Online Comments

Do you ever look back at the trail of postings/comments you leave online... and would you ever be ashamed if someone you knew read them, knowing you posted them? Here's the background to what brought this up...

I found a few articles as a follow up to the Beliot College yearly mindset list for incoming freshmen. I always like reading this list when it comes out every year, and the items on it by and large are insightful and not too corny. Apparently quite a bit of research goes into it. The article that I read in USA Today was kind of fun, and didn't say too much as far as commentary. But then I made the mistake of continuing on to the comments section in this article:

http://tinyurl.com/lfyjud

And really?? Do the baby boomers referenced in the article really hate the Gen-Y (I believe it is... current 18-24ish year olds) that much? Some of the comments weren't insightful, or funny... they were just rude and mean. I mean, is it really necessary to go on and call all of them lazy, disconnected from reality, terrible work ethic, etc. etc? I certainly appreciate healthy online discussion. I think it's one of the great things about the web- people can express diverse opinions, learn about the opinions of others... discuss their differences... (this all taking place in a perfect world where people discuss things of course) but this wasn't a discussion. This was a bashing session full of generalizations of a lot of bitter sounding people. It happened on both sides- the older generation saying how lazy and what a terrible work ethic the younger generation has, and the younger generation firing back by saying the older generation is arrogant and self-centered. Sounds like two sides of the same coin if you ask me.

While there are some wonderful comments posted by some insightful readers, most of them go off on rants, sometimes bashing each other in the process. And sadly, many of the comments I read on a lot of news websites are like this. Why?

I would like to know from those posting the stronger versions of "The world is going down the toilet and it's all because of the lazy, ignorant, etc. etc. people like the [insert social group here]!" type comments, if they had to post that same comment under their real names- not "someguy8989890" handles... would they still say the same thing? And do they really hate other people that much?

I also read another thread last week on a page that was supposed to be funny with a poll about how from the sales persons perspective the customer is always (choice) right or wrong. The comments were endless: retail people bashing every customer that comes in for being messy and inconsiderate, people who weren't in retails bashing the retail sales folks for being rude and pushy all with nasty comments being passed back and forth. All I could think was about the interactions these people must have with others in their daily lives- and I really hoped they were a little nicer, more polite and considerate than they were in their online comments. Otherwise, I could see where they would have the impression that everyone is nasty and mean.

What do you think? Do you post comments? Are you proud of them? Am I missing the humor in this somewhere? Are these people terribly unhappy? I guess I'm looking for some comments here...