Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Freedom and Trolls Online
After following a very long thread over at terra nova much like I would follow any soap opera, I have been thinking about our right to post whatever we want, anywhere we want, whenever we want in the big bad world of the blogosphere.
Terra nova, for all those who know or who are interested, is a public forum where academics, industry and other like minded people discuss game/internet/virtual world related material. State of the industry, social and developmental issues and the like. Most who post, if not all, are gamers/vw participants in some way, shape or form - lending a bit of street cred to their commentaries. Threads of disagreements are usually cordial, bearing some form of 'professional' or 'academic' tone of devil's advocate-ness and whatnot. But the above-mentioned thread has reached a point of silliness I have never seen before. . Not that those who normally participate/comment on the blog have reached a level of silliness, but someone with a starkingly opposing (and perhaps stubborn-headed) opinion has come in and posted like a madman countering every comment and criticism posted by the other members.
In the beginning, it was entertaining - to see how the 'hive mind' that is terra nova defended their position and countered the criticisms from the critic. But, no matter what was posted, the posts continued in a long winded "you fools are blinded by the shining of the ivory of your tower" spiel that has bordered on the verge of being just too much.
In a world where everyone has an opinion, and we openly welcome public commentary on our thoughts (by blogging publically) how much is too much. What (if there is) is the difference between freedom of speech, intellectual freedom and trolling? When is it ok to say 'nuff is enough already - get out of my sandbox and go pee in your own?"
After following a very long thread over at terra nova much like I would follow any soap opera, I have been thinking about our right to post whatever we want, anywhere we want, whenever we want in the big bad world of the blogosphere.
Terra nova, for all those who know or who are interested, is a public forum where academics, industry and other like minded people discuss game/internet/virtual world related material. State of the industry, social and developmental issues and the like. Most who post, if not all, are gamers/vw participants in some way, shape or form - lending a bit of street cred to their commentaries. Threads of disagreements are usually cordial, bearing some form of 'professional' or 'academic' tone of devil's advocate-ness and whatnot. But the above-mentioned thread has reached a point of silliness I have never seen before. . Not that those who normally participate/comment on the blog have reached a level of silliness, but someone with a starkingly opposing (and perhaps stubborn-headed) opinion has come in and posted like a madman countering every comment and criticism posted by the other members.
In the beginning, it was entertaining - to see how the 'hive mind' that is terra nova defended their position and countered the criticisms from the critic. But, no matter what was posted, the posts continued in a long winded "you fools are blinded by the shining of the ivory of your tower" spiel that has bordered on the verge of being just too much.
In a world where everyone has an opinion, and we openly welcome public commentary on our thoughts (by blogging publically) how much is too much. What (if there is) is the difference between freedom of speech, intellectual freedom and trolling? When is it ok to say 'nuff is enough already - get out of my sandbox and go pee in your own?"
posted by Kelly at
17:40
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