Mi Lan loves to buy clothes from Taobao. It saves time and sometimes you can find really amazing bargains.
米兰（音译）喜欢在淘宝上买衣服。这既节省时间，有时你也会发现真正的惊喜折扣。
After a recent online shopping spree, Mi took photos of some of her most satisfying purchases and uploaded them to a lifestyle forum on Tianya.cn. The 25-year-old hadn’t expected it would be the beginning of a nightmare.
在最近的一次淘宝血拼之后，米兰用照片拍下一些自己最为满意的购物成果，并将它们上传到天涯社区的生活论坛上。25岁的她没有想到这将是噩梦的开始。
The comments Mi received were mean. “You call this fashion? How old are you? 50?”, read one entry. Another accused Mi of advertising for these clothes: “Get out of here with your ugly goods! Don’t waste people’s time!” Yet another comment questioned Mi’s financial situation, saying the clothes looked cheap but that even poor people should have a better fashion sense.
米兰收到的评论都是些刻薄的话语。一条评论写道：“你把这叫做时尚？你多大了？50岁吗？”；还有人指责米兰是在为这些衣服打广告：“带着你那些难看的衣服滚出去！不要浪费人们的时间！”；而更有甚者质疑米兰的经济状况，表示这些衣服看起来很廉价，就连穷人也比这些有时尚品味。
“I just wanted to share my online shopping experience,” said a deeply mortified Mi, who deleted her photos from the website the next day. “But now I’ve lost confidence in my image. None of my friends told me before that I dressed in bad taste. Why are people so nasty online?”
对此，米兰十分伤心，第二日她便删除了网站上的所有照片。她说：“我只想分享一下自己的网购经验，但现在我对自己的形象彻底丧失了自信。从没有朋友说我穿衣品味很差。网友们为何如此恶毒？”
Why? We used to think that people are rude online because hiding behind anonymity, we feel like we can get away with anything. But since the rise of social networking sites, we are not as anonymous as we used to be.
为何会这样？我们过去认为网络暴民的产生是因为有匿名作掩护，我们认为自己可以为所欲为。但在社交网络崛起之后，我们也不再是匿名用户了。
Still, rudeness prevails. Sina’s Weibo, for example, requires users to register with their real identity, yet people do not shy away from using harsh words whenever they disagree with each other. It is worse with pundits and so-called “public intellectuals”, some of who might even resort to personal attacks. Politeness and good manners do not get you noticed on micro blogs, opinionated and provocative words will.
而“网络暴行”依旧十分普遍。例如，新浪微博要求用户实名制注册，而当人们出现意见分歧时，仍是恶语相向。而对于一些权威人士已经所谓的“社会公知”而言，这一现象更甚，他们中的一些人甚至会采取人身攻击的方式。微博上想赚眼球，靠的不是礼貌与礼节，而是那些自以为是、煽动性的言论。
Losing self-control
难以自制
Scientists and researchers have tried to find out why we misbehave when using social networking sites. According to a Wall Street Journal article, recent research suggests that browsing social networking sites lowers our self-control.
科学家以研究人员试图解密我们为何在使用社交媒体时会胡作非为。《华尔街日报》的一篇文章称，最新研究显示浏览社交网站会降低我们的自控能力。
This is because most of us present an enhanced image of ourselves on Facebook or Weibo. This positive image–and the encouragement we derive from positive comments–boosts our self-esteem.
这是因为我们中的大多数人在Facebook或者微博上都呈现出一个放大的个人形象。这种积极形象以及我们从正面评论中获取的鼓励，使我们变得自满。
But when we have an inflated sense of self, we tend to show poor self-control. It’s a bit like drinking: alcohol might make us feel good, but too much booze impairs our judgment and makes us lose our self-control.
而当我们自我膨胀时，往往会表现是极差的自制力。这有点像喝酒一样：酒精有可能让我们感觉良好，但狂饮无度就会破坏我们的判断力，令我们失控。
Keith Wilcox, assistant professor of marketing at Columbia Business School and co-author of the study, explains: “You feel good about yourself so you feel a sense of entitlement. And you want to protect that enhanced view, which might be why people are lashing out so strongly at others who don’t share their opinions.”
进行这项研究的哥伦比亚大学商学院市场营销学助理教授凯斯•威尔克斯解释说：“因为自我感觉良好，所以你觉得理所当然。而且你想保护这种良好形象，这或许就是人们如此猛烈地抨击和自己观点不一样的人的原因吧。”
We’re also less inhibited online because we don’t have to see the reaction of the person we’re addressing. Many people forget that they’re speaking out loud when they communicate online, especially when posting from a smartphone. “You are publishing but you don’t feel like you are,” says Sherry Turkle, professor of social studies of science and technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US. “So what if you say ‘I hate you’ on this tiny little thing? It’s like a toy. It doesn’t feel consequential,” she told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.
我们在网上肆无忌惮，是因为我们不必看到说话对象的反应。很多人在线交流时，忘记了自己这是在公开场合发表言论。特别是使用智能手机时。麻省理工学院科技社会学研究教授雪莉•特克表示：“你在公开发表言论，但自己可能没意识到。”她在接受《华尔街日报》采访时表示：“所以如果就因为件小事，你说‘我恨透你了’，那又如何呢？这就好比一件无关紧要的东西，没什么大碍。”
Many social networking sites promise us a place where we are going to make friends. “If you get something hurtful there, you’re not prepared. You feel doubly affronted, so you strike back,” Turkle says. Thus starts the vicious circle.
很多社交网站都承诺给我们一个交友平台。雪莉•特克说：“一旦你在那受到伤害，便会觉得措手不及。你会感觉受到了双重侮辱，所以会无情地反击。”这样一来便启动了恶性循环。