Are You Ever Shocked by How Some People Present Themselves?

i'm all for freedom of speech and expression.
but there's a reason for moderators. i have little respect for publications that allow such ugliness to be flaunted on their sites.
khairete
S.

Yahoo news articles have a lot of awful comments.
It makes me glad the moderators and rules of this site keep posters relatively civil.
Some people have no sense of shame.

Did you see the story about the cheerleader for the Cubs whose picture on a Cub website was excoriated by a poster, saying the Cubs had the worse cheerleaders? People posted comments calling her terrible names, what they would "do" with her if she had a bag over her head, lots of awful comments. Even some women joined in. This gal videoed herself holding up cards, telling us what these people said with their names. She also wrote the KIND things that people said. The Cubs took down these remarks by these people. All I could think is "YOU GO GIRL TELLING ON THESE PEOPLE."

She is beautiful too. I couldn't get over that they called her ugly. What's wrong with people.

Since people like you are talking about here are so awful in the things they say, they shouldn't be able to make comments on stories.

Dawn

That's one of the most important lessons we can teach our tech savvy kids: once it's been posted online, good or bad, it won't ever go away. 10 years later, it'll still be there and they'll still get judged for it. Pictures? Yeah, those will be floating in the cloud forever. So be super, extra careful what you post online, send via email or text or generally let loose into virtual space. There is no turning back once its out there.

Sadly, a lot of people just post stuff without thinking it through. Do they not care or are they simply idiots?

It's funny you mention this because I love reading comments to articles (I don't know why it facinates me but it does).

I am always amazed when the FB comments are clearly from people's personal profiles with what looks like their real names - and they have something either really racy or stupid.

Oh yes - I can't believe some of the things my FB friends announce publicly for all to see!!! I used to not be so censored in things I posted - not anything bad, but if I had a bad day at work, or when I went back to work after having DS, I didn't have a problem posting how much I didn't want to be there and my principal called me on it (note to self, don't befriend your supervisors on FB!).

Once I really started paying attention to HOW MANY people could see what I was writing, I significantly cut back. Before I do any type of "status update" now, I think "does so-so that I wasn't really friends with in HS, that I am "friends" with on FB really care to see this?"

Sometimes I find it annoying how much I want to spout off on FB but don't! :-) So yes, there are MANY times I am shocked by what people say on the web! :-)

Yes. Maybe it's because I'm part of the last generation to (mostly) grow up without internet access.
I have had a loved one be in the paper for doing something awful. I found that most of the commenters were making wild assumptions and could not be further from the truth! Since the comments were so off base I can't say I was hurt exactly but more shocked.
Is it my imagination, or have things gotten significantly worse over the past 5 years?

I'm not surprised exactly, but comments sections like these give me this sense that everywhere I go -- Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, wherever -- there's this seething undercurrent of racist evil just beneath the placid surface. I know it's really more diverse and complicated than that, but reading things like that gives me this weird fear, and yet comment sections like that also fascinate me. Because fear is innately fascinating, I guess; I don't know.

This spring, there was an incident where my small university-based office (shared with 3 or 4 others) was covered in racist and anti-Semitic graffiti (swastikas, etc.). The cop who took the report seemed creepily indifferent. The incident didn't harm me in any way or anything, but it keeps coming up in my mind at weird, inopportune times when it's not to my benefit to be distracted.

Ugh yes, all the time. Mostly by my son's birth father and step-daugther's birth mother. Both are out of state and have no custody (thank goodness) but are "friends" with the kids on FB. The kids don't go on FB that often so my husband and I log in to their accounts regularly (with their knowledge) to keep tabs on their idiot other parents. Their immaturity and ignorance never fail to amaze me. Honestly, who posts on FB about being drunk, high, and arrested while in their late 30's or mid 40's? Especially knowing that their teenage kids can see this stuff and think even less of them? So with behavior like that so close to us, what strangers say and do rarely surprises me.

Yes.
It's amazing what quick google of even the most casual of acquaintances can reveal. It can be VERY unflattering. Employers usually check social media these days.,.

Nope, not at all. Sadly, nothing really surprises me anymore.

i saw luckily there was only one guy commenting on race. its sad and even more sad that he isnt afraid to publicly admit he is racist.

Yes and no. Unfortunately I have seen and witnessed too many things to be shocked as much any more. I hate when our society glorifies hateful behavior by plastering it all over the news...yet they say oh, well we heard it was detrimental to speak about it very much and talking about it can escalate the problem.

I can't stand when people are mean to eachother.

Our local paper had a moderated, online comments section. But the racism expressed there was breathtaking. Every single day (there are some predominantly Hispanic towns in my county). Finally the paper switched to Facebook comments only, meaning, you had to have a FB account to comment. In this case, the demeaning and rude comments were cut down significantly when people had to put their name and face on it. I'm not a racist and I personally never made any such comments, but I've gotta tell you, when they switched to FB comments, I don't comment any more on ANYTHING. It would be really weird to be walking around my town and have someone recognize me from my newspaper comments when I don't even know them. Anyway, I'm weird about privacy like that. It amazes me that so many people aren't.

If you want to really get bummed about humanity, click on a Yahoo "News" article and read the comments there. Daaaaaang. Cretins cruise those boards.

I read the comments and don't see anything shocking. I didn't read them all, so maybe I missed what you're referring to.

I am not surprised. Look at the idiocy that happens on here.

The cruel and vile comments. The flaming. Look at some of the posts that are on here today. One was just a way for a poster to be mean to others and they jumped on the bandwagon. And these are the same people that claim to be Christians and want to help one another. They are simply idiots. I am sorry if that offends anyone. Who can really disagree with me? Those that are doing fail to see the hypocrisy in their actions and words.

People hide behind their computer screen. Even if their picture is there for the world to see. The next person will make an even bolder comment. The person then feels justified in their remarks. Another person backs their comment (idiocy) and low and behold, you have a hate-fest happening.

Good for you for closing your facebook account. I do not have one either.

You do realize, right, that the people who are doing this? They cannot see their own self and their own lack of manners.

Yep. It is astounding. I am not sure if the people that write this stuff, have such low self esteem, they do not mind, what we readers think of THEM, for publicly writing that junk..

I assume they are trolls or teens. Definitely immature and heartless.

Many times I remind them that they never know what may come.. Someday one of their loved ones may end up in the paper and have the same type pf comments made about them.

I remember in the local paper, a young lady was killed after attending a party.. You can imagine the awful things that were said about her.. Then her Aunt posted, I am her Aunt, and all of you do not know her. She was a good and kind girl who was on the honor roll.

Do you think these people care? I doubt it..

We need to teach our own children to be respectful. To edit ourselves. Everybody has someone that loves them and would miss them whenever they are gone. No one deserves to be treated like they are less.