A strange phenomenon that seems to have taken place on the Internet is the desire for respect from people that are unknown to the user.
The Internet has created a hunger for what I like to call e-respect.
People crave praise and find themselves willing to act out more when granted the anonymity of the Internet.
One way in which people seem to use this hunger is in bragging.
In many forums, you will find people flaunting their supposed incomes, cars, or computer parts in order to impress those around them.
The question is, what motivates people to act in this manner? What is it that inspires people to quest for others favor, even those they don't know.
It seems the general hunger for e-respect is the greater acceptability for bragging on the Internet.
In most general conversations in the real world, people aren't given the opportunity to make these comments or to openly talk about themselves.
The Internet doesn't carry the same level of social etiquette and so people seem to more freely talk about things that are normally unacceptable.
Because there are no social repercussions when a person has anonymity, they are more willing to make the effort.
The question is, how can we better mimic real world regulations in an online community and is this something that should be considered? Is it okay for people to brag about uninteresting activities or should we try and keep people more in line with the normal world.
By mimicking reality on the Internet, it is interesting to imagine where the world might end up.