by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: January 23, 2010

It is a common myth that disputes arise in social networking because of the lack of human physiological referents: the raised brow, the smile, or even the look in the eye that signals a joke or sarcasm.  The reality is that an individual's "voice" can have many indicators of intent and emotion, when people are paying attention. It is the rare case when a misread or misunderstanding actually is the true cause of an escalation into a full blown on line interpersonal dispute.

The first and most common reasons for interpersonal disputes in social networking is that the communicators simply do not like each other, or do not like what is being expressed. In the real world, there are options, on a rising scale which range from leaving the conversation to a vehement and angry dispute. In between, we have silence, polite disagreement, refusal to engage, changing the subject, and a host of physical signals of agreement or disagreement.

On line, there is the option of expressing oneself with more gusto and even vehemence than the real world may allow. There is also the option of ignoring the statement and moving on, or politely disagreeing. In some extreme cases, a politically polarized duo will engage in a lengthy and bitter dispute. Some participants thrive on testing the patience and tolerance of everyone who has to deal with them.  In other cases, there are personalities who love the art of argument for argument's sake. They tend to tire people out with their ploys for continuing a discussion long after it is dead.

The next myth of internal disputes on line is that participants are anonymous and therefore more likely to behave aggressively or rudely. Participants are anonymous in the sense that they can conceal their real world identities, but they are far from anonymous as long term and established members in the group or the overall site. As a result, there is still some caution that is exercised by many participants to maintain a certain reputation and image in the virtual world, or an episode of bad behavior will follow them around everywhere at the site. Others simply maintain multiple personalities and use the more controversial ones to express their resentment, dislike, disagreement or anger in more forceful ways than they normally would.

Another myth is that friendships do not form on line, or that normal group behavior does not apply. The truth is that there are cliques that form at every site and in almost every

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