Poll: Randi Zuckerberg: Anonymity Online 'Has To Go Away'. Opinions ?

[Bebus]

NO!

The internet is the very last place we can truly just do what the hell we like without judgement. The government or some corporation sticks its nose in every other aspect of my life, I want this one to stay free.

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

But for those like me, who have to avoid a stalker or two, this can be detrimental. It can transfer physical bullying or stalking to them finding me online.

If that happened, I would close every forum account for my own safety.

Forcing people to lose their anonymous status could be rather harmful.

 

[Father of Worlds]

If having your actual identity attached to your actions prevented bullying, then bullying wouldn't happen in real life. Anyone who's ever been in school beyond the age of 4 knows that it does happen. Losing anonymity wouldn't help.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

Cyber-bullying isn't the problem, people with such weak wills and poor self esteem that bullshit some dickhead says to them online forces them to scurry to mommy or daddy going whaaaaaaaa, or in the worst cases taking a straight edge to their veins. is the problem, why has each new generation gotten progressively weaker in the dept of self esteem and self worth? it is ridiculous

 

[Vault101]

I dunno....somtimes I dont think before I type and say dumb things....

I mean anonymity causes problems..but so would removing it

the internet was/is like the old frontier, its only a matter of tiem before the wild west becaomes civilised

 

[Vault101]

Cyber-bullying isn't the problem, people with such weak wills and poor self esteem that bullshit some dickhead says to them online forces them to scurry to mommy or daddy going whaaaaaaaa, or in the worst cases taking a straight edge to their veins. is the problem, why has each new generation gotten progressively weaker in the dept of self esteem and self worth? it is ridiculous

from what I've read about it its not just some hurful comments

it can go up to full on insane harrasment

and if a young kid is being told over and over that they are x then yeah they are gonna belive it

and its got nothing to do with "current generations"

 

[kasperbbs]

Nope, i do not want my personal information being taken by some bored children with hacking scripts because of someones shitty firewall, besides i like my privacy, not that i do anything online that would get me into trouble. Also it would suck to get sued because i called someone an asshole online.

 

[ImprovizoR]

No, Randi has to go away! The whole appeal of internet is the fact that it's anonymous. Take that away, and you've got nothing left. If people on the internet wanted their names to be known they'd go out and socialize with other real people.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

My name is Joseph Evangelisti, I live on 179 Patterson Rd (a few miles outside of Windsor, New York) my birthday is November 17th 1995, and I think this ***** is a stupid ****.

See, that did nothing. Because outside of a few psychopaths, no one is going to track you down with your real information.

Also, Facebook uses your real name, and you know and control everyone that can be friends with you. And yet it's one of the most popular places for cyber bullying. Might be a little clue that it doesn't work.

 

[Xardas5]

Somebody is cyber-bullying you on the internet? BLOCK THEM. Its that simple.
Even the most biggest anti-semetic or racist asshole on the internet is and should be protected by the freedom of speech, unless if it is against the site or forum rules.

Stuff like this is for weak willed people who get too touchy and offended by any negative social interaction. Why change something about me when I can change it around me, it's alot less difficult.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

Cyber-bullying isn't the problem, people with such weak wills and poor self esteem that bullshit some dickhead says to them online forces them to scurry to mommy or daddy going whaaaaaaaa, or in the worst cases taking a straight edge to their veins. is the problem, why has each new generation gotten progressively weaker in the dept of self esteem and self worth? it is ridiculous

from what I've read about it its not just some hurtful comments

it can go up to full on insane harassment

and if a young kid is being told over and over that they are x then yeah they are gonna believe it

and its got nothing to do with "current generations"

you are wrong, it is just recent an more current generations, the constant coddling and babying of children from the 90's on has made a weak and pitiful generation of mentally and emotionally dysfunctional people who need pointless bullshit therapy to be able to deal with life.


you don't like what someone is saying to or about you, go away from them and ignore them it's not difficult, and insane harassment or not you can still ignore it if it isn't physical( physical harassment is a different matter and requires different handling but it can be dealt with) it can be dealt with easily.

To give you perspective here from my side, I am a Hispanic/Caucasian mix(more Hispanic looking than anything) and I grew up as a small child in the wonderfully still intolerant and bigoted 80's and 90's, I dealt with my bullies and tormentors myself, I didn't cry to my parents or cut myself, or cry because of the "pressure". I beat the fuck out of anyone who pushed past my tolerances for bullshit, or physically assaulted me, if they weren't in either of those two and were just mouthing off I ignored them; and eventually between those two responses people left me the hell alone

 

[Sovvolf]

I rest my case.

The dude create a big ad hominem why he was at it

 

[Cheesus333]

I don't want to lose the option be anonymous online.

I'm not uncomfortable with mentioning that I'm James McCoull, that I live in a crappy little city in West Yorkshire or that I was born on the first of December in 1994 - but whether people know that or not should still be a choice that I and I alone make. And I don't like the idea of having a single online profile, either: I'm a different person here than I am on Facebook, or the Youtube commenting system, or... pretty much anywhere. Google+ seems to get it.

My name is Joseph Evangelisti

Your name is awesome and I want it.

 

[Sovvolf]

snip

I'm also not uncomfortable saying that I'm Steven Anthony Skelly, from the Town of Barnsley in South Yorkshire born November the 14th 1990. Yes I agree with you, I made the decision to share that information, I'm not really scared of the reprisals that this may cause or on giving out my information. However I can understand why people would like to keep their identity anonymous and I'd vote against anything that would stop that.

 

[dyre]

Yeah, anonymity carries some problems with it. Just like free speech. You require everyone to sign each statement with their name, and the next time protesters in tyrannical regimes use the internet to organize resistance, guess what those governments are going to do?

 

[Vault101]

Cyber-bullying isn't the problem, people with such weak wills and poor self esteem that bullshit some dickhead says to them online forces them to scurry to mommy or daddy going whaaaaaaaa, or in the worst cases taking a straight edge to their veins. is the problem, why has each new generation gotten progressively weaker in the dept of self esteem and self worth? it is ridiculous

from what I've read about it its not just some hurtful comments

it can go up to full on insane harassment

and if a young kid is being told over and over that they are x then yeah they are gonna believe it

and its got nothing to do with "current generations"

you are wrong, it is just recent an more current generations, the constant coddling and babying of children from the 90's on has made a weak and pitiful generation of mentally and emotionally dysfunctional people who need pointless bullshit therapy to be able to deal with life.


you don't like what someone is saying to or about you, go away from them and ignore them it's not difficult, and insane harassment or not you can still ignore it if it isn't physical( physical harassment is a different matter and requires different handling but it can be dealt with) it can be dealt with easily.

To give you perspective here from my side, I am a Hispanic/Caucasian mix(more Hispanic looking than anything) and I grew up as a small child in the wonderfully still intolerant and bigoted 80's and 90's, I dealt with my bullies and tormentors myself, I didn't cry to my parents or cut myself, or cry because of the "pressure". I beat the fuck out of anyone who pushed past my tolerances for bullshit, or physically assaulted me, if they weren't in either of those two and were just mouthing off I ignored them; and eventually between those two responses people left me the hell alone

1. not everyone is you

2. specifics of cyber bullying aside Im not sure it really right to apply "just suck it up pussy!" to every situation...I thourght we were past the "suck it up" mentallity in regards to serious issues

 

[KiruTheMant]

And when everyone can google this persons porn history at will, then i'd like to see the statement, and how quickly they are altering it.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

This won't stop cyber-bullying. In fact, it might make it EASIER, since the bullies won't have to track down the person's emails and forum aliases etc, etc, etc. The poor victim's name will be right freakin there! The bullies might even be able to just plug his name into google and VOILA! The bullies will be able to track the poor guy down everywhere with less effort!

Also, I don't know about you, but in my experience...In real life bullying, the bullies' identities are usually well known to everyone. This won't stop them. Oh sure, it'll force them to tone down their online bullying so they can't safely threaten to murder the kid for fun, or threaten to...I dunno, strangle his cat or something, since THAT will be taken seriously. But they can still bully the person (especially if the kid if overweight, transgender, gay, or who stands out in some other way) just by being assholes to them online. And it WON'T be taken that seriously because of the whole belief that "sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you!" that most adults seem to have (forgetting that as kids, hurtful words said on a repeated basis WILL hurt you pretty badly psychologically).

So no, I DON'T think that removing anonymity on the internet will stop cyberbullying. If the bullies can and do get away with it in real life, they can get away with it on the internet.

Besides, anonymity is kinda needed for the internet to keep working as the creative force that it is. I'd go on and on about that, but this guy seems to have nailed it, more or less:

Very strongly disagree with this anti-anonymity idiocy. People who support this tend to be people with a lot of privilege, who have nothing to lose. They've never been stalked. They've never had people issue threats once they know who you are and where you live. They've never worried that an online dispute will follow them to their job. They've never had to worry that someone will see what groups you're interested in and out you as gay to your family. They've never had to choose between getting help from other rape survivors and avoiding that help because you can't do it anonymously, or needing a support group for anything else that you might not want to tell the world about. They don't have to worry that the NC-17 rated fanfic that they wrote will be shown to their employer. They don't have to worry that their real name doesn't seem to match their real gender, and that all their friends and family will know that they're trying to deal with being transgender. And a hundred more scenarios where pseudonyms and anonymity are crucial.

Pseudonymity is healing, is empowering, allows countless people to explore their identity in ways they wouldn't if they were forced to use their real name for everything. Anonymity is even more important sometimes, because status accrues to pseudonyms too-- sometimes it's necessary to speak out on something without having the bullying follow you home. The board where I spend the majority of my time is 100% anonymous, and I find it wonderful. I can have discussions where it's about the actual discussion and not about who I know and how many friends I do/don't have, it's a place where all have equal standing.

I've been on the internet since 1992, and I can tell these people that agitate for real names only that they have no idea how many lives that concept would ruin.

*Applause* Well Said.