ‘paid’ to be a troll on Steam. It’s insanity.
The only anti-troll weapon that works or is needed is oblivion. Let their steaming turd of a post curdle in solitude. Don’t even downvote it. Being downvoted is a victory for them, an acknowledgement that they exist and that they’ve gotten your attention and that they’ve annoyed you. Shadowban them from your mind. Block them so that no future posts of theirs will infect your screen. Report them so mods can remove/ban them. Just don’t engage directly with the post or the user. Don’t say “blocked and reported” in the troll’s thread/post. Just do it silently.
Ive blocked so many award baiters on steam, when an update for one of the bigger games comes out the first few comment pages are filled with "you’ve blocked this user. If you’ve blocked enough of them the comments get usable again.
This is how I felt about online gameplay too. Someone being a turd? Block em. I still had some GREAT interactions with random players.
But nowadays every online game is dead silent. People are scared of toxicity so they’re all sequestered in separate discord servers. Might as well be playing with bots. =\
…Pretty sick of Discord. Lol.
Don’t get into stranger’s cars, and don’t give out your real name or number or address on the internet.
Now you do most of these things when you call an uber. 😅
Technically so did you when calling a cab. Name, number and location
Sure, but there’s no verification when calling a cab so you can use an alias if you want.
There always have been the nick picks. But now sometimes there is barely any connection between the post and the comments. Like two people with multiple strokes distributed between them having an angry teams call.
*nit picks
Don’t give your credit card details over the internet.
Nowadays people have them saved in their damn browser for convenience.
Credit card usually isn’t so bad. It’s usually pretty easy to dispute charges etc, debit card on the other hand…no way that’s getting saved
Have you had any experience with that? I keep hearing it, but usage of a credit card is expensive af
I have. My bank did a chargeback like they would if it was a credit card. I was told it would’ve been a lot harder to get my money back if my PIN was used. But, I’ve only seen that option available for in-person purchaees.
Only time I’ve had fraudulent charges was when I was 18 or so and hadn’t yet got my first line of credit. They disputed the charges normally and froze the account. It did suck not having much money but I also was living at home still so I just avoided spending money for a few days until it all finished processing
It’s only expensive if you don’t pay it in full every month. I’ve had my credit card for years and have paid $0.00 total for it whilst it generates at least 1% cash back or more depending on where used. Not much, but it adds up and makes it beneficial.
I feel like a lot of small shops now (especially restaurants and convenience stores) charge for using a credit card in a manner that wipes out any benefit from “cash back rewards”.
To me the bigger benefit is that a card that is opened many years ago (pair on time) gets you a better credit score. This will net you much better deals throughout life for major purchases like a car or home (if you are lucky enough to still be able to afford one).
Never click an ad
It’s easy for people to understand with banner ads but sponsored links seem to trip them up.
Make sure you use the right type of search engine for the type of information you want.
Since when this was a rule rule??
Before Google dominated you had a different search engine for blogs, mp3s, warez, link pages etc. You also had directories where the content of the web was neatly organised by topic.
Never lived on this era but this feels life a fresh breath of peaceful life.
All of them.
Play Team Fortress on weekends. It’s cheaper.
Don’t share your personal information online.
Yeah that’s definitely not being followed anymore.
On the Internet I grew up on, pretty much anything was ok except to discuss (or even speculate about) the real-world identities of users who didn’t very openly disclose them.
Now many people think the latter is ok.
Me too, thanks.
This shit’s still true. I bet you’re taking me seriously as you read this and everything.
(Except other dogs, and we meet every night on irc:#awoo)