People can still be hurt by words
true, but they aren’t going to sustain life threatening injuries like they would from having a beer glass smashed in their face are they?
the pub analogy is utopian, as cynic-al says. The reality is that forums are not face to face, people can call themselves whatever they like and pretend to be whatever they like. Its futile to try and apply real world constraints to something that is inherently false.
f it were only ever just that, then you wouldn’t have a 3 day, 1000+ post on the significance of branding going on. no one could simultaneously be that commited and claim detachment at the same time.
no and you are right, the point is though surely that thread would not have continued that long in a ‘real life’ situation. The medium sustained it and prolonged it. Again, how can you attempt a real world rationalisation of people’s behaviour in a situation that is ‘unreal’ 🙂 ?