[Glice]

I think saying 'it's only the internet, it's not real life' is a bit like the 'ironic' racism defence. In fact, it's exactly the same thing. The internet is a multi-faceted thing, and I think you're right to say that it's a huge part of our lives now; I think there's a large element of what is socially proper - just as I'd almost never call my parents cunt-towers, I'd probably not discuss my preferences for certain sorts of porn here. Elsewhere on the internet, where I consider it more appropriate, I'd be more forthcoming about it.

The problem with any social engagement (and SYG is a social engagement, given that a lot of us spend as much time here as with our fleshworld friends) is that these 'rules' (or discretely agreed-upon protocols) are not the same for everyone. 'Freedom of speech' (if such a thing exists, I personally think it's a bit of a US-based non-sequitur) isn't freedom to say whatever you want. I think most of us have a thick enough skin to ignore certain things (such as a certain person's transparent and quite funny baiting) but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be held to account for things they say.

Context is really important - if you take someone like amerikangod (if he'll excuse me mentioning him by name), he's pretty consistent in his preposterous posts - and I might be wrong to say this, but his posts are nearly always steeped in humour to the point where you don't really take them at face value. The problem is the more insidious subterfuges underlying a lot of other people's posts. There's this sense that someone saying 'I'm not racist, my best friend's [x], but [ethnic group y] just don't work for a living' - that's the sort of insidious undertones I'm talking about, where the person saying whatever is less aware of the potential ramifications of what they're saying. With the internet I think this problem is actually more pronounced - because the currency is words and pictures, rather than ephemeral speech-utterances and physical presences (intonation etc), we can constantly refer back to what someone has said. People (I'd include myself) are incredibly incautious about what they say on the internet as in 'real' life, but in real life it's a lot easier to let the odd iffy statement slide. In terms of the ethics or whatever of something said on the internet, you could easily argue that the internet makes you far more aware of the ramifications of what you're saying.

I'll stop there, I'm going to collect my thoughts and report back later, but yeah, essentially I think that the internet ought to make people more cautious about how they're presenting their self, but oddly the contrary seems to be the case.