Sometiumes people say things in internet forums we don't agree with. In today's Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter JesusChrist tells us how to deal with these unpleasant situations.
Hello my children, I am here to teach you another lesson about the interwebs. When somebody makes a comment that is directed at a company or their respective game in a negative light [and is obviously not trolling], they are not calling out commenters.
If you disagree with the statement, tell the original commenter so and present your evidence against it. If the original commenter is mature enough he'll probably respond back with his evidence and you'll have a healthy debate that could end with either party admitting defeat or a stalemate.
But that is not what I see in this website, oh no siree. I see the most basic level of a counter argument: ad-hominem. If you are a fanboy and see it as an equivalent of the original commenter stating what he would do sexually to your mother, at the very least calm down before attempting to mash your head against the keyboard. The person might be wrong, but that is no reason to act like a ten year old who just discovered that the dictionary has purrrty words.
Let us do a little exercise with our friends Timmy and Bobby. Timmy just read an article concerning the PSN outage and has recently been accepted into the Kotaku star community.
Timmy: Well gosh darn golly gee, I sure do hope that Sony ups their security and learns that taunting hackers usually ends badly
Now Bobby is a die-hard Sony fan. He began as a 10 year old with the first PlayStation and has nothing but love for them. He has just read Timmy's comment and is already pretty edgy because of all the 360 fanboy trolls who are enjoying messing with him and the rest of the innocent Sony community.
Bobby: Well...
How should Bobby finish this sentence? Should it be:
a. "...you can go 'the Spanish word for seal' yourself"
b. ".... at least we don't have RROD lololololololz"
c. ".... how do you have a star?! you are retarded! get off the internet! RED RED WHINE"
d. "I see your point, but I respectfully disagree here is my counter argument [insert evidence].
The correct answer is d. If you chose any other answer, your buttocks has been recently bruised and you should return to IGN.
Thank you for listening. Have a nice day.
About Speak Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.