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Comment by personjerry | Hacker News Reader

One thing I learned from playing video games is that online, you can just ignore and block anyone. Seriously, everything is detached.

What's the difference between a stranger on the internet yelling at you versus a crazy homeless man in San Francisco yelling at you? Absolutely none, their thoughts affect in you in 0 ways, feel free to ignore and carry on with your day.

Edit, because a lot of replies are getting off-track: I'd be curious to learn if it is different in open-source and if so, why. My understanding was that the "professional" way to deal with hecklers online is in fact to ignore them and delete/block their content.

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It is interesting to see the differences in how people handle negativity online. Some people have no problem ignoring negativity and moving on. Others get satisfaction in hitting the block button. Others can't let it go and will eventually let negativity consume them and burn them out.

Learning how to shrug it off is imperative for anyone who wants to post something online. If you can't ignore negative comments and move on without getting worked up, sharing anything from open source to social media isn't a good idea. Save yourself the stress.

It also depends on which platform you're on. Traditional forum software has lots of moderation tools at your disposal. Chat software tends to be more limited. GitHub has virtually no tooling for moderatings issues/PRs and blocking abusive people. It's much harder to ignore negativity when you can't decisively remove them from your working environment.

> Some people have no problem ignoring negativity and moving on. Others get satisfaction in hitting the block button.

Not sure if you were trying to set up this dichotomy, but there's a middle ground here where you recognize yourself as someone who has trouble letting it go and can use the block button to help you ignore and move on without feeling perversely satisfied by it.

> If you can't ignore negative comments and move on without getting worked up

Expecting everyone to have your opinion is literally entitlement.

Perhaps consider empathizing and addressing the complexities root cause rather than just shrugging it off as, "boys will be boys."

If anyone is entitled in this discussion it would be the people expecting to be spoken to in their preferred tone.

Perhaps consider that you will never be able to control the actions of other people and that you can only control the actions (and reactions) of yourself.

I don't understand your point. Are you agreeing that you should simply shrug it off because not everyone will have your opinion, or are you disagreeing?

It's not the simple.

Imagine owning a bar and working as the bartender. A dude comes in and starts acting crazy. Sure, maybe you can ignore him. But he's disturbing the other patrons and spoiling their experience of the bar that you're invested being successful.

So maybe you throw him out. But every single thing you do in this bar is streamed 24/7 onto YouTube and visible forever. People may see the clip of you kicking him out, but not the hours of footage of him bothering everyone. Maybe they decide you kicked him out because you're a tyrant, or because of his appearance.

Hmm. One thing I learned from playing video games is that I enjoy myself way more when my teammates are friendly or at least not actively hostile to me, even if I know I can block their communication.

Just ignoring someone, IRL or online can have its consequences. The homeless guy can attack you physically. The online troll can try to cancel you digitally.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that no one is safe from abusive behavior by people who feel entitled to something you have (money, time, etc.) and seem to have nothing better to do than go after you for the slightest thing.

Online they can badmouth you and your project to everyone they contact. They can leave nasty comments on your blog or in open forums like HN. They can give your product bad reviews. They can issue takedown notices to social media sites.

Never interact online with your real name. The internet is not a real place. Block the people who are annoying and get on with doing what you enjoy. They can try to cancel your online name all they want. It doesn't matter.

Many (if not most) contribute to FOSS projects under their real names, and often have their email addresses (even if maybe project specific), so they can bother you off list in various ways.

This happens in FOSS projects even to this day. There's this one dude who is banned from a popular linux distro mailing list, so he reads the public archives and emails the people he has disagreements with to yell at them.

Nobody who signed up for that list expected to be yelled at by some asshole.

Others have followed maintainers of projects to other projects to yell at them and spread lies about them to others.

If you are interacting with FOSS as part of your job then this is unavoidable. But if you just want to contribute and share some stuff, it's better to keep it separate. Don't let some online drama affect your source of income.

I disagree with never using your real name. The internet is a real place. Block liberally, absolutely. Use anon accounts liberally as well.

Yeah I never understand that saying. The internet isn’t a physical place but it’s still a place.

It is fairly straightforward to outlaw this kind of thing.

Extend the same laws that we have about commercial speech to the public, to any speech that is to the public. Not speech that is in public, speech that is to the public at large. Must be warrantied, with due diligence.

You know how people talk in the court, so they don't accidentally lie (and get the punishments that that would entail)? Imagine if politicians (or anyone) had to abide by that when they speak to the public. I have a feeling their bombastic claims (and lies) used to incite and defraud people would be greatly tempered and have more qualifying statements. Fraud, libel, and slander laws restored.

Well, there’s actually one significant different. The IRL deranged person, if physically close enough, can actually cause you physical harm. Sure, ignore them, but remain observant and in tune with your surroundings.

Well the deranged clown in your online game can ruin the next 30 or however much minutes of the online match (as in MOBAs there is punishment for just leaving). Which is still mildly annoying

Certainly we can expect open source work to not be on the same level, experience-wise, as online gaming. ;P

We're a community and we should show each other more respect.

Well, back in my day we didn't have the ability to "block anyone", we just smiled knowing we were the man.

because online they can follow you around the internet and lie about you or otherwise harass you. This is something that has definitely happened.

Also,since they can probably connect you to you real name,who knows what else they might do.

The crazy homeless man can shiv you for not giving him a handout.

Let me guess, MOBA player?

Let’s just be honest.

I won’t use the “U-word” because it usually sets HN on fire everytime it’s used.

BUT

…the conditions are such that maintainers should bargain collectively.

THE CONDITIONS:

- entitled people screaming at you to do stuff.

- corporations taking advantage of you.

- being paid very little.

How on Earth could open source maintainers possibly unionize. What am I missing that makes your suggestion remotely feasible or value adding? Am I a scab if I fork a union FOSS project?

Go ahead and fork the top 50 FOSS libraries and maintain them yourself.

But if maintainers quit en masse. We’d learn to appreciate them a bit more.

I don't want to do that, and I also think many FOSS maintainers are underappreciated.

I was asking about how this could possibly work from a regulation and union rules perspective.

A traditional union wouldn’t work because there isn’t a single employer.

It would have to be a trade or membership association like ASCAP that sets standards, advocates for members and engages with industry.

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