[fastball]

That doesn't really explain why many people are not assholes when given anonymity. And whatever those people have, we need to replicate in everyone else. Unless you believe that those people are somehow genetically "nice" and it is impossible to replicate with environmental factors.

[Barrin92]

To be honest I think that's overstating how many nice people there are on the internet. In purely anonymous communities the discourse is almost always toxic. Even on a small website like HN with people who frequently have their names exposed in their profile discourse is rough.

Look at the amount of moderation the average Reddit community needs. Everybody is meaner on the internet, people are mean even on facebook just because they don't talk face to face. I remember a woman in Germany who posted that someone should set a refugee home on fire under her actual name, several such cases existed. They obviously all lost their jobs but it shows how maladjusted we are if we type into our keyboards.

I think the difference between extreme trolls and regular people is just to what degree you live online. If you have a regular social life you're probably not that bad of a person online, if you spend your entire day online you end up with 4chan. But I think everybody feels the bad consequences of semi-anonymous or virtual communication.

[fastball]

I actually always found 4chan to be more courteous/less toxic than Reddit, even with it's extra level of anonymity - in its own, incredibly offensive way.