#!markdown
I disagree on your point of anonymity. I think most people use names other
than their own for the very slight degree of wit they assume it bestows upon
them, not because it allows them to avoid taking responsibility for their
comments. Communication on the internet is largely a parallel reality. The
people interacting typically don't know each other in the flesh, but if they
do, they know their respective online names and therefore are subject to the
accountability you mention. I don't know what sort of accountability that
really is though, or at least how it differs to the 3D world we live and
breathe in. If someone says some dumb shit online, they'll typically get
called on it, or it will be so obvious to everyone that it's dumb shit and it
gets ignored. And if someone repeatedly writes comments that are off in one
way or another, they get a reputation for it just like real life. Just because
someone isn't using their real name doesn't mean they're practically anonymous
in the typical context we're talking about here (although I do acknowledge
there could be criminal activity in other contexts online).
My take on this accountability problem is that if I see something that's
clearly wrong (or whatever) to me, I comment on it in a way that demonstrates
how it is wrong as best I can. Maybe there's a back and forth, maybe not, but
it's laid out for readers to see and interpret for themselves. I think it's a
little bit important for people to chime in with their dissenting opinions
though, especially to obviously extreme comments, so that readers can get
something closer to a balanced sense of where the community's head is at. And
really, it's not about the people writing stuff, it's about the things being
written.
Why don't you use your real name? You disagreed strongly (even mockingly) with
a comment I made a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure your view would have
been more representative of the community here. While my position is
unchanged, I think it's great that a reader gets to see a counterpoint to what
I wrote, and make up their own mind about it.
Oct. 7, 2015, 8:45 p.m. - NatBrown
#!markdown I disagree on your point of anonymity. I think most people use names other than their own for the very slight degree of wit they assume it bestows upon them, not because it allows them to avoid taking responsibility for their comments. Communication on the internet is largely a parallel reality. The people interacting typically don't know each other in the flesh, but if they do, they know their respective online names and therefore are subject to the accountability you mention. I don't know what sort of accountability that really is though, or at least how it differs to the 3D world we live and breathe in. If someone says some dumb shit online, they'll typically get called on it, or it will be so obvious to everyone that it's dumb shit and it gets ignored. And if someone repeatedly writes comments that are off in one way or another, they get a reputation for it just like real life. Just because someone isn't using their real name doesn't mean they're practically anonymous in the typical context we're talking about here (although I do acknowledge there could be criminal activity in other contexts online). My take on this accountability problem is that if I see something that's clearly wrong (or whatever) to me, I comment on it in a way that demonstrates how it is wrong as best I can. Maybe there's a back and forth, maybe not, but it's laid out for readers to see and interpret for themselves. I think it's a little bit important for people to chime in with their dissenting opinions though, especially to obviously extreme comments, so that readers can get something closer to a balanced sense of where the community's head is at. And really, it's not about the people writing stuff, it's about the things being written. Why don't you use your real name? You disagreed strongly (even mockingly) with a comment I made a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure your view would have been more representative of the community here. While my position is unchanged, I think it's great that a reader gets to see a counterpoint to what I wrote, and make up their own mind about it.