One bad apple ruins the group

[iago]

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001227.html

I'm listening to the radio show linked from there right now. It's a really interesting study -- when you have a group of people with one person acting like a "jerk" (calling people's intelligence into question, insulting for no reason, stuff like that) or other kinds of bad apple, the groups perform significantly worse and those traits will show up in other people, too. It totally destroys group dynamics -- people in the group would argue with each other in the presence of the "bad apple" person, and stop sharing important details about the project.

Really interesting to think about, especially in the context of trolling. Can trolling bring down an entire group? Based on this study, I think it's very likely.

[MyndFyre]

Hm.... *looks at Warrior*

[Newby]

Don't try and motivate them.

[Warrior]

Beautiful Disaster in action.

[iago]

Don't try and motivate them.

I told Ender a long time ago, if it got to the point where I considered things to be "ruined", which we were very close to at some point, I'd leave the clan and disable the forum. So, I wouldn't ever let it get to the point that the article mentions.

[d&q]

I don't think it's the same because online, we're in reality at a computer with adequate time to listen and evaluate people's responses. I definitely think I hold my temper more easily online than in real life, particularly since if you get mad online, in retrospect you usually come off as a douchebag/idiot. In the same way, I don't think this translate too well to les internets.

[truste1]

nt