I’m going to preface this post with “this is not an excuse to be rude”. Rudeness isn’t acceptable and in online spaces can often lead to an escalation of rudeness that ultimately makes the environment toxic. This instead seeks to investigate the reasoning behind rudeness online in particular why it comes about, and possibly point out a path to those who are experiencing rudeness in online spaces to look at what paths can be followed to reduce that type of discourse.
One of those things that comes up time and time again in virtual communites is that of “everyone here is mean.” There is some truth to that.