Marco.org

People who have actually met Jakob will recognize that this is a shame.

If I hadn’t met him before, I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t have joined in the mockery and insults. I’ve probably made a lot of bad judgments of people in the past based on limited, misleading views of them from their online content. People have judged me similarly.

It’s inevitable. Just like IMs and SMS are frequently misinterpreted because they don’t convey vocal and facial cues, people’s blogs can’t accurately convey what they’re like in person as an actual friend or colleague.

I’ve had the privilege to meet many people in real life after having “known” them on the internet for a while. In every case, some of my major assumptions about their actual personalities were wrong.

Now I’m keeping that in mind before I think, say, or write something nasty about someone who I only know on the internet.