I’m also amazed at comment behavior. I think the web makes them feel like they have a huge amount of anonymity, and yet the ironic fact is they have never had less. Not only is there an easy trail back to the person but it is preserved forever. The jaded side of me believes we will be overwhelmed by the crap. The optimistic side believes it will become background noise. Hard to know which side is right.

I’ve recently jumped into “Web 2.0″ by becoming addicted to flickr. I was afraid I would just be saturated by better photography than my own and grow discouraged. Instead I’ve become excited about adding my tiny contribution to the din. People from all around the world are starting to leave comments on my photos, and it’s exciting to look at their photos and comment in return. I’ve learned a lot and grown more inspired.

It’s also true that we have a lot of things to re-think. Security. Anonymity. I’m stunned that people don’t yet realize how exposed they are when they post content or leave comments on news stories or blog posts. I’d like to think that all the opportunity we have to post and leave comments in this huge shared awareness will compel people to kick up the level of their discourse a notch. So much of the time, however, I see a huge number of the people posting to these shared spaces leaving messages without value (“Microsoft Sucks!”), or posting hurtful ignorant words, and then more posts rebutting those with judgement rather than persuasion.. Same as it ever was, but now all of it can be heard around the world (assuming the site’s not blocked in China). Having a single shared space for universal discourse doesn’t automatically make us all better people.

I wonder if, in another 10 years when more and more people have a decade’s worth of humiliating weirdness and crap searchable on the Internet, if we’ll rethink forgiveness and tolerance.