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The Internet is an interesting place to observe human behavior. All personality types can be found somewhere on the World Wide Web. Some people are more educated than others; some people are classier than others. And many people see other Internet users as an easy target for their ridicule and scorn. One such outlet where this is quite common is on Internet message boards.

The reason people are so mean on message boards is simple: they get away with it.

Sure they might get in "trouble" with the site administrators or moderators but really, what are the consequences of being mean to someone on a message board? The truth is, there aren't any consequences at all. However, if they are mean to someone in the real world there are likely to be real consequences. And this is why Internet message boards are playgrounds for what is referred to as Internet "trolls."

Wikipedia defines an Internet troll as "someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion."

Who among us hasn't been mean to someone on a message board at some point? It is inevitable that if you post to an Internet message board, eventually one of the members will be mean to you.

I believe for some people it is an ego boost to be able to be mean to people whom you will never have to encounter face to face. It amounts to a power trip for them and gives them the feeling that they have control. These people often feel powerless in their own lives and use message boards as an outlet for their anger.

I have been a member of many message boards over the years and I have seen countless people be mean to others for reasons ranging from the person simply disagreeing with them to feeling like the other person has a prejudice against them, or people like them (i.e. gay, fat, Hispanic, etc.) Oftentimes people will use a message board to vent about their problems and issues and this opens them up to attacks from people whom are easily offended or simply suffer from low self-esteem. They see someone on a message board as an easy target and attack accordingly.

In some cases, you will have a message board full of members who have suffered many of life's ugly hardships (divorce, death of a loved one, cheating spouse, etc) and are particularly vulnerable. Unfortunately there are people out there who will seek out message boards where these members post and they will proceed to be mean to the members on the assumption that they will be too emotionally weak to fight back. This leads to hurt feelings and in turn causes people to be mean to others.

In short, so many people are mean on message boards because it is an easy opportunity for them to put down others in order to make them feel better about themselves. They see it as an outlet to take their aggressions out on others without having to suffer any of the consequences they may suffer if they exhibited the same behavior in real life. Bullies and cowards are the types of people who will often be mean to others on message boards. It is a sign of the times that while society once had playground bullies, it now has message board bullies.

Learn more about this author, Julie A. Wein.
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