Just as in real life, the news rarely carries stories of how humans behave kindly, even nobly toward one another on the Internet. While stalking, cybercrime, mass protests, or pornography rings grab the attention of journalists, the less-sensational human interest stories might be treated more as filler for the back of the magazines. Yet behind the scenes, random acts of kindness occur regularly, and people might be surprised to learn how altruistic net users can be.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: INTERNET STYLE

Paradoxically, the net's psychological spaces seem to support and encourage high levels of altruism, when at the same time they can release higher levels of aggression. For example, the net has a long history of volunteerism, and thousands of people give their free time to staff help desks, maintain servers, offer assistance to newbies, and moderate discussion forums. Those telecommunications lines are carrying speedy replies to calls for help – right along side the seedier and meaner bit streams.

People on the net are willing to help one another in small and sometimes very large ways. Helpful replies to requests for information are extremely common, and the willingness of so many to provide assistance is one of the main reasons people participate in discussion forums. Someone sends a short message to a mailing list about boating: “Does anyone know where to get information about good sailing schools?”