How much of the web is just a race to the bottom?
TomOfTTB: One of my favorite books is Robert Fulghum’s "All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten".  One of the chapters tells the story of Steven Brill a man who, after hearing New York Cab Drivers were all dishonest, decided to look into it.  He decided to get in a bunch of cabs, pretend to be an out-of-towner and asks to be driven somewhere really close to see if the cab driver would rip him off.  This was the result (from the book)...“One driver out of thirty-seven cheated him.  The rest took him directly to his destination and charged him correctly.  Several refused to take him when his destination was only a block or two away, even getting out of their cabs to show him how close he already was.  The greatest irony is that several drivers warned him that New York City was full of crooks and to be careful.You will continue to read stories of crookedness and corruption-of policemen who lie and steal, doctors who reap where they do not sew, politicians on the take.  Don’t be misled.  They are news because they are exceptions.  The evidence suggests that you can trust a lot more people than you think."That, to me, says it all.  When the bad people stop getting attention I’ll worry.  Until then I continue to believe the loud mouth trolls are just an exception to the rule.On the Internet side, I understand why you might think there are more bad people on the Internet but I’d point this out: The Internet is a place where the loudest person in the crowd can push out in front of it.  There’s no referee so sometimes it’s the trolls who look like their dominating the conversation.  But if you read a site like HN you’ll see there are far more well-intentioned comments than there is trolling.  The trolling is just what sticks in your mind.