[chjj]

Actually, no.

I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.

[stusmall]

I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.

[jack-r-abbit]

Ya. A friend of mine was driving one time and some asshat got all bent out of shape over something he did and started doing all sorts of douchbaggy things while driving. So my friend decided to discreetly follow this guy. When the guy had stopped and parked and was getting out of his car, my friend confronted him and inquired about his problem. The guy nearly crapped himself as he never expected to actually have to deal with someone he had just been a dick to on the road. Classic.

Edit: I guess I need to clarify that my friend was a perfect gentleman to the guy. Very non threatening. Not in the same road-rage way the other guy had been on the road. The situation ended very peacefully and the other guy apologized. This was not one of those "I'll throw your dog into traffic" situations. I can't imagine why confronting a bully like that would be looked down upon but I guess HN is fickle that way.

[sukuriant]

I imagine they were down-voting you because you chose to explain the story that, as far as many could tell, was a bit off-topic; and was spoken in a more 'street' way, that might be perceived as trolling.

[jack-r-abbit]

huh... a road rage story in response to a post that talked a bit about road rage compared to cyber-bullying and safety in anonymity, etc. It sounded on topic in my head.

[1123581321]

It was on topic.

[chjj]

That's exactly the kind of analogy I was looking for. Thanks.

[bcoates]

Lots of pseudonymous forums are reasonably civil. I suspect the problem with Youtube's comments is more an absence of signal than the presence of noise. Videos are far more accessible to the barely literate, "People who watch videos on YouTube" has no community identity, and there's no external purpose to the commenting to overcome the weakness of text as a medium to discuss cat videos.

I'm not sure why Youtube even bothered allowing text comments in the first place, let alone why they didn't go to video-response only years ago.

[lesbaker]

There also seems to be an impermanence to commenting on a video, especially one that's popular, because responses (unless sufficiently up-voted) don't stick around, and there's no way to easily search through them.

So a YT comment stream takes on a party line vibe and (IMO) there's not much point taking the time to write something thoughtful.

Mainly when I have commented is on videos on niche subjects when I'm reasonably sure the video poster/artist/producer will see it.

[saraid216]

There was a period when I was able to Have A Conversation in YouTube comments but I was never able to do it more than a few times. On the other hand, I see people having legitimate conversations on random occasions quite frequently.

[Bockit]

I think the barrier you describe has helped lead to the phenomenon of claiming 'I was just trolling' or some variation of that comment when people are called out on inappropriate behaviour on the internet.