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> Communities without abuse problems never even float the idea of banning anonymity. This implies that many communities with anonymity don't face abuse problem

> Communities without abuse problems never even float the idea of banning anonymity. This implies that many communities with anonymity don't face abuse problems, so anonymity is not the root of the problem. Maybe the problem lies in the subject matter that the community handles and the sort of people that attracts.

ethanbond 5y ago
No it really doesn’t imply that, and I don’t think many people would argue anonymity is “the” root of the problem. It just appears to be a contributing or exacerbating factor. Of course if you attract only polite people you don’t have abuse problems regardless of anonymity.
evgen 5y ago
Anonymity makes abuse easier. It diminishes the cost to the abuser and places almost all of the cost on the victim. I would also recommend that you not be so quick to push the blame back on 'the community', because when you do so you tend to end up with the gatekeepers for those communities being forced to shoulder the cost and then we end up with twitter bans, Facebook moderation, and a lot of pearl clutching by the online free speech brigade. Most of the general pubic puts up with anonymity, but they certainly do not demand it and if it becomes too costly or too toxic they seem happy to chuck it overboard.
- Telemakhos 5y ago
  I don't blame the community but the subject. People on car repair fora are perfectly civil to each other; people discussing politics become barbarians toward each other. Take two people from the car repair forum and have them hash out politics, and watch them turn into savages. It's the subject matter.
  - evgen 5y ago
    The stake are higher in political discussion, but you do not have to search long to find uncivil behavior in just about any online interaction. People in a car repair forum might be kind to each other, but put those same two into a sports discussion, or even a discussion of Ford v Chevy and things can get quite salty quite quickly.

ethanbond 5y ago

No it really doesn’t imply that, and I don’t think many people would argue anonymity is “the” root of the problem. It just appears to be a contributing or exacerbating factor. Of course if you attract only polite people you don’t have abuse problems regardless of anonymity.

evgen 5y ago

Anonymity makes abuse easier. It diminishes the cost to the abuser and places almost all of the cost on the victim. I would also recommend that you not be so quick to push the blame back on 'the community', because when you do so you tend to end up with the gatekeepers for those communities being forced to shoulder the cost and then we end up with twitter bans, Facebook moderation, and a lot of pearl clutching by the online free speech brigade. Most of the general pubic puts up with anonymity, but they certainly do not demand it and if it becomes too costly or too toxic they seem happy to chuck it overboard.

Telemakhos 5y ago
I don't blame the community but the subject. People on car repair fora are perfectly civil to each other; people discussing politics become barbarians toward each other. Take two people from the car repair forum and have them hash out politics, and watch them turn into savages. It's the subject matter.
- evgen 5y ago
  The stake are higher in political discussion, but you do not have to search long to find uncivil behavior in just about any online interaction. People in a car repair forum might be kind to each other, but put those same two into a sports discussion, or even a discussion of Ford v Chevy and things can get quite salty quite quickly.