> Anonymity Breeds Meanness

Oh man, does it. I started posting articles quite recently, just a couple months ago. The negative, sometimes brutal comments are tough to handle. My upbringing was of the “if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all” persuasion, but that is clearly not the norm in online comments.

“It’s very important to know when you’re in a pissing match. And it’s very important to get out of it as quickly as possible.”

I think you hit the biggest benefit (IMO) with “Perspective.” I met a retired sheet metal worker recently, and he said their union required new members to change jobs every few months so they had a variety of experience. I’m still working at the place that hired me out of college, and after 4 years I realized I don’t want to be stuck only knowing how to do one niche of the trade (ASP.NET). The perspective you gain by trying something different isn’t just a novelty though, I think the things I’ve learned working with Ruby have improved by C# as well.

It’s possible that I could have learned all this in a more solitary way – books, etc, but I think the community aspect is what keeps my motivation up – seeing what other people are actually doing is certainly more inspiring than the demo project in a book.

There’s no need to waste time on negativity. The internet is full of anonymous jerks, and the last thing you want to give them is attention. I just try to ignore it.

I guess maybe I’m no longer a hermit, but still more of a lurker

Like anything, the quality that you get out will be exactly what you put in. Engage in flaming comments that add no intelligent value, and that is all that you will ever get back out of community group think. Participate at a higher level (blogging, commenting, etc) and you will soon be at the top of your game.

Perhaps a good compromise is to use community content to figure out what to learn, traditional content to get a basic grounding in the material, and then go back to community content to get advanced tips and gotchyas.

“My new approach is to picture the people in the argument (including myself) alone at a podium in their living room, preaching to a menagerie of stuffed animals, meticulously arranged so that their eyes are fixated on the speaker.”

At first this image creeped me out. I got a flashback to the Poltergeist scene where they show the clown at night during a lightning storm right before it pounces on the little boy.

Then you mentioned bunnies and bears at the end and all was well.

Either image seems like it would be an effective anecdote. Thanks!

The problem with our (geek) communities is that they are such a rich community you could easily get sucked into the community itself and never accomplish what you need to do.

As to anonymous issues, I agree the ability to hide ones identity often leads to keyboard road rage. My answer is not to participate. If an inflammatory comment is made I may respond once, thanking them for their opinion, but I refuse to get drawn into those types of black hole discussions.

As to is a community the fastest way to self improvement? I would say no, but it can sure help. The fastest way to improve is as it always has been. Hard work. But a community can help by providing feedback, assistance and information.

Nice post!

Cheers,

Robert Porter