The Internet is a vast wasteland

The internet is not for everyone. No matter what anyone says, there needs to be some kind of regulation to the internet. Don't get me wrong, I do believe anything and everything should be available on the internet. But not everyone should be accessing it. Especially kids. Especially if they are being given laptops to use in school now. I like that idea, my senior year at high school was cool because we got laptops to use. Even though they were iBooks. But that was high school. Elementary kids should not be given access to the vast wasteland of cybercrap that is the Internet. I think teaching kids to be techno-literate is a good idea, but that comes with the responsibility to make sure they don't start doing things they shouldn't. Who honestly believes that giving a kid an expensive laptop and sending them off to use it as they see fit is a good idea?

What happens when a kid grows up on computers without the proper knowledge of what he sees on the internet? Well he becomes me. But imagine an entire generation of me. I know, scary. At least I have the good sense to avoid internet jargon.

What worries me about kids growing up on the net is the blow that the state writing takes. Lolz, IMHO, OMG, 331902 whatever crap that happens when you start writing in net shorthand has apparently been slipping into this generation's writing. Is this the death of professionalism? Is blogging in general the death of professionalism in writing?

As blogging becomes more and more mainstream, more people begin a life of writing creatively. However, they are also completely untrained as writers. They're just typing away, with no knowledge of spelling and grammar. No concept of what they are writing and the effects of what they write. Commonly it seems they have no idea that anyone can read it.

Consequence is the greatest teacher. The internet is no man's land. Let's think this through, it connects to every country, everyone. Rules and regulations on the internet are vague. It seems to be that the general rule is do what you want without fear of consequence. Total Anarchy with the appearance of a set of rules guiding people. Have you ever been on a message board? Trolls are everywhere. I theorize that 80% of the internet denizen population is troll, and most of them are probably the same person. That stereotype about the nerdy 12 year old pissant kid posting on the internet to complain and whine about things and then harassing everyone by using poor grammar.

Now, harassment and the internet come hand in hand. If you are on the internet, especially while blogging, you should expect someone to flame you. This is what happens. Now, even if a death threat is given, that's typical internet behavior. Sometimes however, it goes too far. Take Kathy Sierra for example. What makes this different from your average blogger getting a troll? Well she's apparently a prominent blogger. I don't know what that means or how you get that title but it seems to mean she's somewhat celebrity. Now when you can be seen offline and actually do something you say online whilst offline, that changes the rules. If the harassment goes to the point where you actually feel threatened, someone has gone too far. Anonymity is good while avoiding internet sickos, but when the sicko is anonymous himself, then he can do what he wants without fear of consequence. What should be done involves the Internet Service Provider. You should be able to complain to an ISP when one of their users is overly harassing, the problem is you get the people who just run around stealing Wireless to go online. Logically, there has to be a way to get around that and find these people. Have I made death threats? Yes. Have they ever been to the extent that they become believable death threats? Maybe that one to whomever gets between me and Rosario Dawson, but they are never intended as such. Most are not. You should be able to read and detect the tone the writer of said threat intends, and with a generation of random key seekers out there blogging and commenting on blogs, that's not really happening.

I agree with the concept of a Blogger's Code of Conduct. But alas, it can't be properly enforced without whatever is providing the blog service to, well, enforce the code of conduct and bloggers don't want that. Bloggers don't want anyone to tell them what to do. No one on the internet does. That needs to change. You have power on the internet. You can express your opinion and influence others. That is a great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. You have to be responsible for what you do on the internet. You have to be held accountable for your actions online as well as offline. Maybe we need Big Brother, someone watching everything we do, because we online people get out of control when we have no consequence. Hell offline you need to be held accountable for everything or havoc and anarchy reigns. That's how society is kept together, consequences keep everything moving in order. That's just how life works.

Then again, I do completely support anarchy, because when everything goes to hell, the rebuilding process can begin. And we just might need to start over through the chaos. It's complicated. But listen to me internet, and listen good: Be good or else. You don't like the concept of someone censoring you? Too bad. Deal with it. Sometimes, people need to be censored, because they suck and they just need to be shut up. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, but they do not have the right to express it because yes, your opinion is probably wrong. Deal.


Does anyone read this? Is this living up to my project proposal?