I've run across the type of people you mention in game forums, messageboards, and the like. Ultimately, they do have the right to express their opinion though what constitutes being a jerk is highly subjective. Or rather one person's jerk will simply be another person's impassioned enthusiast on whatever is the topic of the moment.



Avoidance is key, at least in my experience. Yes, some people are emboldened by internet anonymity to mouth off where they'd likely not do the same face to face. Like it or not it's just going to happen much in the same way that there are people who would mouth off to your face. The internet is no great haven preserved for the kind and/or thoughtful... it's open to all comers.



Just as we find ways to distance ourselves from certain people in the real world, the same needs to be done online. It's a different medium out here but a jerk is a jerk online or off. Sure it would be nice to not have them but that's a bit too utopian in scope and unrealistic. Avoid, ignore and report where applicable but know that it's a condition that won't soon go away.

Just like in real life you get jerks. Making fun of them or just straight flaming them is part of life. So is ignoring them.

Forum software allows for the 'simulation' of all of this human interaction.

Human interaction is what makes MMORPG's and their related forums fun.



I admit though, when you have more of these members than decent folk then threads can get pretty difficult to read.



This though is a failing of the forum model, not the members.



I for one wouldn't want to lose the jerks from my MMORPG forum eu-chronicle.com (shameless plug!)

i was on a skateboarding forum and there was a meet up years ago.. hundreds of people came together to skate.. it was beautiful..but right before it got started a fight broke out between two guys.. i thought they were fighting over a girl or a broken board..something passionate..lol we separated them and i was holding one of them back and i was like " yo man let it go, its not worth it..he said" nah man he was talking Sh** on the message boards" i just let him go and walked away. pure nonsense. a topic that really needs to be addressed is Racism on Xbox live , its starting to spill over to psn too but not as much. thats a topic of which id love to hear peoples remarks and encounters .