I think anonymity is a major contributing factor. Here's a data point:
I worked at JPL between 1988 and 2000. Somewhere during that time period -- I don't recall exactly when -- the IT people set up an internal Usenet newsgroup that could be posted to anonymously. The idea was that it would be a forum for people to candidly discuss issues that needed to be addressed by management.
Almost immediately it degenerated into a Lord-of-the-Flies style melee of the sort that is all too familiar today, but which was new and shocking back in the days before the WWW was really a thing. And this was not just random people off the street. These were all JPL employees, of which there were about 7000 back in the day.
It went on for several months until IT decided to disallow anonymous posting, and all the acrimony immediately ceased.
I worked at JPL between 1988 and 2000. Somewhere during that time period -- I don't recall exactly when -- the IT people set up an internal Usenet newsgroup that could be posted to anonymously. The idea was that it would be a forum for people to candidly discuss issues that needed to be addressed by management.
Almost immediately it degenerated into a Lord-of-the-Flies style melee of the sort that is all too familiar today, but which was new and shocking back in the days before the WWW was really a thing. And this was not just random people off the street. These were all JPL employees, of which there were about 7000 back in the day.
It went on for several months until IT decided to disallow anonymous posting, and all the acrimony immediately ceased.