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>You can go and see what I’ve been up to. Ditto for me being curious about you. I think this is probably one of the worst features (alongside downvotes / upvot

>You can go and see what I’ve been up to. Ditto for me being curious about you. I think this is probably one of the worst features (alongside downvotes / upvotes) about HN, Reddit and similar sites. If you are anonymous your opinion can be taken for what it is without any bias and ad hominem due to your previous comments. We can argue in one thread about something, and agree in another without even recognizing each other. It makes one focus on the content of the post and not on the personality of the author.

krapp 3y ago
Social pressure and consequence is necessary to maintain a civil community. Common identities create common bonds. Your comment history is there specifically so others can judge you as a person and decide whether interaction with you is worth the effort. That's better than the tendentious mess of only finding out you're dealing with a psychopath or serial troll after the rafters have caught fire. Anonymity tends to lead to the most vile comments being made behind green alt accounts. This isn't 4chan, we don't want that here.
- Pet_Ant 3y ago
  > Anonymity tends to lead to the most vile comments being made behind green alt accounts. This isn't 4chan, we don't want that here And publicity leads to bottling up comments that go against the grain or might provoke controversy leading to groupthink. We don't want that here either.
  - _xivi 3y ago
    > And publicity leads to bottling up comments that go against the grain or might provoke controversy leading to groupthink. That's much easier to moderate than anonymous vile comments. It may not be exactly a civil discussion but you're still learning something about these people and their views. I'm happy that there are websites with different cultures, so people can choose the best outlet to express their view instead of mudding the water here and turning it to flame wars or whatever.
  - krapp 3y ago
    Hacker News isn't a debate club, we're here to satisfy our collective intellectual curiosity about matters of interest, not "provoke controversy" or try to score imaginary points on political opponents. I've seen plenty of well thought out, thought provoking comments that criticize or contradict someone's point of view. No one has any reason to bottle that up. However, if your comment history is packed with midwit rants about "the woke" or "cultural marxism" or flagged racist tirades then it's in everyone's interest to have some warning before interacting with you.
- odessacubbage 3y ago
  weird how so few of these communities with social pressure are even remotely civil.
- DoItToMe81 3y ago
  What's the social pressure? Healthy, well adjusted adults will not care if you are offended by their post history. I've seen the opposite, where attaching your personal details to social media and creating a threat of real 'consequences' have lead to an extremely aggressive attitude of conformity that makes it impossible to actually discuss anything even slightly outside of group consensus. Which is something I have thankfully not encountered oh HN.
  - krapp 3y ago
    > Healthy, well adjusted adults will not care if you are offended by their post history. Healthy, well adjusted adults will care, because healthy well adjusted adults are possessed of empathy and the awareness of living within the norms and boundaries of social structures, and that the people they interact with online are actual people and not simply text in a box. Having no internal filter and not caring about the effect you have on others is a sign of immaturity and sociopathy. It's the sort of internet fuckwad behavior most of us grow out of by the time we're no longer teenagers. >Which is something I have thankfully not encountered oh HN. And HN has exactly that kind of system, so you admit it works here. People are capable of discussing things outside of group consensus as well as respecting one another and being civil, and the fact that they do at all suggests the effect of downvoting, flagging and disengaging works to discourage bad behavior while not suppressing actual thought provoking or interesting discussion.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  I like to engage in lgbt and furry communities on discord. I don’t like to show this content when you search my name and I don’t want my coworkers to see this content. Please explain what civil disruption is being caused by my lack of social pressure and consequence. Do you share all of your private conversations and thoughts under your real name?

krapp 3y ago

Social pressure and consequence is necessary to maintain a civil community. Common identities create common bonds. Your comment history is there specifically so others can judge you as a person and decide whether interaction with you is worth the effort. That's better than the tendentious mess of only finding out you're dealing with a psychopath or serial troll after the rafters have caught fire. Anonymity tends to lead to the most vile comments being made behind green alt accounts. This isn't 4chan, we don't want that here.

Pet_Ant 3y ago
> Anonymity tends to lead to the most vile comments being made behind green alt accounts. This isn't 4chan, we don't want that here And publicity leads to bottling up comments that go against the grain or might provoke controversy leading to groupthink. We don't want that here either.
- _xivi 3y ago
  > And publicity leads to bottling up comments that go against the grain or might provoke controversy leading to groupthink. That's much easier to moderate than anonymous vile comments. It may not be exactly a civil discussion but you're still learning something about these people and their views. I'm happy that there are websites with different cultures, so people can choose the best outlet to express their view instead of mudding the water here and turning it to flame wars or whatever.
- krapp 3y ago
  Hacker News isn't a debate club, we're here to satisfy our collective intellectual curiosity about matters of interest, not "provoke controversy" or try to score imaginary points on political opponents. I've seen plenty of well thought out, thought provoking comments that criticize or contradict someone's point of view. No one has any reason to bottle that up. However, if your comment history is packed with midwit rants about "the woke" or "cultural marxism" or flagged racist tirades then it's in everyone's interest to have some warning before interacting with you.
odessacubbage 3y ago
weird how so few of these communities with social pressure are even remotely civil.
DoItToMe81 3y ago
What's the social pressure? Healthy, well adjusted adults will not care if you are offended by their post history. I've seen the opposite, where attaching your personal details to social media and creating a threat of real 'consequences' have lead to an extremely aggressive attitude of conformity that makes it impossible to actually discuss anything even slightly outside of group consensus. Which is something I have thankfully not encountered oh HN.
- krapp 3y ago
  > Healthy, well adjusted adults will not care if you are offended by their post history. Healthy, well adjusted adults will care, because healthy well adjusted adults are possessed of empathy and the awareness of living within the norms and boundaries of social structures, and that the people they interact with online are actual people and not simply text in a box. Having no internal filter and not caring about the effect you have on others is a sign of immaturity and sociopathy. It's the sort of internet fuckwad behavior most of us grow out of by the time we're no longer teenagers. >Which is something I have thankfully not encountered oh HN. And HN has exactly that kind of system, so you admit it works here. People are capable of discussing things outside of group consensus as well as respecting one another and being civil, and the fact that they do at all suggests the effect of downvoting, flagging and disengaging works to discourage bad behavior while not suppressing actual thought provoking or interesting discussion.
Gigachad 3y ago
I like to engage in lgbt and furry communities on discord. I don’t like to show this content when you search my name and I don’t want my coworkers to see this content. Please explain what civil disruption is being caused by my lack of social pressure and consequence. Do you share all of your private conversations and thoughts under your real name?