Broken windows theory

Thursday, January 20th, 2005

There’s a theory called the Broken Windows theory which states, roughly, that once degredation starts, it will soon become worse if not attended too. The theory further suggests that the degradation has more influence than one might expect.

This theory is usually brougt in relation with vandalism and crime. I found an interesting transscript of a speech which goes a little deeper and links it with discussions, debates and perhaps all social interaction.

Interestingly enough, I’ve recently witnessed this behaviour on the Rec.Games.Roguelikes.Nethack newsgroup in this thread (Scroll down to the first post by Wavy_G).

A quite common scenario. Of course Wavy_G is a troll, that much is obvious from his other posts. However, had “Antti V V Vierikko” never fed the troll (ironically, by stating “YHBT”, which means You Have Been Trolled, he actually feeds the troll. A common error) there would have been no problem. Next up comes “BWIGLEY”, and trolls some more. *Blam* The thread explodes and the troll (whomever it was that was trolling) succeeds.