Did you know? Commenting on the web is like a conversation, and if you don't agree, there's a way to say it nicely! Paul Graham nerdily maps out the Disagreement Hierarchy. "DH1: Ad Hominem. DH2: Responding to Tone." [How to Disagree]
From Now On, There are Going to be Rules
2:25 PM on Tue Apr 1 2008
By Sheila
1,985 views
262 comments







Comments
Fuck off.
u-r-a fag post.
@VirusWithShoes: oh, i made the same joke as you kind of.
fIrsT!!1!!
I'm rubber, you're glue...
@VirusWithShoes: Of course you would say that. You're a douchebag.
that's gay.
This post wears combat boots
Nazis.
YI1 (Yoda Insult 1): A whore your mother is.
I got McDonald's and you don't, nah
Of course he would say that...
@VirusWithShoes: I disagree with your statement. I can't believe you would respond to this post in such a cavalier fashion. Dink.
fuck that noise.
You wear red patent leather shoes with white capris-after Labor Day!
The author seems to be saying that people aren't mean to others on the internet because they enjoy it, and that they just can't help themselves. He says:
If moving up the disagreement hierarchy makes people less mean, that will make most of them happier. Most people don't really enjoy being mean; they do it because they can't help it.
That's wrong. People are mean to others on the internet because it gives them a shred of dignity in the circle of their day that starts with screaming kids and shrewish spouses, moves to a hellish commute, progresses to impotent office rage in a cubicle, and repeats the first two steps in reverse. Calling someone a fag on the internet makes that bearable, somehow.
Fag.
I don't like the way you just said that.
@PimpMyCouch: I can't believe you called him a dink when he is clearly a fribble
You are all just a bunch of effing heteros.
You're all full of shit.
@BettyCrocker: I hear your tone, and I do not disagree
@BettyCrocker: You fart in the bathtub and eat the bubbles. Ahhh, that's better.
@fiveinchtaint: Godwin iz a fag.
everyone on the internet is mobese.
It's not socially acceptable to be any meaner than a presidential candidate.
A lot of people using the F word in the comments. I suggest none of you use the D word. Unless you are talking about dirt mounds that keep water from flooding a town, of course.
Jesus fucking Mary and Joseph and the Ox and the Lamb, too, what the hell is this happy horseshit? Back in my day, if you disagreed with someone then you'd get on your horse and go over there with a bunch of fellas and some rope and make for damn sure that son of a bitch understood the merits and nuances of your argument. Nowadays there's goddamn rules on this shit?!? Aw, fuck no, we're not doing that. What the fuck happened to us? When did we collectively cut off our testicles and begin to fear for our feelings rather than burying them deep inside where they'd fester until exploding in some poorly timed - and often public - tantrum?
Jesus fucking Mary...
I concur there should be rules and standards of decency for civil discourse. Anyone who dissents may proceed directly to blowing it out their ass.
I prefer the Hollywood Squares Disagreement Hierarchy:
DH0: I agree
DH1: I disagree
@IndianSlipper: You're an Indigo Girls fan!
I think that the first person who posts on an item should get to write a full sentence. After that, everyone just responds to it and each other in this code. It'll save a lot of space on the Gawker servers, and allow for some delicious misunderstandings!
@MisterHippity: You all contribute to Jezebel. I've seen it.
@Nard38: Well, you put Ben Gay on your nipples, whack off, and tell all the guys you got "hot action" over the weekend.
@Nard38: Suck my cholo, you will.
@BalknChain: Let's call him for what he is - a dillhole.
@MisterHippity: Same to you and more of it, pal!
@BettyCrocker: I also do not disagree with you, you magnificent bastard.
@scroll_lock: rules are made to be broken
Also, I can't stop Rule and Regulations from playing in my head
@TotalEclipseOfTheSartre: Green bottle. wink.
I doubt that actually made sense.
9-11 was an inside job!!1!! Ron Paul!1!!!
o rly?
That's what the Nazi's would say.
(i've just broken like 3 unspoken rules right there)
Responding in the heat of anger and demanding commenter execution has always served me very well. . .(slinking away now).
@BalknChain: I like your tone, actually, even though you're a Gawker commenter, so of course you'd say that.
i love you all.
@MisterHippity: You'd have to be a shithead to disagree with Rip Taylor.
@PimpMyCouch: right-o. You know, you really shoulds stop flashing your beav all over Gawker you slut
For a good time go to www.youeffingexpectthislinktoworkyoucantbeserious.com
Yeah? Well your momma smokes crack rock. And I slept with your wife.
@BettyCrocker: Are you calling me predictable whilst lumping me into a category?
@BalknChain: I know you are but what am I? (infinity +1)
@BettyCrocker: I cured part of my Gawker addiction by spitting on people in public transit. You're right, my dignity is wholly intact.
You're all NewToJezebel and you know it.
@Clarence Rosario: Nice. I'm surprised the article didn't make reference to that.
But I actually wasn't insulting anyone. I just type random nouns occasionally. Polecat.
@scroll_lock: A douchebag says what?
"Yawn"
Paul, How enlightening. Thank-you. If ever you visit the real, three-dimensional world, disagreement hierarchy goes like this: my rock, your face.
@BettyCrocker: That guy is a fucking ass clown. People can't help being mean? People think that I am one of the kindest, easy going people ever. Why? Because I am able to help being mean (huh?). Little do they know that the second they leave I turn into that Cheri Oteri mumu wearing lady on SNL.
Bitches.
PS - This is the best thread ever. We should have one of these every day.
@BalknChain: Yeah. Wanna make somethin' of it?
@drugman: I know, right? When people push in front of me in the subway, I give 'em a kick in the ankle and it's like bluebirds and rainbows.
@BalknChain: It says, "Hi, my name is BalkNChain and I am incontinent."
Sheila's main point seems to be that we should look to this essay on internet discourse to learn how to be better commenters. But Sheila AND the author of that essay are wrong for the following reasons:
BECAUSE I SAID SO.
I totally admire Mr. Graham's thoughts and all of the tremendously intelligent comments people have made here in response. Keep up the great work, and I like your hair.
Sperm-burping gutterwhore.
@BalknChain: You're just jealous that the beav gets me all the boys. Plus, you're one to talk what with that lingerie, you dirty whore!
@BettyCrocker: You wear nothing but pink chaps and a smile to suburban book club meetings you discover in the Sunday Newark Star-Ledger!
@TheHonJudgeSmails: ha! Oh, wait, like you haven't said that before ya big bore
@Sarcastro: Leave Smails' mom out of this.
@Goober_Pea: An ass clown AND a fag! And yes, I'm enjoying this too - it's like when someone dropped a tray in my high school cafeteria and everyone would yell "DICK!".
Hey, Gawker, how's your wife and my kids?