Quote:
Originally Posted by KSigkid
In my opinion it's important to draw the line between knowing how people are likely to post, and making the assumption that it says something about them as a person. Even if someone has thousands of posts, in reality you know nothing about the person who is posting - you don't know their background, their experiences, and their core values.
Where posters make a big mistake is where they go from "I don't agree with your posts" to "I don't like you," or "I think you're a racist/bigot/whatever."
As I've always said, I know two people on this site personally (both of whom I like as people) - one (KSigRC) has been a good friend for almost 10 years, and one (nme525) I met a few times in Boston. Other than that, I don't know anyone on here, and I won't presume to make assumptions about who they are and what core values they hold dear. I don't think that would be at all fair, or smart - at the end of the day, it's posting on a website, and it's really not that important.
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I think how you consistently post does say something about you as a person, but I agree that we can't know whether that matches up well with the person in real life.
I think when I find myself dwelling about something on the internet, it has much more to do with my own opinions and behavior, and I think that might be important.
There are users here that I feel positive about and users here I feel negatively about, but they are greatly eclipsed in number by the users that I simply find entertaining or interesting. It doesn't, in any of the cases, have anything to do with their particular political positions although it has a great deal to do with how they express themselves and as far as the most negative ones, the frequency with which they seem to attack or insult vs. posts that attempt reasoned or even good faith emotional give and take in this forum or helpful activity in other forums.
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