You raise important issues about Internet chat lines ...
This is a new phenomenon, involves large numbers of people, and deserves serious study which i am sure will come. What is the connection between the chat line persona and the real person? We can only answer that about ourselves, and then perhaps mistakenly feel that it is the same for others.
I say things here, take positions, that I would never take in real life. "J. C. Dithers" is an alter-ego that is fun to play with, and serves as a useful outlet. Sometimes what I say here are things the real person does believe, but is restrained from saying in polite society. Other times, J.C. says things simply to be provocative. I do this with the expectation that all the other aliases here are similarly separating the on-line persona from the real person. I think that they, like myself, forget about the alias as soon as they disengage from the computer and re-enter the real world as themselves. I have no expectation that other posters are necessarily telling the truth in whatever they say about their real lives. If they have created a fictional character, that is fine with me, as I am communicating with the alias, the on-line persona that has been created through self-description. I don't ever forget the Jonathan Lebed case, wherein an "adult investor and businessman" turned out to be a 14- year old kid playing with his parents' computer.
Now, there come along these incidents that show that some people do not make these same distinctions.
Sometimes it is merely amusing. I took the Dithers alias on thoughtless whim at the time of registration. But I have received comments such as, "You little s.o.b. runt," which hints as to how others need to personify the alias into a living, breathing person with identifiable physical characteristics ... as if J.C. really does walk upon this earth. Other instances are more serious, as when one poster took J.C.'s comments about sexual identity as a personal attack on that poster's real life ... very much as if J.C. knew who who he was in real life and was intentionally wanting to inflict pain on that real person. That was scary. Then we come to the Poet case ... perhaps at this point the ultimate in the on-line persona and the real person being one in the same, wholly indistinguishable. That has led to the argument that a poster here needs to be alert to the real person behind the persona, to have awareness of the real person's state of mind, and is obliged to adjust posting behavior accordingly. Even further, it has led to the assertion that if posting to the alias causes distress to the real person, the poster bears full responsibility any harm done.
As I say, this is a new world that none of us fully understand yet. While for some of us a chat line is a new toy to play with in our spare time, made possible by the Internet, for others it may be a deadly serious part of their real lives. The chat lines encourage anonymity, and caution about revealing personal information, which suggests that the sponsors are mindful of the need to separate cyberspace from the real world. Yet it is not to be taken for granted that all posters look at it that way. We have no clue as to the numbers that do, or don't. But I think we know for sure that some don't ... that some are living their real lives on-line. I think it clear that some are internalizing everything that is said on these boards as if it is directed to the real person as well as the alias.
And then we remember that SI is only the tip of a much larger iceberg of Internet chatting. Compared to the zoo at Yahoo, SI is a place of gentility and refinement, a relatively safe harbor. Where should all this be going? Should the direction be to eliminate the distinction between alias and real person? Or should the direction be to widen the distinction (by encouraging even more the non-disclosure of personal information)? Forcing people to appear as their real selves would bring more accountability for things said. Yet, it could create a nightmare in creating opportunities for predators and malevolent persons by exposing real identities.
What are our responsibilities as posters? If my alias flames another alias, is that to be considered the same as if I insult my next-door neighbor? If another alias tells a lie about something my alias said, does that constitute libel? Can my alias sue the other alias? (In cyber-court???)
I'm just raising questions and not giving answers. The problem is a fascinating one: the cyberspace world versus the real world. How do we work out the parameters of their coexistence? |
