3 ms·
Anonymity's protection of nonconformists is the reason cities are the source of progress and villages are not. It is the only way you will ever hear What You Ca
by prodigal_erik 16y ago
Anonymity's protection of nonconformists is the reason cities are the source of progress and villages are not. It is the only way you will ever hear What You Can't Say (http://paulgraham.com/say.html http://paulgraham.com/say.html) from anyone who isn't willing to wreck their life over it. Any forum that requires a True Name is a waste of time for anything beyond small talk. It's not worth it to try to catch a few griefers (who will work around it anyway).
- marknutter 16y agoBy your logic we should all be over at 4chan to discuss startups and tech news. Hacker News is a perfect example of the good that can come from non-anonymity and 4chan is the perfect example as to why total anonymity will always lead to cesspools.
- m-photonic 16y agoHacker News isn't non-anonymous. If someone gives out their real name on HN it's because they want to. There is no substantial difference between the level of anonymity of HN and that of 4chan as far as real life identity is concerned.
- prodigal_erik 16y agoAs noted, HN doesn't ask for your real name (and I would never write anything of substance if it did). Yet it doesn't decay to /b/ because pg included tools to promote signal vs. noise and sometimes even steps in to moderate, and because it still has a critical mass of people who want to maintain its tone. There are workable steps short of making people unemployable.