"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?...