Anonymity abused.
The blogosphere is all over the latest saga of a victim of anonymous bullying on the ‘net, and there is the usual condemnation of anonymity.
All I can do is quote Eric Clapton: It’s in the way that you use it.
Clearly, the f***tards that have been posting death threats and disgusting photoshopped images deserve to be spanked vertically with a sixteen-inch spiked fencepost, splinters and all. But what they’re doing is nothing new. I’ve been on what is now called the Internet since 1984, and even in those days there was a small group of deeply disturbed sociopaths who reveled in this new tool for anonymous attacks. The only difference is, there are even more tools now, and a much wider world on the Web, so the proportion of psychos to decent people is more closely mirroring the rest of the population, and they don’t need help getting creative. Also, more “regular folks” are becoming celebrities, thanks to blogging, and they are suddenly thrust into the dark side problems that meatspace celebrities have always had to deal with—only without benefit of money or bodyguards. It freaks them out, and I can’t blame them.
New Internet users don’t understand the real implications of what they’re posting. I liken it to being on a stage, where the lights are in your eyes and you can’t see who’s in the audience. You can only see those people on stage with you—those who are also posting—and it’s easy to think that you’re the only ones in the room. You’re not. You have no idea who is coming and going from the audience and not saying a thing. Worse yet, the “show” is extended in time, so you don’t know who might come into the audience weeks, months or years later. Okay, my analogy is falling apart on me, so I’ll move on.
You start getting comments from other people, and maybe a few flattering links from other bloggers, and you feel great, and you think the whole world is friendly, because that’s all you see. But then the anonymous tomatoes start flying out of the darkness, and you’re bewildered, and there’s really nothing you can do.
Anonymity can clearly be used for evil. We pay more attention to that side of the duct tape, because that’s the horrifying part.
But anonymity can be used for good as well. I’ve used several noms de net in my time, and I’ve always been glad that I did. For one thing, it’s only fair for me to keep a separation between my writing and my employer, who didn’t ask to be associated with the non-professional me. I’m only allowed to speak for my employer in limited areas, and I make sure that I have authorization to do so. It wouldn’t do to have someone recognize me from alt.booger.stowage, connect that with my professional life, and have that taint my employer’s image, even tangentially. It’s my right to post about boogers, but I don’t have the right to let that affect my employer. It would be the same if I made newspaper headlines by going on a drunken rampage, for example. Luckily, I can have a semblance of a private life on the ‘net that isn’t a Google away from my professional life.
People have defended the other justifiable uses of anonymity, so I won’t go into them here. But I thought that I should point out that sometimes being anonymous is the responsible thing to do.
on 04/05 at 02:15 PM:
I obviously share your thoughts on this, considering I take pains as well about how much I present of myself online in various areas. I think my approach would be even more restrictive as well, if my real name could be tied to my workplace, but so far it really cannot and I’ve not had anyone in my personal life pissed off enough to make life miserable (funny how the rate of that drops when it’s not so anonymous).
1984? Hehe, you’re gonna date yourself!
I’ve been online since around 1995 or so, in IRC and gaming, so I’ve developed a pretty thick skin (having run gaming leagues/communities, I got used to the inevitable heckling). Seeing these things is nothing new to me, but I admit seeing the dramatic after-effects is still annoying. The trolls got what they want: attention and a reaction. And everyone else got what they want: drama and excitement at someone else’s expense (either by way of watching quietly from afar, quiet cathartic empathy, or being able to talk up about it in less quiet cathartic reaction). Meh. Status quo as far as I am concerned.
Part of the point of the Internet in our culture is the option of some semblance of anonymity. Even if we take it away here, then places like Second Life will be even more embraced, and so on.
As far as your own anonymity, I still don’t know what the f*** shrdlu means…
Anonymous or not, I’ve also been around long enough to know that if someone has a point, a brain, a great idea, or is a waste of time, whether they are CaptShazam69sexy or Air Force General George Hammond from Texas does not really matter.