@molly0xfff When the internet was mainly accessible to “computer people,” and a baffled public kept their distance, the tone of online discourse was generally less ignorant. Flame wars were as nasty as ever, but public spaces only devolved from cafeteria arguments to barroom brawls when everybody and their dog took to the web. Barriers to entry helped as much as they hurt by gatekeeping; access to anonymous, unfiltered communication doesn’t seem to have done humanity many favors.