I have strong feelings about people posting anonymously online. There are very few instances where I consider it justifiable, especially for those not living in countries with an oppressive regime.
The crux of the problem is that many seem to conflate the right to free speech with the right to speak anonymously. I have the right to state my opinion, but am I entitled to do so without signing my name?
There are two distinct variations of writing under a name which is not your own: pseudonymity and anonymity. There are many authors and bloggers who choose to write under a pseudonym. I have no real issue with this, although it sometimes seems rather pointless.
I’ve heard arguments that a posting under a pseudonym is analogous to doing so anonymously. I don’t agree with this. While not disclosing a person’s legal name, a pseudonym at least allows for attribution. If someone always posts under the same online moniker, their remarks can be traced back to them. While a pseudonym allows a person to protect their privacy (to a certain extent at least), it doesn’t completely obscure their identity.
Anonymity is an entirely different matter. I’ve visited several blogs purporting to be by publishing industry professionals. While I found them interesting, I took their advice with a grain of salt. If someone is not willing to disclose their identity, I cannot know they are the genuine article.
I have a number of issues with people leaving anonymous comments on blogs and message boards. Commenting anonymously smacks of arrogance. It’s often done to highlight potentially scandalous information, or to imply the poster is privy to inside knowledge. Such commenters rarely contribute something of value to discussions, and I am skeptical of anything they do say as I question the credibility of anyone unwilling to own their identity.
All too frequently, anonymity is used to insult others without fear of retribution. Ultimately, it’s this lack of accountability which bothers me the most. If someone makes a statement, they are responsible for what they say. If they choose to insult another person under the cloak of anonymity, it’s an act of cowardice. It’s very hard to defend yourself if you don’t know who you’re defending yourself against.
In general, I support the idea of unmoderated comment threads on message boards and on blogs. In the case of anonymous comments, however, I’m sorely tempted to implement an automatic deletion policy on my blog.
Some questions to ponder:
Are we entitled to anonymity?
Is pseudonymity analogous to anonymity?
Should anonymous comments be deleted from blog threads/message boards?
No related posts.
Do you throw out the whole carton of eggs because one is bad?
Most anonymous posters are good people with their own good reasons and I respect them.
Do you give out your social security number online?
There are a lot of good reasons to publish under a pseudonym, not the least of which is personal security.
I realize there are valid reasons for some people to post anonymously. However, I’d argue they are in the minority. Most people I’ve seen commenting anon recently have used the opportunity to bash others.
I think there’s an enormous difference between posting under a pseudonym/legal name and giving out bank details/social security number.
As someone whose privacy has been frequently threatened by grudgy wankers online – and whose identity and private details have been outed maliciously a number of times – I will defend absolutely the right to pseudonymity. It’s not safe or wise to give out real names on the net *especially* if your name is unique, as mine is.
But anonymous? Depends on context, depends on the stakes. Those who post in oppressive regimes, or where there’s a real risk of retribution professionally or otherwise (i.e. whistleblowers) must be allowed that luxury (though it’s a figleaf if someone has access to enough IT info about them.) Those who do it to avoid being challenged on their hatefulness – just like the dear little troll I had posting on my blog today and who then followed me to other blogs doing the same thing – deserve a kick up the arse.
But hard cases make bad law, and trolls and troublemakers should not have their rights stripped away if it strips away the protection of more serious minded posters who need it. So if putting up with gutless idiots like Henrietta and not revealing their address and IP (which I so easily could) is the price to pay for those who have to speak up anonymously, then I’ll pay it. The Henriettas of the world are punished enough by being such toxic individuals and having to live with themselves.
Must admit I am fairly uncomfortable with using the real name for randomness around the blogs. After eight years on ebay, I am too fully aware of the psychos on the internet.
With the business I already have too much info online for my cop families comfort. *shrug*
That said, I can see where you are coming from with using a pseudonym regularly and owning your posts.
But think pseudonym is the best way to go realistically.
I can understand if someone is anonymous over a topic or discussion that becomes heated. But when anonymous comes on a blog can hurls insults or trolls and started problems for kicks and giggles, that is what gets me angry.
If you are going to insult me on my blog or on a blog and call people names, they are a coward and immature for not leaving their name or some other name besides anonymous.
And it is so easy now to figure out who anonymous is with the IP address.
Oops. Reading over my post, I see I left out a sentence.
When I say pseudonyms sometimes seem pointless, I wanted to follow that up by saying people who use pseudonyms and then proceed to give a ton of personal information about themselves might as well not bother. If I know where you live, where you work, where you work out at the gym…you get the picture.
Hi Sarah
I agree with you on the Anonymous poster.
In fact, when reading comments, I automatically skip it if it by “Anonymous”.
Thanks for sharing,
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
When I see an anonymous post I don’t give it very much weight because if someone won’t stand behind their opinion then I won’t take it that seriously. Also, they’re a lot of trolls and idiots who post annonymously and their comments are hard to take seriously to begin with though I will say they are annoying little buggers who should have their internet access denied sometimes.
Now using a psydonym is different. That is about privacy and also establishing an online identity separate from your real-life. Also, I try to be careful with any personal details I share online as I don’t want things coming back on me.
Does online anonymity even exist?
Even when you have the option to post Anonymously, identifying information is almost always left behind. So the way I see it, online anonymity is no more anonymous than the offline kind.
I also don’t think all anonymous/pseudonymous comments are invalid. I’ve posted as both, for various reasons. If it’s easier for me to post as anonymous rather than log in or display personal information (say I’m posting to a blog when I’m signed in under a work account, for example), I’m going to use that option. And as for giving out my full name and/or location? Forget about it. There are far too many freakazoids out there for me to feel comfortable divulging that kind of information.
I think in situations of abuse or harrassment, posts and comments should only be deleted based on their content, not by the poster’s anonymity or lack thereof. I’ve seen as much douchebaggery done under “real” names as I have the fake ones. However, it’s your blog, and if some persons start abusing the option to post anonymously, you have every right to take that option away.
“Does online anonymity even exist?”
Totally agree.
It doesn’t.
I once had a ‘anonymous’ guy harass me.
This charming fellow was in I.T. and thought he was being clever.
A hacker buddy of mine easily tracked him down
and ‘persuaded’ him to leave me alone.
Another time, a dentist tried to hold my dental records hostage (thought I should pay for a copy of them).
Another buddy retrieved them within minutes (and has called me metal mouth ever since).
This is no real privacy.
All your information can be retrieved.
Your best defense is to be a nice person
and not make it easy for people.
I’ve never posted anonymously, and I don’t use a pseudonym, but I think there are legitimate reasons for doing both. Unfortunately, most anonymous comments online are just a guise to vent or insult others without consequences. It’s funny, because I sometimes recognize these “anons” by voice and style. Or, at least, I think I do. Sometimes an author’s word choice is as unique and personal as her handwriting.
In college, I once criticized another student’s project anonymously. The class called me a coward. I stood up and owned up to my comments. It was a huge lesson for me.
I agree that posting under a pen name is not the same as posting under anonymous. I use a pen name for everything online because I’m an army officer and because I’m in Iraq. Because I write romance, there are those amongst the officer corps who would argue that what I’m doing is not necessarily ‘conduct becoming’. BUT that being said, despite the fact that I use a pen name, I’m still very conscious of what I post, both on my blog and on other blogs.
Nothing in cyber space is anonymous. Even if you post something without your real name, with a little work, someone can find out who you are, where you are and where you’re posting from. Everything leaves a trail online.
I agree that posting anonymously presents some challenges, especially with authenticity. Someone can claim to be a ‘big time agent’ on a blog, but how do you know? How do you trust what someone says when you can’t see their signature?
Blogs that require attributions are viewed as more reliable and more trustworthy. There is a reason for that.
I won’t be online much today, so apologies in advance for not responding to everyone. Thanks for all your comments!
Liz and others brought up the topic of online anonymity not truly existing. So true. You don’t even need to leave a comment at someone’s blog in order for them to see your IP address. I am not the most technologically savvy, but even I have figured out the probable identity of some anon posters. Also, as I mentioned in my comment above, a pseudonym is only useful as long as you refrain from giving out a ton of additional information.
Do you see how this comment section is set up? I don’t need to sign into anything to comment. Other sites require that you sign in, or you can post anonymously. I always post anonymously because I have a hard time remembering passwords. Other sites that require signing in and don’t allow anonymous posts don’t get commented on (the one that I did actually have an account set up in, I have lost the password for, and can’t figure out how to get it back. Its not worth it for me to post there)
Also, if you are posting on a board that is of a “sensitive” nature, *especially* if you don’t frequent there, you may not want to associate it with your common pseudonym. In those kinds of situations its not that one (well, me) cares whether or not the blogger can ID the poster, but that the name cannot be searched via google.
Blogging anonymously is a different issue, perhaps. But trolls will troll regardless of whether or not they have to have a name.
Well, well, I agree with your distinction between posting anon and assuming a alias, because that’s what IMO most people do on the net, in chatrooms blogs and fori, they take on a different character.
It’s much like putting on a carneval’s mask to allow yourself to be more the person you really are, to be able to actually drop the real mask.
And as such I disagree about a pseudonym being useless if you offer personal data, that pseudonym will still be your ‘online persona’, regardless.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, same goes for writing under a pseudonym.
I think it can make complete sense, a author, much like an actor, can be a completly artificial person, a role one assumes, nothing more.
And the reverse question there would be, do we have a right to “see” the real person behind the character?
Do we have to?
I concur with what others said, I reserve myself the right to delete comments I regard as unsuitable, but I only judge that on actual content not the name or lack thereof that stands on top.
I do find that everybody has the right to stay in his comfortzone, and if using a pseudonym or giving no name at all is helping them to give a more honest opinion they should absolutely be given that opportunity.
I rather see the real person posting without a name, than a name posting without real character.
In general, I fall on the side of using a psuedonym online. I prefer it in fact and have use the same one (or versions/variations of it) for most things the entire time I’ve been online. Sure, it’s not possible to keep anyone’s real identity online ever truly secret but at the same time if someone does get obnoxious there are ways to deal with it.
In most situations, anomymous postings just doesn’t impress me but there is one big exception to that and that’s in a forum context where it’s up to the owners/moderators of the forums to decide whether people can post anonymously as visitors or if they have to register, sign-in, whatever. If it’s allowed, it’s allowed. It all depends on where one is on the web.
One can look at blogs in the same way. It’s up the individual blog owner(s) to decide whether they want to allow anonymous comments or not. What they’re willing to put up with.
But there is nothing to say any of us have to put up with anonymous comments. At all. If it’s your blog, you make the rules. Just be consistent and clear about what you want. And don’t.
Sarah wrote, “people who use pseudonyms and then proceed to give a ton of personal information about themselves might as well not bother. If I know where you live, where you work, where you work out at the gym…you get the picture.”
Some of us do this, NOT because we believe, foolishly, that no one can figure out who we are. Rather, we are trying to create a personal space for “off duty” expression and fun, and are signaling to others that is what we are doing.
“Jessica Tripler” is not my real name, but when I use it online I am not therefore posting anonymously, because I have created a fairly consistent online identity.
Further, even those of us who use real names may create online identities that are selective, that highlight aspects of ourselves we are proud to own, or even that are false.
Jessica, exactly! I don’t assume no one will figure out who I am, nor am I particularly worried about it if they do!
However, I don’t want the casual searcher (e.g. my students) to have access to that much information about my personal life.
I use a pseudonym, but I use the same one consistently. I’m very careful about what I say or how I present myself online or off, and I’m fully aware that anyone with a little skill and knowledge can track my online activities.
With that said, I’m a college professor who teaches at least part of my course load online, and my husband is active duty military in a sensitive leadership position. I don’t care for a quick “Google search” of my name to reveal all of my personal interests, political affiliations, religious beliefs, and pastimes to my students and colleagues. I do use my real name to conduct online activities related to my field, but that’s more about networking and resume-building.
I DO have trusted friends and colleagues in the real world, however, who know my pseudonym, so I’m still technically “accountable” for anything I say or do under that name. Communicating under a pseudonym allows me to discuss issues honestly in ways that won’t impede my professional goals or ambitions.
Yes. That. If someone wants to find out who I am, that’s relatively easily done – but a search for my name (three people with my first name on the net, and less than a dozen with my last name) will not reveal my personal blog or the comments I leave on other people’s.
I’ve had experience with stalkers (ex-partner, ex-employer), and things got ugly enough – I do not want people like that to be able to easily follow me _everywhere_.
And I think there’s something neat about people who respond to me not being able to automatically make assumptions about me.
I hear what you’re saying about pseudonyms versus posting “anonymously.” As other commenters have said, I use an online pseudonym due to my day job, but I use the same pseudonym consistently. I also don’t post anything that I wouldn’t be willing to say to someone’s face.
I do think that people who use a pseudonym consistently are “owning” their posts/opinions, but anonymous posters may or may not be. Personally, I don’t give as much weight to anonymous posts because they are so often used to bash other posters and the person isn’t willing to sign his/her name/pseudonym. This especially goes for people who claim to be “experts” in their anonymous comments.
But there are some situations where I can see why someone would post anonymously with a legitimate purpose. One example is when there is some kind of scandal/kerfuffle/etc. going on and an author wants to voice an opinion on the subject. It may not be a smart business decision for her to post under her real/pen name, but that doesn’t necessarily make what she’s saying any less worthy.
Bottom line: I think with most “anonymous” posts, a savvy reader can tell by the content/tone of the comment how much credibility to lend the poster.
I write sexy, sometimes full on erotic romance. I have a child starting kindergarten next year.
Yeah, gonna keep the pseudonym.
G.
As someone who has used a pseudonym before, I must say that for some it is not an effort to halt attribution, but an effort to keep parts of their lives seperate. (ie: Ms. deGrey’s case in #18).
I don’t know if the anonymous function should be dropped, but people should be more responsible about using it. However, since a lot of people aren’t responsible, I wouldn’t be surprised if it went the way of the Dodo. The anonymous function, like the words ‘I’m just telling it like it is,’ seems to let people feel they have the right to be jerks. People should be polite and respectful at all times, even if no one knows who they are; however, some people seem to be incapable of that.
I think blog owners should take an advertised stance about anonymous posters, so anyone commenting know exactly what the risks are. If you allow anonymous posters, and then suddenly start announcing their email addresses etc in public, then that’s a betrayal of trust. I know one prominent blogger who I’d have thought would understand the concept of privacy – he does, after all post under a pseud himself – who suddenly told the world that as far as he was concerned, any information he received, be it in email or private conversation, concerning a person’s identity, was fair game to be revealed if he was ‘pissed’ enough.
Which, if I was someone who ever posted at his blog or emailed him in confidence, would scare the living shit out of me. And it does, because I have.
I’ve made it clear anonymous posters are at risk of being mocked and non-specifically-identifying material about them may be revealed (like that their IP is coming from a particular institution or country). I only *ever* get anonymous posters when they want to be vicious, so I don’t have any conscience about exposing them sufficiently to make them squirm (but not to allow them to be harrassed). But if someone posted because they were scared of retribution, but were not trolling, then I’d respect that.
Pseuds have to be respected. We’re in a business where they are common currency, and while ‘Ann Somerville’ is not my real name, I never post under any other, and have taken my lumps for my views expressed under my pen name. That’s more than enough to satisfy honour.
What Blue said, except for the military spouse part! I just don’t want my personal/avocational life mixing in with my professional life. Same reason I won’t be friends with my students on social networking sites — keep that stuff separate. But as Ann says, posting under a pseudonym consistently and owning what you say online is the honorable thing to do, for many of us.
Hey, if I could teach under a pseudonym and be “myself” on line, I’d love to! It just doesn’t work that way.
I always post with the same pseudonym cuz my real name is relatively rare and I don’t want a potential new employer or co-worker to google my name and find pics of parties or me discussing romance books. I want to work in a man dominated branch(civil engineering) and it’s not so beneficial if they think I’m a partying hussy who reads lots of books about dirty sex. Just the thing the boys at a construction-site need to know about the only girl. Would be fun, huh?
But I believe in always giving the same pseudonym so yeah it’s some kind of second persona for me. The way where I don’t have to think about anyone judging me.
Great post, Sarah!