On a statistically unfounded estimation, I would assume idiots account for 60-80% percent of all Internet users, using the Internet solely for recreational purpose. It really is hard to guestimate this figure with any degree of accuracy but 60-80% is what it "feels like".

If you examine any popular site with a large user base, it seems idiots take the fair share of that userbase. A perfect example would be MySpace, YouTube or Digg. These sites are full of idiots as is evident from the comments there. However, there is also the possibility that the more intellectual users distance themselves from these cretins by refraining from posting there. What is the point of giving input to someone who has failed to grasp the concept of, grammar, punctuation, spelling, etiquette and make up for this by substituting obscene language and moronic comments.

A long long time ago in the days of green screens and IRC being the primary method of instant communication, there were indeed a lot less idiots polluting the Internet, you had to be knowledgeable about computers to access the Internet and this was a useful barrier in some cases but prevent growth of the community of Internet users.

If you are not familiar with the website The Well, in brief it is a community that is "remarkably uninhibited, intelligent and iconoclastic". What's important here is that there is a barrier in place on this website and that barrier is created by money and the image the website creates. Sites like YouTube have the image of a place that is mostly filled with juveniles filling up the site with the most unimaginable junk, where every one in a millionth video is has actual purpose. The same goes for MySpace, which is apparently labelled as a "social networking" site. The moronic themes on MySpace are rampant, if your definition of socialising is leaving a comment such as "hiya howz ya doin????!" on a daily bases I would consider you deluded.

MySpace however, is easily ignored and so bothers no one who does not wish to use it. Such as my blog, you may think I am an idiot and my ranting as unjust as anyone else's, fair enough but I do it on my own.

The problem, or at least the problem as I conceive it to be, is that for public sites such as a YouTube or Digg (Digg especially) that do provide a service that appeals to a userbase of varied intelligence, the idiots reign supreme, destroying the site for others. Who am I to pass judgement on the validity of someone's comment should be the question going through your mind as you read this, well in part I agree but I must make clear the type of posts that I feel are degrading the quality of service provided by a site. The type of posts I am so against are those which show great hostility towards others as is typically displayed by obscene language and can often be raciest, sexist and so on. I fail to see how these kind of posts add anything to a site and more importantly why they should be allowed.

Perhaps I am one of the few who does have a qualm with these idiot posters, but for me they are certainly spoiling aspects of the Internet.

1 Comment

Tim Location: United Kingdom Joined: 26/03/05	I agree! Myspace has become a how popular am i site. Poeple create awfull looking pages and randomly add other users in a bid to impress their freinds with the number of people in thier freinds list. I my self would use face book except i cant join as my schools not listed (ive requested it numerous times).
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