Six Levels of Internet Conversation

Six Levels of Internet Conversation

Coversation on the Internet runs a wide gamut from placid to heatedly adversarial, as usual polite norms of face-to-face personal conversation are set a side in greater or lesser degree. The following is my summary based on observation and personal experience after a number of years. I hope nobody is personally or specifically offended -- moderators and admins especially. It is a dangerous topic to write about and no insult or criticism is intended, especially not of the management here at BAR.

1. Friendly on-topic conversation, where people talk in generally agreeable and agreeing terms about the topic under discussion, like say almost everyone talking about their similar views of Dan Brown

2. Argumentative on-topic discussion, where people have different opinions about the topic under discussion, like say religion or politics, and trade opinions back and forth which are designed to convince or discredit the opinions of opposite persuasion. This discussion can frequently lead up to Level 3 discussion, because some people seem to get agitated to see opinions posted that are opposite to their own -- even if on-topic -- and respond with personal remarks of their own which are off-topic.

3. Disagreements involving people, where people shift the topic of discussion from the topic under discussion to some of the people discussing the topic, which often gravitates toward personal insults and name calling. Personal savaging and brawling might or might not be allowed to continue in duration and severity, depending upon the moderators' and management's attitudes and tolerance.

4. Disagreements involving moderators, where moderators get involved in the discussion and run into opposite opinions from one or more members. Personal insults toward moderators are not tolerated very well, so the discussion might go to Level 5 rather quickly.

5. Disagreements involving administrators, where admins get drawn into the discussion, frequently because it is getting out of hand, and they encounter opposite opinions from one or more members. Few admins tolerate disagreement with how they run the forum, so level 6 is almost a foregone conclusion after Level 5 is reached.

6. Banishment, is a very short and undesirable kind of discussion; it can be a very brief announcement by the administrator, if that, whereupon people are evaporated and kept out.