Let me get to the second part first.

Real Live versus “Virtual Life”:
I have been on the Internet since very near the beginning.

I have at least been here since before DNS - when you had to know IP addresses of servers you used by yourself and keep track of them yourself.

I have also been here since before Bitnet. Bitnet was the e-mail addressing/protocol wave of the future that we still use today (i.e. malcolm.gin@gmail.com). When I started, we used UUCP, where you had to know the path your e-mail would take and you had to specify each e-mail host in turn along the path from you to your intended recipient in the address field (i.e. zeppo!harpo!cbosg!!ucbvax!malcolm).

I have also been here since when teleprinter (or TTY) terminals were the kinds that typed out your “screen” on a continuous feed of paper.

I remember when there was gopher, which was before HTTP and was more like endlessly interlinking dmoz directories. I remember Trumpet and other SOCK stacks. I remember the first Mozilla, I remember AOL’s browser, I remember older software and things that made the Internet go than many of you do.

Why do I say all this? I am (almost) 40 years old, and granted I did start early (my preteens), when I came into the Internet, it was already Real Life for me and for most of the other people already there. They used it for business and research and it was a small community of folks who found that posting on the USENET or sending an e-mail was easier to do than phone or write postal mail to someone they needed to talk to.

When I took the Internet and telnetted to MOOs, those were also already Real Life for me. The Internet has always been, for me, Real Life.

Now to trolling.

Trolling:
If you are going to troll me here or in Real Life, keep in mind that here, the Internet, is already Real Life for me.

If I call your boss or your HR department or if I forward your crap you were stupid enough to put in writing and send to me over the Internet (thus violating interstate telecommunications laws), to the FBI or to your ISP, I will have done so because you used a Real Life communications device to send me a threatening or harassing message.

In my experience of the Internet, the Internet is not a playground. It is not a get out of jail free place where you can be a fucking idiot and expect to get off scot-free. There are no grace periods. There are no free shots. My Internet, which I grew up with, is a telecommunications device, just like a phone, just like a written letter, just like a telegram. It’s a communications medium whereby you and I talk to each other.

This blog is a personal diary I share with the public or with selected interested people. The web site that hosts it is like my business card.

My other blog is a place where I put technical stuff I (or my coworkers) need to refer to about the technical stuff we do at work.

The LiveJournal I have is a place where it’s important to be a good representation of who I really am in Real Life (because it is a telecomm extension of Real Life).

My avatar on Second Life is similarly a (more abstract) depiction of me (though it’s easier to wear costumes).

Who am I on the Internet? The same person as who I am in Real Life. That’s because the Internet, to me, is Real Life.

And I will treat it as such even if you may disagree. So consider this your fair warning.

Tags:   ethics · internet · real life · trolling · virtual life1 Comment