Re (tilly) 2: Online people are real

[tilly]

Thanks.

I always knew he was argumentative. What I had never thought about is whether that might be a sign that something else was going on. I seriously suspect that he had a borderline personality. But having had that driven home, I have to wonder about whether some others I know online have real problems. Stop and think. How would you feel if you just got through flaming someone then the next thing you hear, they committed suicide?

Life is too short to waste fighting.

[Albannach]

Yes, he was the first one I thought of after reading your node. It is well worth it for all of us to remember that no matter how well we think we understand and know each other online, it's all just keystrokes and often filtered through personas designed specifically to hide what might be perceived as weaknesses or anything "abnormal". While I don't think anyone on-line should blame themselves for such a sad event because of how little we know, by the same token we should be that much more careful of how we deal with others online.

Maybe we can add another commandment to Fastolf's list:

Review all your writing as if it were directed at you, and consider the possibilities.

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I'd like to be able to assign to an luser