Cesspool vs. Stepford

So something that has been on my mind lately is the way various areas of the internet tend to press people to either be part of a cesspool of the lowest depths of depravity and lack of morals or ethics . . . or else the pressure is to lie about who you are and what your motives are and what you represent and what you do.

Examples:

(1) If people are allowed to promote commercial interests in a particular area, they generally go massively overboard, such that it becomes difficult to have a conversation amidst the spam i.e. bands on *******. If people are not allowed to promote commercial interests in a particular area, they generally make up fake personalities and pretend that they are not really promoting something commercial i.e. pay sites on LiveJournal.

(2) If adult material is allowed in a particular area, people start getting cranky if they are asked to draw the line any where, so we end up with Dutch sites selling bestiality and worse i.e. European adult links sites. If adult material is not allowed, enforcers get so vigilant that they expect people to pretend they have never visited any site on the net which features any level of nudity i.e. paypal.

(3) There are tons of people online who put out claims of being innovators in their field as a sales pitch. Some of them are not exactly innovators. Depending on where this is discussed online, the attitude seems to be either anything for a buck, anyone who whines must not be very paid, fast follower gets the worm, screw giving anyone credit . . . or no one should ever question anyone else's claims because it is rude and everything is fine, nothing to see here, move along.

The lack of a middle ground has always bugged me about the net...you always have to be part of an extreme to get your point or product across. This is making it really had to take most "communities" seriously or engage in any commerce beyond your basic goods. People do take advantage of any freedom they are given in places such as ******* or Livejournal...but it's done with such malice and downright arrogance that they don't seem to understand it harms THEM the most. I know I for example avoid sites, vendors, and users from such over the top promotion.

I do have faith in that things will balance out though...with On and Offline worlds merging as one in many peoples minds the anonimaty of it all SHOULD help curb peopel going over certain lines of behaviour...but for the most part I think the net and the rest of the world will simply look like Shibuya in Tokyo...life amoungst insane levels of advertising for anything and everything with no real seperation or limit...

I will say I like the way this forum does not allow blatent advertising, large sigs, or other things that distract from its intended purpose. I know very few forums that do that but more and more...EVERYONE is trying to promote something.

Keep fighting the good fight. It is really all you can do, but please know that Blue Blood is appreciated.

Those are all exceptional points to think on. Thank you, for posting those thoughts. Being in the computer biz a little, where I would email files, reports, data, etc. I was really frustrated by what you mentioned along with the difficulty one has in dealing out great customer service and respect. There are those that are getting past those things, and thinking about it, mitigating a middle ground and trying to maintain integrity is honorable in my opinion. You folks just keep on, keepin' on.

yeah it's hard to keep the middle ground and keep the laying feild balanced....I don't think I have to say to much here becasue veryone before me said it. the thing is I guess even on the interent appearnaces can be decieving so i guess it depends on the people punching those keys.