On Craigslist, an angry seller declares his dos and don’ts. The post was marked best-of. This is a fascinating little piece to analyze. It’s an attempt to demand normative digital behavior.
– The writer is trying to demarcate his audience in a digital environment. What he is selling is meant for those in his region, but he cannot be sure that only those in his region get access to it, like he would if he posted it in a store. He’s upset because the broader readership wants him to expand his distance of distribution simply because they can read it.
– The writer assumes that there are commonly shared norms about the buying/selling process. He can only imagine that the reason people don’t get his norms is because they are foreign (revealing his xenophobia). This reminds me of road behavior. I have a socially constructed set of rules about how people should behave on the road and everyone else should’ve come to the same conclusions, even though they are not the same as the legal road rules.
– The writer attacks “cryptic messages” like: “i liek it plz can u do $5 lolz k.” He critiques this behavior using an anti-mentally handicapped slur. This is going to be a fascinating generational divide because SMS/IM-speak like this is just going to get more and more common.
– The writer attacks “girls” for using overly formatted emails. Here’s a cultural and generational divide. I’m still amazed at the messages i get from friends in Mexico. Flair, color and bouncing things are in.
– I don’t even know to begin to address “I hope your dick falls off. If you’re female, I hope you grow a big, beautiful black cock and it falls off and gets eaten by wolves before you have a chance to enjoy it.”
The whole thing boils down to “that is NOT HOW WE DO BUSINESS.” I find it utterly fascinating that this guy extends his practices out to everyone with such an irrate tone. Of course, it resonates with enough people to make it a best-of. What business practices are universal? What can we take for granted as we move into a worldwide commerce environment?
If categorizations can be made for members of an online community based on their contributions, say, an expert would post specific knowledge on a topic, or a flamer would post messages to anger the group, would this poster be considered an expert in how to do business online? Or would the poster be considered to be attempting to aggravate the other members of this online community. How do you believe categorizations should be made for members of an online community?
the most telling bit i saw was his attack on cryptic messages followed by his attack on formatted messages. it strongly seemed to say, “if you aren’t exactly like me, you aren’t good enough for me to deal with.”
it strongly evoked an interview i heard about the situation in iraq, with a us military man explaining that “all these people understand is force…. force will win you respect… in the mideast.” i haven’t been studying the middle east long, but if anything has jumped out in its history, it’s that overwhelming force has never ever once worked. all of this gathers into a couple of questions for me- where do we get these ideas from, and how do we prevent these amazing cases of projection?
This guy is incredibly angry and people like to watch a “mad dog”. It’s why people watch Jerry Springer,we like to observe people acting out of social norms.
Business practices universal? Exchange of goods(items/ monetary value) is always universal. I can trade a goat for some cash,gold, steel etc. Transactions can be agreed on by the timing of purchase and what is exactly being traded.
However, buyers and sellers will always lack info. about each other( risks in any transaction ).Depending on the market(used cars vs. medical insurance) the buyer or the seller can be at more risk.
It will always depend on the amount of info. available to each party and if the other party is aware of the other’s lack of it. We can always take for granted that people will be deceitful or break promises, especially when they can remain anonymous and the costs of being deceitful are nil.
I think not enough credit is being given to this author for his excellent and entertaining use of ‘asshat’.
I know the secret of MAC&cheeez