in an openly impolite manner. In this way, we see the same types of impoliteness formulae as seen in other interactions.3 For example, disqualifying the words of another (es absurdo ‘that’s absurd’, falso ‘false’, una tontería ‘stupid’…)

(7) Hello, I read in this article that. in parts of Mexico they use the voseo, this is a big lie […] jmko

08:02 07 mar 2009 (UTC) (Discussion: Idioma español, 2020).

(8) In order not to increase the list’s length since it has gotten beyond ridiculous

05:44 15 jul 2019 (UTC) (Discussion: Idioma español, 2020).

When the tone of the intervention by a particular user is deliberately impolite or simply does not demonstrate the proper concern for polite behavior, we see the use of intensification mechanisms. In example (7), it would have been sufficient to use the word mentira ‘lie’ to disqualify the words of the other user, but instead, we see the word being emphasized by the adjective grande ‘big’. We sometimes see this intensification achieved by means of ortho-typographic resources such as the use of small caps or upper-case lettering (Eso es FALSO, completamente ‘That is completely FALSE’). Such cases are examples of the transcription of prosodic devices such as an emphatic, or insistent, tone of voice. This is, to some extent, similar to what we see occurring on social media opinion forums, where a certain degree of hybrid communication is also seen, where this is understood as the inclusion of certain features of spoken language within written text (Maíz-Arévalo and García-Gómez, 2013). Thus, we could consider these discussions as an interactive written dialogue (Ferrara, Brunner, and Whittemore, 1991: 8). As a matter of fact, however, as on social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook…), these interactions are not instances of dialogue, that is, of a synchronous interchange between participants, but rather a collective discussion generated by the sum of all the voices speaking up about a particular issue (Mancera Rueda and Pano Alamán, 2013).

As we can show through our examples, what often happens is that the words of others are put on trial, perhaps through accusations of lying or “attacking their self-image, playing down or negating the value of the evidence produced” (Fuentes Rodríguez and Alcaide Lara, 2008: 24). To do this, users resort to irony (9), similes (9) or metaphors:

(9) Deficiencies in the articleSup4

Very extensive, seems like a journal or a monograph (unsigned)

(Discussion: Idioma español, 2020).

Direct insults, a conventional impoliteness strategy (Culpeper, 2011: 135), are not common. In place of this strategy, we see disqualification being achieved through reference to the user in third person, “stripping them of their categorization as a participant in the discussion, turning them into a “thing” about which others talk” (Fuentes Rodríguez and Alcaide Lara, 2008: 24):