In light of yesterday's revelation that Michael Arrington had some asshole spit in his face - it seems as though perhaps everyone is waking up to the fact that being a complete dick all the time isn't the best way to be. 

Earlier this year Loren Feldman of 1938 Media went from a tirade of Twitter fights and talking about everything from Julia Allison having an eating disorder to blocking an entire country from viewing his website - to "opening his eyes" and apologizing to people.

He started following his mass amounts of followers on Twitter back, and having discussions with them. He seemed pretty positive and happy and as if he was truly trying to make a genuine change.

Has he changed? Does he seem more positive in his conversations with people on Twitter?

That's up for you to decide. 

Now, hot on the heels of Arrington's announcement that he's taking a break  from TechCrunch and that he hopes his peers will "realize that their words influence others" - London writer Paul Carr has written in his Not Safe For Work column for The Guardian that he too wants to make a change.

"It seems recently that I've developed a reputation for hating things," he wrote.

Carr described how he gets the most attention and most feed back for his most negative pieces and that  he just finds it easier and more enjoyable to be a dick:

"Now, of course, I realise I'm being incredibly disingenuous. My reputation for being a prick is far from unfounded. And the truth is I really enjoy being mean. It's much, much easier to make jokes about how bad something is than how good it is."

In all fairness, the guy is, as he said, "hailed for being a bastard, ignored for being nice". That's the nature of our culture at the moment, isn't it? The darkside of our online culture seems to have made it's way into our every day lives - as was apparent with the Arrington spitting incident.

But what I find interesting is the point Carr made about women online. After mentioning that he was watching Julia Allison on a panel at DLD on Twitter, someone immediately replied, asking if she was really as annoying as she seems online. Carr defended Julia by saying that:

"Sure she's pretty, and sure she can be incredibly – and annoyingly – girly at times, but she's also smart, tech-savvy and funny – traits which, as she pointed out on the panel (to a smattering of applause) needn't be mutually exclusive."

Paul Carr even went so far as to say the following:

"Having read the vile abuse aimed at Sarah and Julia and countless other women who dare to showcase their abilities online... I am absolutely unsurprised that the hate has finally spilled over into real life."

I found the bold text above about women online particularly interesting, considering that despite BitchBuzz being a four-day-old, brand-spanking fucking new website for women, Carr wrote the following in a review on Sarah Lacy's website:

"Bitchbuzz: because there just aren't enough women blogging about sex and [bloody] knitting." Presumably that's the tagline they rejected in favo(u)r of 'for feisty women with their knickers in a twist." I mean, seriously - is there any women alive on the Internet who doesn't know by now that 'it's ok to enjoy sex' or that sometimes women with big [eyes] struggle to dress in a way that doesn't come across as slutty? Imean, even I *know* that.

I just don't see what the *point* is. Why is this better than the ShinyShiny/ Dollymix sites - which is where Cate Sevilla came from in the first place? That's another reason the 'disappointed by other blogs' angle doesn't ring true - you just want to reply, "well you wrote most of them, love".

I am one of those women Paul's talking about who "dare showcase their abilities online" that he himself has shit on.

Carr goes on to give five different pointers on how you can stop this trend in our society that "rewards nastiness over niceness". He promises to "stop that kind of bullshit" when it comes to personal attacks and advises you all to find balance in your negative and positive Twitter updates and blog posts. He encourages us to join him in his effort to "prove that just because what you say is sometimes positive, doesn't mean it can't also be popular."

I applaud Carr's call to change. I've had enough of people being a dick for the sake of it, just because that's "their thing". However, I'm not saying that everyone needs to turn into fucking Mother Theresa and to keep their mouths shut. There is always room for criticism and for complaint - just not personal attacks and people being pricks because it's easier than giving constructive criticism.

If everyone wants to pull their heads out of their asses and be more positive and less twatish, that's fine by me. But actions speak louder than words, boys. You all have a lot of readers, a lot of Twitter followers and and influential friends. Be the change you seek.

(And don't fucking call me "love".)

Image of Julia Allison, Paul Carr and Megan Asha via Non Society