I wrote this, and it occurred to me that I forgot something important. While I specifically mentioned "Amateur Radio" this message might apply to nearly any hobby group, or special interest social media groups out there now. One big one for my wife and I was sailing and cruising. The Sailing and cruising community is massive, and there are dozens if not hundreds of groups associated with sailing - of course, there are the anchor arguments, sail vs power arguments and so forth, but every group has this set of "trolls", including the sailing groups who have to denigrate others' opinions or answers.
I suspect this would never have happened in the past because most people didn't have the ability back in the day to make rude comments to someone in public, knowing someone might punch them in the snot locker. LOL
Rick - Agree on all points. I don’t think the trolls can be tolerated as, you explain well, they poison the goodness of the community. In my opinion, there’s a place for at least elements of benign dictatorship. In a formal organization, like the online presence of a formalized group, then it’s necessary to create a code of conduct so you have a mechanism to formally, impartially stem the poison.
Hams have always had a "formalized code of conduct". I'm not really sure why it went away or folks stopped following it, but it was there in the beginning.
In truth - I think, from a purely psychological standpoint, a line was crossed. When the "Information Age" met humanity, humanity lost all sense of purpose, focus, and decorum. I know as a young man, and as a child, I was much more content to listen to someone who seemed to know more than myself, and to spend time research those things that Elder person said to me (later).
I spent time in the library reading, I researched, I questioned, I didn't instantly and crudely, not to mention rudely, yell bad names or bad words at someone with whom I disagreed. I took the time to digest the things they said, and to research it to my satisfaction. Only then did I choose to form an opinion on a subject.
To this day, I still take time. My opinions aren't simply something I read on "Average Joe's Conspiracy Web Site" and take it as gospel. I still research. I then form opinions based on factual information.
I would hope the majority of us do the same, but given the number of trolls in the ham forums online, I worry that our entire culture will dissolve into chaos sooner, rather than later.
I wrote this, and it occurred to me that I forgot something important. While I specifically mentioned "Amateur Radio" this message might apply to nearly any hobby group, or special interest social media groups out there now. One big one for my wife and I was sailing and cruising. The Sailing and cruising community is massive, and there are dozens if not hundreds of groups associated with sailing - of course, there are the anchor arguments, sail vs power arguments and so forth, but every group has this set of "trolls", including the sailing groups who have to denigrate others' opinions or answers.
I suspect this would never have happened in the past because most people didn't have the ability back in the day to make rude comments to someone in public, knowing someone might punch them in the snot locker. LOL
Ah well....
Very good article that speaks to me having run a few groups in my hobby world.
Social QRM adds another dimension to the hobby and a challenge to deal with as it won't go away any time soon. 73 de VA3IHS
I love it - "Social QRM". :)
Rick - Agree on all points. I don’t think the trolls can be tolerated as, you explain well, they poison the goodness of the community. In my opinion, there’s a place for at least elements of benign dictatorship. In a formal organization, like the online presence of a formalized group, then it’s necessary to create a code of conduct so you have a mechanism to formally, impartially stem the poison.
Hams have always had a "formalized code of conduct". I'm not really sure why it went away or folks stopped following it, but it was there in the beginning.
In truth - I think, from a purely psychological standpoint, a line was crossed. When the "Information Age" met humanity, humanity lost all sense of purpose, focus, and decorum. I know as a young man, and as a child, I was much more content to listen to someone who seemed to know more than myself, and to spend time research those things that Elder person said to me (later).
I spent time in the library reading, I researched, I questioned, I didn't instantly and crudely, not to mention rudely, yell bad names or bad words at someone with whom I disagreed. I took the time to digest the things they said, and to research it to my satisfaction. Only then did I choose to form an opinion on a subject.
To this day, I still take time. My opinions aren't simply something I read on "Average Joe's Conspiracy Web Site" and take it as gospel. I still research. I then form opinions based on factual information.
I would hope the majority of us do the same, but given the number of trolls in the ham forums online, I worry that our entire culture will dissolve into chaos sooner, rather than later.
73
N0NJY