4 ms·

I find HN and arstechnica.com a lot more civilized than the comments section on the major local newspaper. I have hypothesised that the reason is that without

I find HN and arstechnica.com a lot more civilized than the comments section on the major local newspaper. I have hypothesised that the reason is that without anonymity only * (trolls with) fake accounts * politically correct people and people who think they are pc * and people who don't care about real life reputation anyway post in any kind of controversial debate. Normal knowledgeable people doesn't want to lose the dream job because of something they commented on 5 years ago.

nkurz 10y ago
You missed: * naive idealists who believe that truth and reason matter more than immediate public perception This is subtly different than "people who don't care about real life reputation" in that they sincerely hope that despite any short term damage to reputation, in the long run others (or at least some subset) will come respect their honesty and rationality. I'm probably naive and idealist, but at least on HN, I think this is a significant group. Although, am I reading correctly that you are considering HN to be "without anonymity"? In the current "persistent pseudonymous" system, what do you think constitutes a "fake account"?
- reitanqild 10y ago
  > Although, am I reading correctly that you are considering HN to be "without anonymity"? No. Sorry if unclear. I categorise HN accounts as pseudonymous with optional real life names. > In the current "persistent pseudonymous" system, what do you think constitutes a "fake account"? What would annoy me is real sockpuppet accounts, controlling more than one account and using it to * upvote ones own comments and postings * astroturf * using it as a strawman to defame opponents (i.e. by running a sock puppet account that seemingly supports some cases while posting bad arguments for that case etc.) * etc Personally I have nothing against using multiple accounts as long as there is a reason (i.e. someone has an account with full name and another that they use when they want to post or comment something that they do not want to reflect back on their real life persona, family and workplace.)
DanBC 10y ago
Many local newspaper comment sections have people posting vile things under their real names, often linked to their facebook accounts.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  That was exactly my point. Sorry that I was unclear. Honest question since two people read my post that way, I obviously was unclear, but where?

nkurz 10y ago

You missed: * naive idealists who believe that truth and reason matter more than immediate public perception This is subtly different than "people who don't care about real life reputation" in that they sincerely hope that despite any short term damage to reputation, in the long run others (or at least some subset) will come respect their honesty and rationality. I'm probably naive and idealist, but at least on HN, I think this is a significant group. Although, am I reading correctly that you are considering HN to be "without anonymity"? In the current "persistent pseudonymous" system, what do you think constitutes a "fake account"?

reitanqild 10y ago
> Although, am I reading correctly that you are considering HN to be "without anonymity"? No. Sorry if unclear. I categorise HN accounts as pseudonymous with optional real life names. > In the current "persistent pseudonymous" system, what do you think constitutes a "fake account"? What would annoy me is real sockpuppet accounts, controlling more than one account and using it to * upvote ones own comments and postings * astroturf * using it as a strawman to defame opponents (i.e. by running a sock puppet account that seemingly supports some cases while posting bad arguments for that case etc.) * etc Personally I have nothing against using multiple accounts as long as there is a reason (i.e. someone has an account with full name and another that they use when they want to post or comment something that they do not want to reflect back on their real life persona, family and workplace.)

DanBC 10y ago

Many local newspaper comment sections have people posting vile things under their real names, often linked to their facebook accounts.

reitanqild 10y ago
That was exactly my point. Sorry that I was unclear. Honest question since two people read my post that way, I obviously was unclear, but where?