| 5 Nov 2021 |
 tomberek | How much do you think the negative opinions are over-represented? How much do you think positive opinions are over-represented? (clearly not looking for exactness, an order of magnitude?) | 02:30:42 |
 Irenes | I think in a discussion like this negativity always crowds out positivity, because it's frightening to people. | 02:31:07 |
| Irenes | Negativity has a strong advantage. | 02:31:16 |
| Irenes | You can see this at a glance by looking at anyone's Twitter timeline. | 02:31:27 |
| tomberek | Okay, what would you think would lead to negative opinions being under-represented? | 02:31:59 |
| Irenes | So like | 02:32:35 |
| Irenes | if a person reads a 500-word piece of negativity and a 500-word piece of positivity | 02:32:47 |
| Irenes | the negativity will stick in their mind far more strongly | 02:32:54 |
| Irenes | because the amygdala records memories more strongly when the emotions are stronger | 02:33:07 |
| Irenes | harsh words lead to stronger emotions | 02:33:13 |
| Irenes | especially on topics where somebody has a personal stake | 02:33:20 |
| Irenes | it's unfair but it's how humans have always worked | 02:33:27 |
| tomberek | I might have gone too abstract. I'm asking about why people would not feel comfortable providing an opposing viewpoint in the RFC. | 02:33:45 |
| Irenes | oh, sorry | 02:33:58 |
| Irenes | you're asking if I can see reasons why people who are opposed to the RFC would not express that? | 02:34:24 |
| tomberek | Yes. | 02:34:34 |
| Irenes | I can. For example, fear of becoming a target, whether justified or not, is very prevalent in the world right now. | 02:34:56 |
| Irenes | but anyway, my point is that negativity dominates these discussions by default | 02:35:44 |
| Irenes | so the fact that so many people took the time to speak out positively | 02:35:55 |
| Irenes | is a very strong signal to me | 02:35:59 |
| Irenes | the bias towards not speaking out to say negative things is far outweighed by the advantage that negative things have, once said | 02:36:26 |
| Irenes | again, just look at the world around us right now, at everybody constantly criticizing everybody else (a state of affairs which I find terrifying) | 02:36:52 |
| Irenes | it transcends partisan lines | 02:37:08 |
| Irenes | when people say critical things about people or ideas, that gets traction in a way that praise doesn't | 02:37:34 |
| Irenes | and that's true regardless of what the ideas are | 02:37:47 |
| tomberek | I'll provide a thought here. Negativity and fear have similarities. "Fight or flight". I'd suggest that much of the behavior and reactions that we have seen follow that pattern. | 02:39:24 |
| Irenes | I am in full agreement | 02:39:46 |
| Irenes | please note that this happens no matter how much work I put in to showing good faith, because it's too easy to conceive of me as a partisan stereotype | 02:40:17 |
| tomberek | And that many of the rants and bans have been a "fight" response, and due to the invisibility of online communication, we will tend not to notice those who "flight". | 02:40:51 |
| Irenes | sure. | 02:40:59 |
