Hello all,
This is sort of a random topic, but I've been looking at various online communities and was struck by how pessimistic and negative many are. I perceived this most notably on reddit, but some other places are like this too-- there seems to be a general aura of discontent, an attitude that society in general is corrupt, and so on. Does anyone know why?
I've noticed this general pattern on the internet generally. My guess is that being optimistic makes you vulnerable to mockery. Most people won't openly mock you in real life, but with anonymity on the internet, mocking is extremely common.
The most optimistic places on the Internet are also the ones with norms of niceness. Especially places where niceness is vigorously enforced by moderators. The nicest/most optimistic comments section I can think of is on this guy's high-traffic blog..
The cynic will point out that Ferriss has a direct financial incentive in having 'nice' (read gullible?) 'optimistic' (self-deluded?) comments. One of the nicest, least-critical places on Reddit is the 'circlejerk' subreddit.