Irc Operators: the scurge of civilised communication

There are people I know who will remain nameless, who have at one point in time operated Internet Relay Chatrooms (IRC). These people could be ordinary folk in regular conversation, perhaps a little socially awkward, but not always or obviously so. Transport these very same people into the dank cave-like environment where IRC resides and they transmogrify themselves into Golems.

I should mention, for the unintiated: IRC is an ancient (by Internet standards) communication standard which lets people from all over the globe create chatrooms and talk about how emo they are, or how particularly important their world view is, despite how disjointed or warped. Just like everywhere else on the Intertubes, only seedier.

I cant explain it and I dont know why but as soon as ordinary people are given even a minute amount of power over others, regardless of the context or environment, they go bonkers. absolutely.

It has been so rare that I have experienced a civilised, well thinking and sensible person in an IRC channel, that I cant be entirely sure that I didnt imagine them out of pure desperation.

Of those who I have known to become moderators, operators and/or admins of IRC servers, once they believe they have power they go power mad. Sabre rattling as and when the mood hits them, ostensibly claiming omnipotence over all that is ‘the chat’ and omniscience over everything else.

One can easily lose faith in humanity with the types of individuals that lurke in the cellar of the Internet that is, the IRC channels.

IRC is only of value whilst it lets people talk freely without despotic administration or political back biting. To those who think that IRC is the be-all and end-all, you need to re-evaluate yourself, there are more important things in life than watching a monitor waiting for someone to slip up so you can crack down your personal brand of justice upon them.

The Internet is meant to be about the free exchange of ideas, not an exercise in ‘how best can I control my sheep so they worship me most’.