"It's the first time that we have seen it," Police Officer Joe
Harn told Associated Press. It appears that typing on a computer
was an unsatisfactory vent for the gang members' frustrations,
which is why they escalated to the street what a gang researcher
described as their "disrespect thing".
Associated Press also spoke to a criminal justice professor, Tod
Burke. "Let's face it," he told the news agency, "gangs already
have their own alphabet, their own language, their own hand
signals, so why not use the internet?"
A contributor to Slashdot, the popular "News for Nerds" site,
highlights the logistical problems of taking a fight out of the
chat room with an example of how the conversation might run:
Guy 1: I'm gonna kick your ass!
Guy 2: Bring it on!
Guy 1: Fine! Where do you wanna meet?
Guy 2: I'll go to your place just to kick ... your ... ass. Where
do you live?
Guy 1: Farnsworth street in Edina
Guy 2: Oh I'm so there. Wait, I'm in Rosevile
Guy 1: Okay, you can take I-494 westbound, then take HWY 100
northbound.
Guy 2: Can't do that, 494 near me is closed and there's no
detour
Guy 1: Okay, how about County road B?...
