Correcting people on the Internet feels so satisfying while I am writing my comment. But is it good for me to judge others and police the Internet?
By trying to correct people who post an article, I draw attention to the article.
On LinkedIn, when I comment on an article, my comment makes the article appear in my activity feed and in the activity feed of all the people who follow me.
Then, if people comment on the article in my LinkedIn activity feed, the article appears in their activity feed and in the activity feed of all the people who follow them. The article spreads likes the flu.
Not every activity feed reposts articles the way that LinkedIn’s activity feed does. However, even on activity feeds that don’t automatically repost articles, I draw attention to an article I don’t like by simply commenting on it.
Policing the Internet can cost me relationships.
As much as I want to fix what we see on the Internet, the effort can backfire. Nobody likes people who think they know everything. Not only do I risk burning a bridge with the person I am correcting, I can burn bridges with people who read my comments.
There are better ways to solve the problem than trying to fix people.
There is little chance of changing the opinion of people who like an article. We all tend to see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. On social, religious, and political issues, our feelings override our judgement. When people argue, they end up more convinced of their own beliefs than before they started discussing the problem.
- I try to think the way successful people think when they are making good decisions. I back away from things that anger me.
- I stop following the people who annoy me.
- Sometimes, I write my rant on a blank document and then close the document without saving it. I release the tension without getting involved in the problem and making it worse.
- If the article has an important point, I talk with people whose opinion I value instead of dealing with the issue in public.
- And I write an article about the things that I have learned and post that article on the Internet.
