I'm amazed at the different reactions we get from the variety of posts here at Neatorama. Some items have no comments at all; others have discussions that go on for days. The same thing happens at the Neatorama forums and in the Upcoming Queue section. Some discussions are overwhelmingly positive or negative, others feature a lot of differing opinions, and some veer off-topic into something completely different. What kind of web commenter are you? Veteran journalist Michael Malone takes a look at the different types of commenters.
There are a couple of dozen types identified altogether. Link -via Geek Like Me
(image credit: ABC News)
The Troll -- Everyone knows this guy (and it's usually a guy), who intentionally visits sites in order to stir things up, provoke a furious reaction from other posters and then disappear. Classic examples are the Free Republic types who visit Daily Kos and vice versa.
The Skimmer -- The commenter, usually sour, who reads only a headline or sentence of a piece, draws exactly the wrong conclusion, and then embarks on an embarrassing rant.
The Kumbaya -- These folks always show up two-thirds of the way through any heated on-line debate and ask, "Why can't we all just get along?" They are inevitably ignored or trashed.
The Parser -- What would we do without the Internet Grammar Police? These folks assiduously correct the online writings of others -- never quite catching on that the Web is designed to be fast, fresh and sloppy.
There are a couple of dozen types identified altogether. Link -via Geek Like Me
(image credit: ABC News)
if you think "correct" (meaning standardized) spelling is optional, here's a sample text from Chaucer from a time when "correct" spelling didn't exist (not as we know it today, at least):
Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury.
01 Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
02 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
03 And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
04 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
05 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
06 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
07 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
08 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
09 And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
11 So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially, from every shires ende
16 Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende,
ALL HAIL THE ETERNAL VIGILANCE OF THE INTERNET SPELLING AND GRAMMAR POLICE!
You know what’s worse? The people that listen to them and do nothing but complain about them.
f u cn rd ths u prbly dnt nd the int grm plc
There was a link once at Neatorama that had cartoons of Internet character types. It was cute.