Unlike in normal, day-to-day life, people on Internet message
boards tend to be eager for confrontation:
WackyDoodle: I like food. Food is fantastic.
HysteriaGuy: Are you insane???? Look at all the overweight people!!!
Oh, the humanity!!
There are many ways to show how you feel through a text-based
medium, here are some of them:
Smilies: Oh, how far they have come from the old-school days of
the simple colon-right parentheses days. Now, many discussion forums
will have a vast array of smilies - some animated - to show every emotion
or feeling one can imagine. One word of warning: The use of smilies is
a delicate art, and try and under use them rather than the opposite.
The cute little yellow balls making faces are only interesting in
moderation.
The Ghandi Approach: This technique is a sure-fire way to earn a
spot as a respected forum member. Just avoid any type of confrontation:
WackyDoodle: Life is great!
HateEverythingDude: I hate you. I hate you a lot.
WackyDoodle: Awww, you just need a hug.
HateEverythingDude: Sigh. Yeah, I do.
Fighting fire with fire: The Ghandi Approach is nearly infallible.
However, it's also rarely used. Someone needs to do a study to on why
some sweet-as-pie grandmother will call someone every name in the book
for questioning her sewing technique on a discussion board. It's sad but
true, many of us enjoy a little verbal warfare. A positive way to keep
yourself from being abusive to someone, is to attack opinions you don't
like, and don't attack the person who has the opinions.
Bad: You're an awful, horrible person for having that
opinion.
Good: You're opinion is awful and horrible.
Common Sense: Always remember to keep your cool. There are other
human beings behind the other screens of a discussion forum and there
are some people who are out there posting things just to try and upset
people. Don't fall prey. Also: Avoid posting the same things over and
over on a board. This will get you banned for spamming; Type normally,
not ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS or in SoME funky WaY.