The point being that those who actually use incivility
as a wedge to
divide the community are quite well aware of that, and this is what
needs to be stamped out as disruption, not intermittent breakdowns of
the civility code.
I saw a recent study suggesting, alarmingly, that online many people
find angry language and comment relatively persuasive; presumably
because they assume it is sincere, and assume that sincerity has
something to do with being right. I find this much more worrying than
the traditional "lack of affect" argument, because you'd assume over
time people would adapt to that (have we not adapted to the phone?)
I think there are probably a couple of serious fallacies being allowed
to dominate this discussion, still.
Charles
Yes there is research:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/how-rude-reader-comments-may-undermin…
Nastiness works. However, our problem is with the enablers.
Fred