Internet Society

Let's think. What're we all doing when we're reading this message? We're obviously using the Internet. What most people don't think about when using the Internet, is that there's a society here, too. I'm wanting to discuss the Internet culture for a few reasons, one being is this recently came up on my site, second being, this may discourage scammers.

Well, we shall begin with real life society. What are the basis of society? Well, there's fundamental laws, in each region, and there's a ruler/head of government figure in each region. Then, in society, there's a few basic laws, apart from the government laws. These are basically unspoken rules of life. Don't lie, and don't steal are two good examples.

Now, let's have a look at Internet society compared to real life society. The Internet is divided into web pages, each web page has their own set of laws, and their owner or group of owners. Now, let's look at basic Internet laws/unspoken rules that apply. Oh, wait, there is none.

Now, how does this translate onto the Internet? What image is given to the user of the Internet? There has come to be a simple statement: "Dude, it's just the Internet." The thing is, when something is done here, on the internet, its results may, and usually do somehow carry over to the real world, and even if they do not, are you breaking a moral code?

Here's a good example of the current Internet society, it's my own example. On my site, there's a few administrators. Well, I found out one of them was causing trouble. I didn't really look so much at the trouble as I did the persons details. Me and him talked, from time to time, and I somewhat knew things about him, and how his life was. From what he told me, it wasn't great. Now, once I started talking to the other administrators, I got different pieces of the same puzzle. Some of the things he told me were different from what he told the another. So, we found a liar. After some digging, I found the picture he was using to be fake, and seeing as some of his stories about his life were based on those pictures, those facts were no longer facts. I had really no intention of confronting him, I demoted him, and moved along. After some time, another admin account was hacked by him, and he was trying to do harm to the website. At this point, he got confronted about his lying, which he had kept up for about a year. The response I got was "Dude, it's just the Internet, so what if I lied here, I don't lie in real life." So, that somewhat hit me like a train, Internet society is quite accepting of things that aren't accepted in normal society.

What can we gather from that? Essentially, the internet sets different standards. Why should, just because you don't physically know the person, you have the ability to lie to them, and then not feel remorse? Lets take a bigger example, that we see here on Sythe quite a bit: Scamming. That's, no ifs or buts about it, stealing. Now, why is it that these people find it's quite alright to be stealing on the Internet? It's quite obvious not even a half of them would steal in real life, but why do they steal here? Because of Internet society.

What do you think of the Internet society? How will Internet society impact real life society as time passes on? Why do people believe that it's quite alright to do certain things on the Internet, yet they would never do such a thing in real life?

Please discuss.

 

Very deep stuff NickV, I appreciate you posting this...

TBH I don't know what we can do with these people breaking the so called "Internet Laws" I think maybe sythe should establish them and take real action.

Sorry to hear about your problems via your site. Is that why your back to make sythe a better place?

 

Saying it's just the internet is just an excuse. That doesn't mean anyone truly believes it's "just the internet" and has no impact on real life. It's certainly a false justification that hides their fear of getting found out and will be used time and time again.

Every scammer has some sort of justification as to why they scam, even when they KNOW it's wrong. "It's just the internet" is an excuse that will be around for centuries. Nothing more, nothing less.

People need to get over themselves and live based on truth.

 

People tend to think that internet has no "rules". You can get away with virtually stealing or lying. They tend to think it's not "real", it's "virtual". It's like a "game".

The people that have trouble stealing/lying with in the real world, focus on the internet.

 

See, but I'm not only talking about scamming, as ultimatly a scammer will understand what they're doing, one way or another. Lying is lying, I don't see how it's any different. I'm just really not understanding how things have gotten that far with the "it's just the internet" excuse.

 

I've been scammed before... worst feeling but the person on looking into their paypal with 20 extra bucks They don't feel sympathetic.. They just feel like they won something of a kind...But in reality their just not acting by moral standards and I agree with Inventor LIVE BY THE TRUTH!

 

Well, the internet does have rules. Thing is, I'm saying how can anyone obey unspoken laws in real life, and then go break them on the internet, and still feel they're a saint?

 

As i stated above, they tend to think it's not "real" or "virtual". It has nothing to do with real life, so they can do what ever they want. I guess morals don't apply in the "internet" because it's not real.

 

But I consider my actions on the internet real...You control what YOU do!

 

Nothing has gotten "far" with that excuse. It's only an excuse.. The fact that people believe it or even implant it in their mines is beyond me.

 

People who say "it's just the internet" will have more difficult problems in the future when dealing with similar issues. It's usually because of the immature level, I've noticed a lot in myself especially lately that I've become more easy going on the internet, whether or not that's because I'm in college I don't know. Technology can be a good or bad thing, right now it's proving to be a bad thing as I'm sitting here typing this when I should be driving to school ^_^. Peace guys, have a great day.

 

Yeah, it has. Seeing as people actually believe that lying on the Internet, or stealing things on forums like this doesn't add up to doing that in real life. The Internet society has changed peoples views on whats wrong and whats right on the internet, and my question to you is how will this influence real life society over time.

 

It has only influenced real society as much as it ever will. It's an excuse that can either be believed or not. If you believe it, you're truly an idiot. If you don't, you at least think concisely.

 

very well put i agree 100%.scammers are usly like.. hey its just a game its just the internet. but it is still stealing.


im glad you posted this

 

Honestly its not hard to see that the more popular sites with slang terms and memes have already crossed over into society and many people accept these things as normal. Watching television I also noticed the acronyms that are used quite regularly over the internet are placed on posters or even into someones speech.

Things I do on the internet I would certainly do in real life. What do you do in real life that you do not do on the internet? =|

 

The internet makes it easier to get away with, as for the person you stated, living a double life in the real world isn't quite as easy as it would be on the internet.

Maybe people do these things just because they can't get away with them in real life.

Or maybe here they can be who they want to be, and who they feel that they really are, while out there, they are condemned to the life they live and the body/personality/rules that are issued with it.

 

Are you serious?

1. It's not against the law to infringe the rules at Sythe.org nor any other non-government controlled/sponsored website.

2. We're a market place basically ran on the principles of infringing other web site's T.O.C's so what makes us better than everybody else?

It depends on the person and their living conditions. A person could be raised and taught from birth that stealing isn't wrong nor is it unethical.

If I stole something, I'd be guilty nearly to death. There's moral conflicts arisen almost every theft even if it's not clear instantly.

Again it goes back to the living conditions. Some people were taught that rules and laws were meant to be broken and that it might not be wrong. There's also a lot of circumstances that must be taken account for. If you scam people on Sythe to raise money for your deathly-ill grandmother's leukemia treatment, you're doing a wrong thing for all the right reasons.

I think the internet won't really affect society much in the near future. They're almost different worlds and societies and you don't see the government walking around setting rules and laws any time soon regarding internet laws. It's been nearly 20-40 years since the introduction of the Internet and there's yet to be an upstart.

Though I do agree that the internet could be a bad influence for people and children, we've grown onto it.

 

First off, wtf is up with your text.

It doesn't matter what other site's rules are, the only reason they are against it, is because it will lessen their profit in money. I have no sympathy for greed. They are more appose to them losing money, than their players losing interest.

The Internet Society just like real society is a lie. But the internet society is worse because of the thought that it is easier to get away with things. I really hate when people say that "It's just the internet" due to the fact that they don't care what they do because it isn't "real". If it can be used, it is real. That is my side definition for real.

 

You're not understanding what I'm getting at. I'm not so much getting at the excuse, I'm getting at the fact that people actually use it, and some people actually believe it. I'm asking you how this society will influence the future, and you're saying that it's not changed society much? If I were to, in the 1800s, walk in to a store with a plastic card, and try to claim that it's money, I'd probably be housed in a mental institution. You realize, the internet has, and will continue to shape real life society. Its changed peoples outlook on what money is, and can be. It doesn't have to be paper, or even tangible for it to be used as money now. That's quite a change, don't you think so? For more examples read the quoted post below.

Really now? It's not against the law to steal real money? I never knew that!

Sorry to be an asshole here, but you sound like you haven't got a clue. Us breaking a Terms Of Service (not a T.O.C., but a T.O.S.) of a website such as runescape leads to no real life punishments, just a possible punishment on that website, ranging from bans to IP bans.

No, no it doesn't. Yes, it may influence it, but some people do keep a clean slate in real life, yet decide that stealing on the internet is somehow not wrong.

Read my original post. Only a psychopath wouldn't follow the basic unwritten rules and not feel some sort of remorse, but some of the people scamming on this website are actually overjoyed because they scammed something. What does that lead back to? Moral code. They're breaking their own moral code, and over time, that can lead to not having that in your moral code, leading to real-life problems.

Yet again, read my original post. Yes it does affect real society. Yes there are "governments" (site owners and staff). How does it affect real society? Read the example i gave Inventor about money over time.

No we've not grown into it, it causes problems, even for adults.

How's it a lie?

 

There is a constant facad of everyone on earth. No one is what they'd want to be, either because their afraid, or they are using it to take advantage of you in the future.

The real question is, how is it not a lie?