Skip to main content

Week 3 [20-26 October]: Internet Haters


Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, however it comes with a price, namely that everybody is allowed it and others must accept this fact. Some people might not be as eloquent or brilliant when expressing their opinion, but it is something that is obvious and tolerated by us. Unfortunately when it comes to the internet the problem of so called haters seems to be much bigger than it would in real life.
I'm sure that everybody reading this publication is familiar with the term. According to wikipedia:

Hater is a derogatory term which refers to a person who expresses hatred in public forums, especially those found on the World Wide Web such as YouTube”


People who can be described with the word „hater” unfortunately pollute the internet with garbage and filth of vulgarities, making it a much worse experience than it could be. These people did not pop up yesterday, but of course are a serious problem, that most people accept as insolvable, or simply choose to ignore it. Coming across an article in the Polish computer magazine CD-Action about haters made me again acknowledge and reflect upon this disease of the World Wide Web. Obviously I cannot post any parts of the article here, but I will certainly base this presentation on my feelings after reading the article.

YouTube, being a site where everybody is free to post comments and nobody but the person on whose publications the comments are posted can delete or edit them, is very vulnerable to hateful comments. The most popular targets of haters seem to be videos from games and pop music videos. The article points out that in the case of Polish people, rap music videos seem to be filled with hateful comments. But what is really interesting, often the comments don't have anything to do with the video itself. People write hateful comments towards ethnic, religious or political groups and do it in the most primitive way, ignoring any punctuation or spelling rules. Not only that, but often these comments exhort terrorism and discrimination, also according to the article, in the case of YouTube, most of the people writing these comments are between 15 and 25 years old. Personally I find such comments simply an eye sore for the users. Fortunately most internet forums have moderators that control the content.

  http://img.timeinc.net/time/0_video/YoutubeHatersADramaticReadings.jpg

Personally I suffer most from haters when playing online games. Games, whether computer or console, which are played entirely online are now very popular and although the producers (usually) give it their best to make a product that will bring entertainment, they cannot control the actions of other players. Obviously haters are most commonly found in free online games, since those are the most easy to get for everybody, however even if you pay for a game it doesn’t mean you will be safe from haters. Playing a game is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable, but how can one have fun when he is constantly offended, has his intelligence put into question and, putting it gently, is asked to leave the community of the given name and never come back or even commit a suicide? Bullying cannot only ruin the game itself, but can actually impact on how a person feels in his or her life, ruin his/her mood or cause a depression.

Why do people hate? Obviously the anonymity of the internet and the lack of “face to face” contact gives frustrated people encouragement to write harmful comments. But is it really the only reason? I for one would like to believe that we are something more than walking time-bombs of anger and hatred, just waiting for an occasion to snap at somebody. I don't think that the internet allows us to hate, it's us who have made it into a tool allowing it. Of course, the best thing is to ignore haters, but I think we should also take action to prevent hatred from spreading. I would love to hear your opinion.
To end my presentation here's what you may like to listen to next time some hater makes you mad :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K67veEPOYM

Comments

Unknown said…
This is a huge problem. People like feel better than others, so from here is big hater’s wave. People, who talk bad about somebody feel that they are more than them. In my opinion haters have a problem with their self-esteeme. In this way, they try to increase their self-esteeme. Rather unsuccesfully.
I agree with you that haters in relations face to face probably would be smaller hater or not hater. Unfortunatelly freedom owl in the Internet has good and bad aspect.
I very dislike haters. I HATE haters :D I dislike valuation: superior or inferior. We should be equal. We should respekt ourselves mutually. It would be the best.
Without it we should more interested in ourselves not others. The whole world would be healthier.

I thnk that Polish people have outstanding ability to hate. What do you think about it?
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Personally I don’t read the comments onthe YouTube.

However, the same as you, I like playing on-line games with people from all over the world. I am also often the victim of hate comments.

My favourite way (as you wrote in your article) is just to ignore them and to pretend not to see what impolite things they write about myself, my country or... my family:P IMO the worst what you can do is to answer them, it doesn't matter what
you answer - this is the reason for haters to continue insulting you.
I suppose(that) they are teenagers with no social life, closed in their dark room, trying to build their self-esteem.
Unknown said…
@Aleksandra Stodulska: Yess the sad thing is that I realised most of haters (and agressive) in games are… Poles:(
Unknown said…
painful but true :/ We should work and change it, but it's not easy :/ It's very very hard.
Actually also a lot of russian haters from my experience. Agreed on the fact, that we all should work towards a hate-less future.
It's a good thing that most online games have the possibility to mute all chat from a specific player :D However sometimes I feel that not saying anything dosen't help towards solving the problem of internet hate, it's just ignoring it.
Unknown said…
In my opinion people still feel anonymous in the Internet but we can see more and more of cases that police were able to track people who made some really hurtful comments on the web or stalked someone. Actually stalking recently became a crime and police have official ways of dealing with that kind of harassment which I feel is similar to oppressing someone in Internet comments.

Unfortunately I feel that Poles in the Internet often express strong hatred and jealousy every time they see somebody who achieved success or even someone who is pretty.

On the other hand I think that people are becoming much too sensitive. Websites get closed not because they are hurtful but because they present different opinions then somebody likes. There are cases like that. Where is the line between where censorship is needed and where it's just an obstacle for free speech?

In face to face contact people are less brave to express hatred but also their opinions. I think that advantages of being able to share ideas and our creations on the Internet with people all over the world are much more important than some sad people that find entertainment in criticizing others. We can just all ignore them and even feel sorry for because they are probably just lonely and jealous of others. I think that they are just like this one kid in the class that feels superior then everybody else and calls them names. People like that just feel more threatening in the web because there are more of them but I still believe that there are more normal, nice people and that some healthy criticism isn't a bad thing.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I don't know why the link doesn't work. Here it is:
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/2014/09/20/twitter-suspends-anita-sarkeesian-critic-abusive-behavior/
Unknown said…
I never really understood why haters are so aggressive in games, I mean it never helps/makes someone play better and people always ignore them anyway.
Unknown said…
I am afraid that anonymity isn't becoming and issue, since most major sites like Google with Google+ (which is connected to youtube) and Facebook has many people using real information and yet it does not stop from spewing some bad words around.
I mean, people can disagree or dislike and wright a solid argument. In reality most of the times someone, for example, will say that he find some X band awful and worse than hitler, in return someone will aggressively try to counter him leading to flame war. And of course when there is flame war in comment section, there is no way to be reasonable in it or come to compromise.
I never understood where these people find a time and will to write such comments. Personally, I comment under anything very rarely because I simply don't need to do it and I don't have time for it. For me it is somehow a wasted resource which could be used more efficiently.
I believe that most of these people have too much time, boring life or simply very low self esteem. I would understand if the comment helps anybody or at least spreads some interesting news but writing just to show your hostility is stupid and pointless.
All I can say is well said.
Usually because it's easier for them to blame others than to admit making a mistake.
Unknown said…
Haters are the type of people who seem to get great joy out of saying nasty things about someone. Often, human jealousy compels them to do so.
Unknown said…
And what do you think about trolling ?
Julia Osiak said…
I have never fully understood this phenomenon. Why do people have so much negative energy inside them and why the need to release it in such a form?
I know that the internet gives some the feeling of anonymity and I guess a sense of powerfulness, but I have never experienced this myself.
For me writing comments is an activity that is already somewhere beyond my comfort zone and i think definitely most of the time my comments are neutral to positive.
I could never write such hateful words in a public space and I wish that others would be more sensitive as those acts of cyber-violence (I'm pretty sure that many cases would qualify as such) are sometimes absolutely horrifying. As for trolling, this to me is even more puzzling. What is the point of it and how is it supposed to be funny? I just don't get it...
PrzemekM said…
i think every comment above is true...
this is sad that people feed on that type of internet "sport"
They feel that are anonymous, and this makes them to write such a comments.
I see only one solution, someone wrote something about this, we need to connect every comment we leave in internet with your true profile. Profile that was verified.
I think haters problem can be solved, because most of them would not write if they know that can be can be held liable
Unknown said…
I have the same opinion and I wish I had so much time as haters…
Unknown said…
In my opinion haters hate because they have boring life in which they are usually feel insecure so the Internet is the only place they can unload anger and helplessness.
Some of them also envy that someone has achieved more, but still they are not willing to do something with their own life. However I do not understand haters, because I do not understand how he/ she finds time to write unpleasant and rude things in public usually to people he / she does not know…
I have never been victim of haters but I guess when you are you just need to ignore them.
Rafał Banach said…
I agree with Dominika haters hate becouse they feel really helplessness in their life. Internet for them is great place to put their fears and insecurities by ditching others. Most of them are so frustrated by they life that they can't see any other things outside their comfort zone which leads to the fact that anything deviating from their life norm is bad.
rf. said…
Silly thing is, people like to always talk about 'them'. Haters, trolls, hipsters, whatever you call it. The thing is, it's most likely us, to some degree of course. As far as 'haters' go, the one and best thing is just to ignore the behavior in majority of cases. How to fix it? Don't go on an internet crusade to cleanse the world from 'haters' spawn. Just behave yourself and think how your actions influence others. Yup.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Haters are not a problem to me. I usually don't read or post comments on the internet besides professional forums which are free from haters or they get exterminated quickly.

The way haters behave in the internet: their poor language, vulgarisms, primitive thoughts reflects their mindset. No one should care about what they say and waste time and energy dealing with them.

Mr. Guy Kawasaki(major entrepreneur and motivational speaker) on his presentations tells how to deal with more sophisticated individuals(haters) in social media like Facebook or Twitter. His advice is "never go to the 3rd round of the argument" which means respond at most only once to the criticism.
Mateusz Frycie said…
Haters gonna Hate...
We're livin in a crazy world. We've got instant access to all sort of informations, possiblity to take a part in discussions "all over the world" and to share our opinion on different things. Including negative ones.
I would say that hater is " a person who knows better". Even if they are not right, their opinion is (lets call it by name) stupid, hater gonna spend lots of time (somebody pointed it before - where do they find that much of time?:) I usually don't have time to read an article, put a comment on sth that is really interesting) showing You and other people that IT'S THE ONLY TRUTH. I would even say that hating is a kind of sport, way of living, state of a mind.
MartaSB said…
Haters? People with too much free time and too low self-esteem. We shouldn't pay attention to the content they're submitting because it's like a standard kindergarten case: if you pay attention to the mean child(but you don't have any real power to stop him), he will behave even worse, on purpose.

Tip: Don't feed the haters.
I really don’t understand haters. I am convinced that they are frustated in real life and this is their way to let this frustration go away. They feel annonimously and they take advantage of it. Sick. They think that in the Internet the respect for other people and good manners don’t oblige. It’s good that this matter is taken under consideration and that consequetions are being suffered more than they used to be.
Michal Kulesza said…
All of are talking about not understanding haters but hey... In my opinion everyone was hater:
- didn't you rate restauration with 1 star without talking to the manager?
- didn't you post any bad opinion on some company facebook page?
- didn't you spread among friends your opinion about unsatisfactory service somewhere?

Any point above can be described as 'hate'. In my opinion it's just another marketing word to describe some phenomena.

And for sure it was introduced by PR agencies.

But haters gonna hate!
Unknown said…
I think it is one way to express yourself for diffident people. Nobody can see you, so you have the full independence to express yourself, but it's only about Internet. This kind of people is totally opposite in real life.

But I don't understand them as well, what do they want?
Unknown said…
Hating seems to be a very common problem on the internet. As many other commenters who have posted on this article, I don't really get the idea of being entertained or somehow satisfied by making other people suffer.

On the other hand, I think that another common problem is that people suffer from lack of communication skills. Negative opinions are often perceived as "hating", even if they have meritorical quality. People tend to take valid arguments as personal offence and reply with "hating".
Unknown said…
Since I remember haters made me a lot of problems. With this phenomenon I met much earlier
before I fully started using internet. I remember till today when someone in primary school wrote a lot of offensive words in my mathematic exercise book. There were also awful pictures.
For hater it was probably funny but I spend few weeks at school psychologist.
Lately I had to change my favourite Diablo (best game ever) server because I couldnt get rid of haters. They had it in for me! However the worst place is YouTube. I would like to get some useful informations about clip I watch and there is sea of hate. How someone can be so rude and write such disgusting things about voice and beauty of Alana from Haim band? Violence creates violence and I had to answer to that accusation. I hope that YT will hire some people to keep order on the forum. I could do this job willingly and block some profiles..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

http://www.jp85.pl/galeria/le/180811/slides/_DSC7779.jpg

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2010/12/30/16/hi-hater-bye-hater-29346-1293744113-1.jpg
Unknown said…
Exactly. Like now, I'm just making this comment only because i have to...
Unknown said…
I think internet haters basically have way too much time and way too little of their own lives, trying to collect attention. That's it.
Unknown said…
Also, trolling is another topic, because it can be in some situations a form of art of humor ;-)
watsoon said…
Wow what a Great Information about World Day its very nice informative post. thanks for the post.
hustle castle hack tool

Popular posts from this blog

Week 11 [03-09.06.2019] The problem with ecological cars emission in UK

The problem with ecological cars emission in UK Since the adoption of the European Emission Allowance Directive in the European Parliament, all car makers have tried to submit. Since 1992, the Euro I standard has been in force, which limited the emission of carbon monoxide to the atmosphere. The Euro VI standard currently applies, which limits the series of exhaust gases. These include: hydrocarbons, nitrogen and carbon oxides, and dust.   The most significant change was brought by the Euro IV standard. For the first time it introduced the limitation of nitrogen oxides, which are responsible for the harmful compounds of smog.   What is smog?   Smog consists of sulfur oxides, nitrogen and carbon. In addition, solid substances such as suspended dust (PM). Dust suspend in atmospheric aerosols may be in liquid and solid form. These can be particles of sea salt, clouds from the Sahara and artificial compounds made by people. These compounds often come fr

Week 12 (12.01-18.01.15) Are you an early bird or a night owl ?

Owls are nocturnal creatures. They’re wide awake at night and they sleep during the day. If this sounds like bliss to you, then, like about 20 percent of the population who find themselves most active at around 9 pm, you may fall into the same category as our feathered friend. Night owls often have difficulty waking up in the morning, and like to be up late at night.  Studies of animal behaviour indicate that being a night owl may actually be built into some people’s genes. This would explain why those late-to-bed, late-to-rise people find it so difficult to change their behaviour. The trouble for night owls is that they just have to be at places such as work and school far too early. This is when the alarm clock becomes the night owl’s most important survival tool. Experts say that one way for a night owl to beat their dependence on their alarm clocks is to sleep with the curtains open. The Theory is that if they do so, the morning sunlight will awaken them gently and naturally.

Week 4 [06-12.11.2017] This is what happens when you reply to spam email.

James Veitch is a British comedian. In today’s Ted Talk James with characteristic for himself a sense of humor shows how he deals with spam emails and why responding to junk messages may be sometimes dangerous. Questions: What do you think about James’s  way of dealing with spam? Why are junk messages legal, even though it sometimes may be a fraud? Dou you have a problem with spam? How do you deal with with it?