A few months ago I got an e-mail comment on my blog from a guy named Sergio (not his real name—or was it?). Sergio was impressed with something I’d written about people who hoard data. Or was he? He wanted to demo a product for me next time I was up north to show me the true power of search. He wanted to teach me some stuff that he thought I should know. His e-mail was condescending, but in a solicitous way. He was friendly yet finger-wagging. Was he trying to educate me, insult me, or stir me? Sergio’s invective was so confusing and cryptic that I couldn’t figure out whether he was flaming me or inviting me out to dinner.

A few years ago a guy who called himself Jaguar (not his real name—or was it?) gave my CRM book a one-star review on Amazon.com. Jaguar’s grammar was a bit off, as were his facts, but that’s beside the point. Jaguar came across as preternaturally angry in his on-line review. Was it something I said? I would have sent him a peace offering, but that kind of thing is hard to do when the source is anonymous, and clearly detests you.

Experts have called unsociable behavior in cyberspace the “online disinhibition effect.” It suggests that people who wouldn’t address you impolitely to your face are more than happy to abuse you under the cloak of on-line anonymity. You simply can’t gauge someone’s mood in an on-line forum, save for the trite mechanisms reserved for the web world. You know what I mean, don’t you, BFF? ;>) TTFN!

Technorati tag: data hoarding, on-line disinhibition, The CRM Handbook