PAX East 2014: Why Internet Jerks Aren’t Going to Win, And You Can Help

Scoops is the man.Keep up the good work Patrick

Please live the no bully lifestyle.

Excellent panel you guys. It definitely helped me realize that even though I may not be a negative person online, I am also not very vocal on being appreciative. So thank you and great job!

I think there is a flaw in accepting that the internet is an extension of our real life outside of it but that the fix exists within the internet itself. I believe that the best way to fix it is in real life and then it reflect within the internet.

There are different ways to go about this but one of the most hardcore ways I go about it is by ostracizing and ditching people who I know are these shitty people. You know who they are. You eventually pick up on people in your lives who are Womanizers, Assholes, Trolls, and Liars. The reason they survive is because of you. Your pacifism keeps them alive. For every one person like me who stops playing BF4 with them or won't go to lunch with them anymore there are 5 people willing to put up with their shit. This is not helping anything. If they can get away with being a punk in real life then they will get away with murder on the Internets.

It is not about feeding the trolls on the internet. It is about feeding the trolls outside of it.

Great panel.

Thank you! I really appreciate your talking about this and your honesty about the mistakes we all make really lends a lot of credibility to your discussion. In an online game I usually feel the need to say something, since people just observing might take silence as tacit endorsement of hateful speech (many summers working at an inclusive summer program are responsible for that), and it makes it frustrating to just try to go have fun. Even when not trying to engage, just say a brief thing and move on, the "don't feed the trolls" people sometimes go on full attack mode. Very nice to have such smart articulate backup.

Different people have different tolerances for different things. What's merely annoying for you is far more harmful for others, and much as I agree that sometimes the best thing to do is to tune out the haters, every so often the haters say or do something that really gets to you (general you). Furthermore, I'd like to think that the reason why you think this way is because you've never really experienced online trolling before, pointed directly to you rather than someone else (Note: I don't really know for sure, so correct me if I'm wrong); and the reason that people think otherwise is because they've experienced it firsthand, and it ain't pretty.

Nonetheless, some jerks have a point, just like many "anti-jerks" have a point as well. I make it a point to listen to the ones on both sides that have a point, and ignore the ones on both sides that complain for the sake of complaining.

i took y'all idea for positivity and I comment on people who had sad posts on some peoples journals on Da and at some point in another there :HUG: this video inspried me to post kind stuff to people on that website and thank you Patrick and Zoe

@fiercedeity: If you cant see the difference between Patrick's admission of guilt and shared lesson, and someone who continually uses the internet as a weapon without a moment of hesitance or self examination, that is a shame.

We all "f" up. I regard those who take mistakes and use them for positive change different than those who dont consider anyone else long enough to even care.

I'm surprised "die in a fire" pissed so many people off. Good talk, had a bit of a shine in my eye when you talked about the GB well-wishers thread.

Great panel guys! Really enjoyed it and I found it very interesting.

As a citizen of the internet, thanks for helping keep its tubes a little safer.

PS I am also guilty of telling people to die in a fire a little more frequently than I probably should. Criticism noted!

Great video, but did the guy at the end get his badge?

@ptys: I think it's more the fact that people like Patrick condemn bullying and name calling on one hand and then insult, ridicule or heavily moderate any dissenting opinion with the other.

But what do I know, I've only been bullied in person so I don't know how hard it is to deal with being called names and receiving facetious threats on the internet from people I've never met.

@mrplow8: I agree with this guy. It's far easier to just have a thicker skin and just move one from negative or distasteful comments. It's much more annoying to listen to people jump on some sort of internet high horse, and ride into the wonderful and bully free sunset. That shit is annoying. I'm sitting with the jerks too.

I don't know what it is. I'm much older than the average person viewing this kind of thing, and I'm also a minority living in the bible belt. I put up with "Muh Feelings" all the time.

Turn off the computer and toughen up, no one likes a bully, but a whiner, or someone who can't stand up for themselves or gets their feelings hurt often is much more difficult to stomach.

Superb talk from both. :)

@cynicalbear: That's fine and everything, but some can't just "toughen up." Some people are physically incapable of it. I'd agree with the thick skin argument if people were completely homogeneous and not susceptible to chemical inbalance.

But hey.

This was very thought provoking and informative. Keep up the great work. I am definitely guilty of staying silent and letting negativity pass me by unchecked, but I think I will try and take a stand when I can. Politely, of course. :)

@cynicalbear: Unless you're a content creator on the internet that gets shit thrown at you thousands of times per day I find it hard to take it seriously when you suggest grow a "thick skin".

Awesome Patrick! Keep up the good work!

Fuck you Patrick. I hope you die in a fire.

.

.

.

.

Just kidding! Thought provoking panel. Inspired me to try and be a better internet user.

Thanks Patrick and Zoe, probably the panel with with the most emotional and heartfelt stuff at this pax.

"Yeah, give me a high five! No, no, please kneel down, I don't feel like getting up from my seat, thank you."

@oddsor: Haha, yeah because creating online content is equivalent to actually engaging people. The internet is still mostly anonymous, and people are cowardly in both respects. If some one slings shit at you, you dodge it and keep going.

What a whiny shit generation we've got to lead the future.

Finally got around to watching this - great stuff! Superb, thought provoking talks.

I have not watched this yet.

I am going to watch this soon.

Thank-you, Zoe and Patrick, for this helpful and inspiring panel.

I haven't been bullied on the Internet myself, but I often speak up when I see a mob of jerks harassing someone. I might try using gentler words, thanks to your advice.

This is a great post and I 100% agree. In the face of all the GamerGate stuff I'm more comfortable reading (the tamer and mostly non hateful) stuff of "gaters" than I am listening to some of the crazy stuff Brianna Wu tweets, and her followers comment afterwards with. There's a lot of very, very annoying feminists that are much louder than the rational ones.

Ended up watching this after Giant Bomb TV started playing the 2014 PAX East Panel this morning. I didn't have time to watch the panel as I was walking out the door to work, so looked it up on the site and found this as well. Interesting stuff... and also kinda spooky considering this was after Quinn started getting harassed over her game, but about four months before Gamergate proper had happened. Anyway, it's worth watching.

One thing I did want to add, years after this thing has been posted. The last question had to do with whether the benefits of sarcasm outweigh the negatives, or vice-versa. It reminded me of John Scalzi's maxim: "The failure mode of 'clever' is 'asshole.'" Words to live by.