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This may be an unpopular opinion but I think we need to re-think the value of pseudo-anonymity on the net. Free speech means so much more when it is attached to

This may be an unpopular opinion but I think we need to re-think the value of pseudo-anonymity on the net. Free speech means so much more when it is attached to your real identity. In real life your identity is attached to your speech in almost all cases. Why not online too? Advantages: -less trolling and extremism in general, people would be less likely to say outlandish things if their comments or submissions were attached to the real identity and reputation. -less vile content. People would be less likely to post gray area porn on forums like reddit if they had to use their real identity. -transparency in moderation. If Ghislaine Maxwell is moderating /r/worldnews/ users have a right to know. In general users have a right to know who is moderating popular forums. Disadvantages: -perhaps more people would be subject to in real life harassment but this is doubtful if the harassers are also obligated to use their in real life identities on line. Where harassment becomes illegal it is no longer a "moderation" problem. If you write a letter to your local newspaper and it is published under your real name, as they always are, if somebody threatens to attack you over it, that is a legal matter, not a matter for the paper. It should be the same on line... -perhaps fewer people would be willing to discuss unpopular opinions online if they feared retaliation from a "cancel culture" mob. The key problems with reddit as a general forum of forums for online discussion, I believe, are: pseudo-anonymity and lack of transparency in users, mods and admins encourages abuse. lack of democratic selection or accountability for mods and admins encourages mods who are at odds with a community's general members. If we believe in democracy off-line why not online too. upvote downvote turns everything into a lowest common denominator popularity contest. I could go on...but I don't get paid for this...like most of reddits mods and users don't get paid. There is value to be extracted in user generated text content but reddit is doing it wrong...the site is become more and more extreme of an echo chamber and alienating more and more of its potential user base. Mods are expected to work for "free" so this encourages special interests and disordered people to become mods... It seems to me reddit is a dumb idea...run by dumb people. I don't get how it became so big with so little competition. What is the barrier to entry to set up a forum?

pwinnski 6y ago
Facebook tried this, and it did not go well for many good reasons. But also, inasmuch as people are tied to their real identities on Facebook, your first listed advantage doesn't seem to hold up. On many websites, I see people using their real names for trolling and extremism, saying outlandish things pretty frequently. Any political post on fivethirtyeight.com should serve as but one example. Not everybody values their online reputation as much as you might. Many people think nothing of using their real name to heap scorn on and revile people they consider "others," like those of a given political party or ethnicity or religion. I know PennyArcade once hypothesized that anonymity was key to greater internet nastiness, but it doesn't seem like anonymity is actually that essential. On the other hand, many people rely on pseudo-anonymity to avoid harassment, to shield themselves from stalkers such as ex-partners, and so on. Many people lack the sort of legal documentation such a policy would seem to require. Trying to enforce anything like "RealID" results in excluding many voices from the conversation, while not actually doing much to reduce the toxicity.

pwinnski 6y ago

Facebook tried this, and it did not go well for many good reasons. But also, inasmuch as people are tied to their real identities on Facebook, your first listed advantage doesn't seem to hold up. On many websites, I see people using their real names for trolling and extremism, saying outlandish things pretty frequently. Any political post on fivethirtyeight.com should serve as but one example. Not everybody values their online reputation as much as you might. Many people think nothing of using their real name to heap scorn on and revile people they consider "others," like those of a given political party or ethnicity or religion. I know PennyArcade once hypothesized that anonymity was key to greater internet nastiness, but it doesn't seem like anonymity is actually that essential. On the other hand, many people rely on pseudo-anonymity to avoid harassment, to shield themselves from stalkers such as ex-partners, and so on. Many people lack the sort of legal documentation such a policy would seem to require. Trying to enforce anything like "RealID" results in excluding many voices from the conversation, while not actually doing much to reduce the toxicity.