When I first began to research this topic, I had never heard of the Encyclopedia Dramatica (access at your own risk). For those of you who are unfamiliar with the work of the ED, it is an extremely controversial and irreverent clone of Wikipedia which was created by 4chan users to offer their views on just about anything.

Extreme views aside, the above example is packed with “epic fails”, “lulz”, “awesomeness” and “epic wins”.

Words like these are just a few examples of what I have noticed about language trends online, so much so that the use of “epic” is now fashionable, to the extent that even Money Supermarket have begun using it in their TV ads.

It’s interesting that “epic” is applied to both positive and negative statements, as if the word delivers the ultimate verdict – good or bad. Just like with all fashions though, it is only a matter of time before it becomes so overused that something else will take its place.

But it’s not just the type of language used online, it’s the way it’s used as well.

Any forum or social media site is typified by two extremes; either the subject is totally and utterly brilliant, or it’s a crime against humanity.

The computer games industry is a great example of this, mainly because fans are so loyal to their chosen game or console that they become enraged if someone disagrees with them. Debates over the best platform for a particular game more often than not become fiercely aggressive slanging matches which inevitably degenerate into “at least I have a life” competitions.

Think about it, how often have you looked at a discussion board about something and watched as the argument becomes slowly less associated with the original topic as the thread expands?

There is also a trend towards wanting everything to be absolutely definitive. TV shows are a good one for this. Comments on discussion boards for TV usually have someone claiming a particular episode was “the best ever” or, conversely, “the worst ever”.  The word “ever” suggests that it surpasses all previous examples, it can never be matched or surpassed, which is slightly ironic considering just how many things are branded this way.

The more pointless and trivial the subject, the more likely you are to see “best ever” comments, like cats with bread around their faces for example:

This type of behaviour helps to reinforce the idea that there is no middle ground on the internet. Those that do choose to sit on the fence are doomed to mediocrity and are at risk of appearing boring, the most outlandish and peculiar profiles will undoubtedly get more attention.

One reason for seeing these kinds of comments is the desire to be noticed. With the millions of people using Twitter and Facebook, people want to be heard and stand out from the crowd to gain followers and friends. Being controversial draws attention from other users and helps to engage people in discussion (about who has the least life). That, in effect, is the essence of being sociable – getting people to talk to you. The internet, it seems, just has very extreme social tactics.

The comments section of YouTube for pretty much any video are riddled with these types of comments as some seriously obscene insults are thrown around. Perhaps the safety of knowing that you are never likely to meet your discussion board adversary lowers the inhibitions of what is acceptable.

Another way to turn heads online is to be completely absurd, take these oddball Twitter accounts for example:

@WeirdHorse: “Sniffing a twig in a field. Trying new things and searching for a life partner”. Tweets usually contain details of the strange and random thoughts and actions of a slightly unhinged horse. Followers, stand at over 150,000.

@StealthMountain: “I alert twitter users that they typed sneak peak when they meant sneak peek. I live a sad life”. The only tweet Stealth Mountain sends out is: “I think you mean sneak peek”, often to the fury of the recipient. Followers stand at over 18,000.

@big_ben_clock: “Established November 2009. Entirely unofficial & apparently imitated everywhere”. Big Ben’s tweets consist of “bongs” every hour, nothing more. Followers stand at well over 320,000.

Just for a moment, consider the thought processes of the people who created these accounts and the effort they put into maintaining them.

A more in depth look at online language trends would possibly investigate what drives people to go online to write anything at all. One suggestion for this is that it takes something extraordinary to motivate people to put their opinion in writing, which might explain the extreme points of view that dominate our Twitter feeds.

Face it, a lot of us probably enjoy reading other people’s opinions on trivial matters, we probably enjoy arguing with them too. The claim that “there is no middle ground online” is not entirely true, it’s just that no one cares.