On the Web, Punch and Click

YouTube, the most popular file-sharing site (it receives about 40,000 homemade videos a day), says it leaves the flagging to its users. The site bans those who've been repeatedly cited for inappropriate postings. But its rules about violent videos are vague. Those submitting their work to the site agree, according to its Terms of Use statement, not to submit "material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate."

"It's all subject to what the community [of YouTube users] feels is appropriate," says Julie Supan, senior director of marketing. She adds: "We've removed a lot of fights [because of user complaints]. This service has a very broad demographic of users, and we're focused on making it an enjoyable place for everyone."

A quick scan of YouTube suggests it can be a pretty rough place. Here's a video of a preadolescent girl smacking another girl repeatedly in the face. Here's the infamous and unexplained Moscow gang brawl, complete with bodies falling to the ground amid the exploding violence. Here's an ugly schoolyard fight, labeled "Mississippi Brawl."

The Mississippi video is one of about 500 fight videos collected by Phil Peplinski, 46, a martial-arts instructor in central Florida. Peplinski maintains a Web site (Comegetyousome.com) that contains a portion of his collection and acts as a kind of magnet for fight fanatics and fight tapers.

Peplinski says the point of the site isn't lurid entertainment, but rather instruction. "Most people have never been in a [physical] confrontation," he says. "They have difficulty understanding true violence. I'm hoping people will learn what to do when faced with the real thing."

What they should do, he says, is "walk away."

Decades of social-science research have confirmed that prolonged exposure to violence on TV can lead to a loss of sensitivity about violent acts, a heightened fear of strangers and sometimes aggressive or copycat behavior. But the effects of watching it online are less understood because Internet violence hasn't been studied as closely, says Kathryn Montgomery, a communications professor at American University in Northwest Washington who has written extensively about television and children.

"Kids have a different relationship [to the Internet] than to a TV set," she points out. "It's not as passive. You're not just sitting in a room being mesmerized by images. You can interact with the content [online], you can reply to it and you can create it. But we just don't know if it affects them the same way television does. It's a murky area."

Peplinski doesn't believe taping violence for others to watch begets more violence, or even more taping. "It's all self-perpetuation," he says. "Look at all the cameras that come out when a fight starts. This is the unfortunate and sad part. Humans have a propensity toward violence. Period. The only thing that has changed is the ability to record it."

Peplinski doesn't sell his fight footage, but others do. The Internet is rife with marketers of street-brawl DVD collections, with such titles as "Bare Knuckle Beatdowns," "Extreme Chick Fights" and "Felony Fights."

A site called Realfight.com, which sells a series of DVDs called "Ghetto Fights," entreats would-be customers with this statement: "Are these fights 'real'? Yes, our team has literally searched the globe for only the best footage. None of the fights are staged like you might find in wrestling or fighting championship tapes. In fact, none of these fights have every [sic] been seen anywhere else." The company did not respond to several calls left on its answering machine.

Fights and fight tapes are practically a given among some European soccer fans, says Rogier Both, a fan and frequent fighter who lives in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Indeed, DVD collections of British soccer hooligan fights are copious. "There are always people looking to fight" before big games, he says. "There is always, every day, someone to fight with."

Both, 21, is more than happy to oblige. He'll often meet other young supporters of his home team at the local train station on game days. As they walk together to the stadium, they'll brawl with rival fans they meet along the way and tape the results. His frequent duke-outs earned him a two-year ban from games throughout the Netherlands, he reports (the ban ended this season). Still, Both, who is an account manager for an online company, is quick to add: "I am not a hooligan. I may go to fight, but I go for the football, too."

Like Blake Cater, Both says he likes fighting for the "adrenaline kick," and also for the camaraderie and community with his fellow fans and fighters. The tapes of their melees are like old game films, to be shared and savored: "We look through them, like at a birthday or when we are having a beer," he says.

"It's like an addiction," he adds. "You can't leave it. When there is a good football fight, the best sex is not better. . . . People who have never been in football matches in Europe will never understand it, but it's like a second life."

Both might want to ring up Cater. Since moving to North Carolina from West Virginia this year, Cater has been trying to recruit new friends for some more backyard brawling. "I would absolutely do it again," he says. "It was always fun for all of us."

Plus, he adds, "everyone I've shown the footage to has enjoyed it as well."