5 ms·

Anonymous comments improve online debates

25 points by ssn 16y ago

Groxx 16y ago
>There are ways to curb abuses in the forums, whether using high-tech solutions or good old-fashioned editing. Similar sentiment: All code is efficient given a sufficiently smart compiler.
- eru 16y ago
  No. Your compiler can't compile out side-effects. (Or at least, it should not.)
eru 16y ago
Sensible article. But very US centric.
- frossie 16y ago
  Yeah, I find the whole framing the thing around the US constitution unhelpful. This is really a human psychology issue rather than a cultural history issue. The thing that makes me curious is whether "semi" anonymity is the best of both worlds (where the person whose platform it is knows your identity but it is not published). In the example of women not writing letters to the editor because of their names being published, would they still object if the editor verified their identity but then published the letter pseudonymously?
  - eru 16y ago
    This is a sane solution, only if you can trust the editor never to reveal your name. Ever. Not even to law enforcement.
    - Enlightenment 16y ago
      I tell the cops my name is 'eru'.
anoncomment 16y ago
I disagree. But I do know that your mom improves online debates!
motters 16y ago
There may be some situations in which the only way to get honest opinions is to enable people to post anonymously, but in the majority of cases where I've seen people posting anonymous comments, or comments under pseudonyms, the quality tends to slide. HN is a conspicuous exception, although that's probably due to its fairly restricted scope of interest.
- hvs 16y ago
  The quality doesn't just slide, it plummets. c.f. YouTube, Chicago Tribune, etc.
- rjprins 16y ago
  I find that Reddit is great because of anonimity. People can talk about problems they can't talk about to anyone. People share experiences they would never dare to share. You get to realize some things are extremely common yet never discussed, because of shame or stigma. Anonimity is the key to getting truth. Even the extremely superficial posts like "U SUCK DICK! LOLOL!" or extremely incendiary posts, or illegal stuff like child porn, they show what people are like or what strange and dark thoughts sometimes pass through their minds. Anonimity is the counter to hypocrisy.
  - endtime 16y ago
    >Anonimity is the counter to hypocrisy. Care to explain this?
    - anigbrowl 16y ago
      If nobody knows or cares who you are, then you have no reputation to defend. Concealing true beliefs with nice platitudes or nasty posturing is pointless when those remarks are not associated with a persistent identity; no credit or blame will accrue to an anonymous poster for their degree of social compliance, so there's no economic reason to construct a false persona. On anon boards like 4chan you can sort of pick out individual speakers in a thread by their phrasing or from the conversational context, but following 'anons' from thread to thread is just impossible without a way to track IPs. Of course mayhem abounds in this environment, but there's a surprising degree of substantive discussion too. People are verbally much more aggressive, but psychologically less so, because it's pointless to attack the motives or consistency of an anonymous commenter. There is still a lot of trolling, naturally, but it tends to be of the sensationalistic or entertaining type rather than the sort dedicated to accumulating social capital and its use for the promotion/suppression of particular viewpoints. That makes it possible to have very frank conversations about subjects that are normally impossibly awkward, which can lead to serendipitous insights.
Enlightenment 16y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw
vjk2005 16y ago
The right tool for the right job. Anonymity works in some areas, not so great in other areas. While many sites are shifting to real-world user IDs, I believe that is an extreme step and something like 'expiring comments' could be a better alternative to deal with the problems that come with anonymous comments » http://j.mp/cKstr2 http://j.mp/cKstr2
hugh3 16y ago
Well, I guess that would explain the high quality of discussion on 4chan, then.

25 points by ssn 16y ago

Groxx 16y ago

>There are ways to curb abuses in the forums, whether using high-tech solutions or good old-fashioned editing. Similar sentiment: All code is efficient given a sufficiently smart compiler.

eru 16y ago
No. Your compiler can't compile out side-effects. (Or at least, it should not.)

eru 16y ago

Sensible article. But very US centric.

frossie 16y ago
Yeah, I find the whole framing the thing around the US constitution unhelpful. This is really a human psychology issue rather than a cultural history issue. The thing that makes me curious is whether "semi" anonymity is the best of both worlds (where the person whose platform it is knows your identity but it is not published). In the example of women not writing letters to the editor because of their names being published, would they still object if the editor verified their identity but then published the letter pseudonymously?
- eru 16y ago
  This is a sane solution, only if you can trust the editor never to reveal your name. Ever. Not even to law enforcement.
  - Enlightenment 16y ago
    I tell the cops my name is 'eru'.

anoncomment 16y ago

I disagree. But I do know that your mom improves online debates!

motters 16y ago

There may be some situations in which the only way to get honest opinions is to enable people to post anonymously, but in the majority of cases where I've seen people posting anonymous comments, or comments under pseudonyms, the quality tends to slide. HN is a conspicuous exception, although that's probably due to its fairly restricted scope of interest.

hvs 16y ago
The quality doesn't just slide, it plummets. c.f. YouTube, Chicago Tribune, etc.
rjprins 16y ago
I find that Reddit is great because of anonimity. People can talk about problems they can't talk about to anyone. People share experiences they would never dare to share. You get to realize some things are extremely common yet never discussed, because of shame or stigma. Anonimity is the key to getting truth. Even the extremely superficial posts like "U SUCK DICK! LOLOL!" or extremely incendiary posts, or illegal stuff like child porn, they show what people are like or what strange and dark thoughts sometimes pass through their minds. Anonimity is the counter to hypocrisy.
- endtime 16y ago
  >Anonimity is the counter to hypocrisy. Care to explain this?
  - anigbrowl 16y ago
    If nobody knows or cares who you are, then you have no reputation to defend. Concealing true beliefs with nice platitudes or nasty posturing is pointless when those remarks are not associated with a persistent identity; no credit or blame will accrue to an anonymous poster for their degree of social compliance, so there's no economic reason to construct a false persona. On anon boards like 4chan you can sort of pick out individual speakers in a thread by their phrasing or from the conversational context, but following 'anons' from thread to thread is just impossible without a way to track IPs. Of course mayhem abounds in this environment, but there's a surprising degree of substantive discussion too. People are verbally much more aggressive, but psychologically less so, because it's pointless to attack the motives or consistency of an anonymous commenter. There is still a lot of trolling, naturally, but it tends to be of the sensationalistic or entertaining type rather than the sort dedicated to accumulating social capital and its use for the promotion/suppression of particular viewpoints. That makes it possible to have very frank conversations about subjects that are normally impossibly awkward, which can lead to serendipitous insights.

Enlightenment 16y ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw

vjk2005 16y ago

The right tool for the right job. Anonymity works in some areas, not so great in other areas. While many sites are shifting to real-world user IDs, I believe that is an extreme step and something like 'expiring comments' could be a better alternative to deal with the problems that come with anonymous comments » http://j.mp/cKstr2 http://j.mp/cKstr2

hugh3 16y ago

Well, I guess that would explain the high quality of discussion on 4chan, then.