While the above situation is highly unlikely, the general situation happens all the time for all to see: on the Internet. On forums and comment sections, no matter where you look, you will see people being rude to each other for no obvious reason but that they enjoy riling others up.

These “trolls” will make up excuses, saying that they were just stating their opinions, which they have as much right to state as others. Really though, is stating that football is better than baseball on a forum for baseball fans necessary? I don’t think so. If someone wants to, they can save it for the football forum. There are forums for every type of person out there, leaving no reason to say purposely inflammatory things to others.

One of the reasons I believe people act ruder on the web is that they face fewer consequences. The majority of people you meet have no idea who you are, meaning you can say almost anything you want and get away with it. If Obama really acted like the above example, he would face not only the wrath of the Republicans but also of the general population. Since everyone knows who he is, he would have no choice but to deal with his actions. On the Internet, people don’t have this problem and tend to behave with impunity.

What really annoys me is that almost everyone claims to dislike the trolls, including the trolls, and yet they keep on trolling. It is not productive in any way and has caused the disruption and ruin of many forums and websites. I go out of my way to avoid troll-heavy areas or comment sections because of the rude and disrespectful behavior that always crops up.

So to all of those who are rude and disrespectful online, all I ask is that you rethink how you act and remember that it doesn’t matter if people know who you really are—your behavior online may come back to haunt you.