Comment by vannevar

>There is a reason I pointed out that it doesn’t stop harassment, because it disproves the contention that anonymity is the causal force for harassment.

I agree, of course, that anonymity doesn't cause harassment. The vast majority of anonymous users do not harass other users. But anonymity does facilitate harassment and bullying, by making it difficult to punish the behavior.

>I am taking great pains to separate out misinfo from bullying / harassment.

I agree that they are conceptually separate things, though there can be overlap in practice. I suspect that people who harass others also tend to spread misinformation, since often online harassment is based on bigotry, which goes hand-in-hand with ignorance and misinformation.

Verification doesn't make the problem of identifying misinformation easier, it only permits removal of the sources when it is identified. But the online environment would still be greatly improved if it became easier to remove obviously inaccurate material. And for less-clear situations, debunking would be more incentivized if it resulted in removal and not an endless game of anonymous whack-a-mole.

I think the future of online communities is going to trend towards smaller, verified groups. There will still be open platforms where everyone can be anonymous and interact with everyone else---like a giant masquerade party---but digital "home" will be among a known community.