I've never really been much for online gaming for a number of reasons. Prohibitive use of time being chief among them (I like to diversify my game playing, I don't really have time to play one enough to get a good at it let alone multiple ones), but the fact that online users seem to be slavering lunatics devoid of social graces or even souls is a close second. However when Street Fighter 4 (and subsequently Super Street Fighter 4) swept through my group of friends and I was languishing at the bottom of our hierarchy, I knew that would have to change. Long story short (too late!): I bought it on PS3 (and later on the 360, long story) and started playing it, got pretty decent, yadda yadda, now HERE'S where our little tale takes off. 
I played a few matches, mostly against Shoto-by-numbers characters, so the first time someone beat me handily with someone OTHER than one of those three (I think it was Dudley, a character I was looking into using) I decided to send him a congratulatory message. To my shock, he replied with a positive. "Interesting," thought I, "but probably more of an exception proving the rule scenario." I tried it again under similar circumstances and HOLY SHIT! Same damn thing happened. Again and again I sent people who I had what I felt were great matches, and again and again I got either positive responses or no response. I've never been insulted, even by people I completely wail on, nor have I ever had a negative response. Hell my Gamertag is Lex Jewthor, I thought that alone would inundate my inbox with hatemail!
I am shocked, SHOCKED! Is my experience a crazy outlier, or have any of ya'll had experiences vastly better (or worse) than you expected?

I once received a message with only the subject line: "Pathetic..."
 
Suffice to say, it was pretty crushing considering I thought I was good at the time. It was a Balrog player, though, and they seem of a different breed to the rest.
 
Edit: I should say, besides this, my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Usually get a few messages after entering unknown Endless lobbies and the like. Most peeps are genuinely harmless.

I've gotten some really good responses from SS4 players, as well as some awful ones.  Guess it depends on the dude.  I would say that the most common message I get is "gg."

I have it on PS3 and I haven't really played that much online, but SF IV on PC and 360 (which I did play a lot more) online was really positive. Usually I'll say good game to everyone, but sometimes i add some more if it was a crazy match (once I got Double KOs and lost, but nevertheless it was a good match). And mostly I'll get gg/good game/yeah you too in return or some other positive but custom thing (you're pretty good, need to stop falling for "X", etc.).

Most of the people online who play SSFIV usually are nice.  In all the times that I've played ranked matches, I've only gotten one hate message but I still replied politely hehe! 
 
One of the surprising experiences I had in Ranked Matches was when I turned on my microphone while playing.  And after every fight, win or lose, I would tell them "good game" or "well played".  I didn't think people would actually still go out of their way to send me a message and tell me the same as well, but they did.  One even turned on his mic during the match to talk to me but I just got distracted and lost lol!  And some even added me to their friends list.  It's good to know that SSFIV players are polite online.  I play on PS3. :)

I've sent some messages saying good game. After playing this one dude about five times in a row, I sent him "That was a really fun set," since we were roughly the same level of terribleness. I've never gotten a response.

I just wonder how many people (like myself until recently) don't even want to bother with online play because they assume it will be universally terrible. I like to think that by sending people positive feedback I'm helping the problem, but maybe I'm just being arrogant. Also any of ya'll feel free to add me on Xbox (or PS3, though I'm barely on there under Daelock). Just send me a message saying you're from Giant Bomb so I don't immediately think you're a Nigerian Prince.

I've generally had a mainly positive response from people on PSN.  Although I did get alot of hate mail when I was practicing Dan in ranked for the GB tournament.
 
@Undeadpool said:

" my Gamertag is Lex Jewthor"

" I've generally had a mainly positive response from people on PSN.  Although I did get alot of hate mail when I was practicing Dan in ranked for the GB tournament.
 
@Undeadpool said:

" my Gamertag is Lex Jewthor"

Love that gamertag.  Would be even classier with a 69 on the end. "

I've yet to take the battle online in Street Fighter 4 (I don't have Super) and I've been dreading that it will be a terrible experience. It's good to hear that someone had positive experiences playing with randoms in a game like this. I'm not much into online gaming either for pretty much the same reasons you mentioned (and because of all the idiots).
 
I'll be back in my own apartment in about two weeks so I'll be able to give it a shot then. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

I don't play much but people are usually nice.
 
All I usually get are friend invites that I... ignore. I don't play online often enough to justify that.
 
And no negative remarks.

yeah I once had a good experience with a dude playing Ibuki...also once I played borderlands with a random dude and he was mature and a great dude to play with. 
 
Where did you come up with Lex Jewthor?

Yeah not sure why everyone assumes there nothing but assholes who play street fighter. Theres far more that play halo and MW2 mostly cause SF takes alot more work to get good at and if they did play it probably just gave up.

" yeah I once had a good experience with a dude playing Ibuki...also once I played borderlands with a random dude and he was mature and a great dude to play with.   Where did you come up with Lex Jewthor? "

I think playing online is like public transportation. You are all strangers doing the same thing. Now if your first encounter with somebody is negative, like somebody hits you while walking by or online, he plays Blanka, you judge them and think "idiot". Which you probably do with alot of strangers: judging prematurely, it's human. 
Now if it is positive, like the guy sitting next to you listens to your favourite band on his ipod or you getting a good message after a match, you bond with the stranger. All that while others look at you and think: "idiot".

" I think playing online is like public transportation. You are all strangers doing the same thing. Now if your first encounter with somebody is negative, like somebody hits you while walking by or online, he plays Blanka, you judge them and think "idiot". Which you probably do with alot of strangers: judging prematurely, it's human.  Now if it is positive, like the guy sitting next to you listens to your favourite band on his ipod or you getting a good message after a match, you bond with the stranger. All that while others look at you and think: "idiot". "

I've received quite a few gg's. But I also gg peeps too :). I've found that the kind of people who care enough to insult you with messages are never fun to play against anyways. Avoid 'em :)

Mostly positive stuff for me, though I've also received a few hate messages across vanilla and Super (most common insult is "fag" or "faggot").
 
One time, I got a negative comment when I said "gg" (the match went down to the wire). I responded with something on the lines of "dude, what's your problem", and the guy admitted he overreacted and was in a bad mood. I've never seen anyone retract a negative message before that happened! We ended up complimenting each other's game (to some degree).