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Throwaway accounts allow people to express views that aren't politically correct. If all your views are politically correct this may seem like a bad thing, but
by throw_away_777 10y ago
Throwaway accounts allow people to express views that aren't politically correct. If all your views are politically correct this may seem like a bad thing, but for people with views that aren't politically correct throw away accounts allow participation.
- ap22213 10y agoBut, if everyone uses throwaway accounts to say what they really want to say, then it just helps perpetuate the same political correctness that they dislike.
- throw_away_777 10y agoI don't understand what you are trying to say - political correctness is all about preventing people from saying things that aren't "politically" correct. It is a tool for preventing discussion about topics which might offend people, and for silencing opposing views. If everyone is allowed to speak freely without the shame of not being "politically" correct than people can say what they believe. You weigh the cost of offending people against the freedom to speak out against the prevailing "politically" correct beliefs.
- solipsism 10y agoBecause without throwaway accounts people can't express views that aren't politically correct? Look through my history, I express such views all the time. I just don't think virtual points are so important that I need to make sure they're always going up.
- throw_away_777 10y agoI looked through your history but couldn't find a comment where you were being not politically correct, but I didn't try all that hard. Regardless there are certain sentiments that you can't express even though they may be true, to me that is what "politically" correct means. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers. You can't even bring up the possibility that women are different than men as a reason there aren't more women in STEM fields without being persecuted, instead you get articles somehow twisting data to make it look like technical interviews are the main thing holding women back from tech jobs - this may be a small contributing factor, but it isn't a primary cause.
- solipsism 10y agoUm.... "persecuted"? HN accounts have full support for anonymity. Why do you care if an anonymous account on some board gets "persecuted"? Where "persecuted" means you might get a -4. This is about throwaway accounts (people creating accounts on the spot to say shitty things, while having their other account for non-shitty things, so they never lose points), not anonymity.
- throw_away_777 10y agoA lot of people's HN accounts, at least for the people who post a lot, are not anonymous. Alternatively if you post a lot it is possible to reconstruct who you are. If comments were being down voted you wouldn't see them at the top of threads - people use throw aways for anonymity not to prevent loss of points.
- solipsism 10y agoA lot of people's HN accounts, at least for the people who post a lot, are not anonymous. So they choose not to take advantage of a feature. Doesn't mean one-time throwaways are a good thing. If comments were being down voted you wouldn't see them at the top of threads. This is irrelevant. It's about what kind of votes they expect to receive. people use throw aways for anonymity not to prevent loss of points I call complete BS on that. The most common reason given for posting with a throwaway (when a reason is given) is, "using a throwaway because I know I'll get downvoted for this". Alternatively if you post a lot it is possible to reconstruct who you are. Your only good point. Throwaways are the worst solution (of many) for this. Look at 4chan. Do we want to be 4chan?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]