Comment by ghusto
6 months ago
> they'll force some kind of "real name" online
All of this is terrible, obviously, but this one has a silver lining. The web will be such a nicer place when people can't hide behind anonymity.
6 months ago
> they'll force some kind of "real name" online
All of this is terrible, obviously, but this one has a silver lining. The web will be such a nicer place when people can't hide behind anonymity.
Facebook badly begs to differ.
That's one of the depressing things about sites with "real" (whatever that even means) name policies: turns out people will happily be virulently nasty trolls just as readily without pseudonymity
HN is a much nicer place than any Facebook group.
That will kill the open web for conversations. It will be a sterile, censored place and real conversation will move elsewhere.
Why though? When you talk to a person face to face, are you sterile and self-censored?
At work? Sure. Especially infront of your boss. If your friend is a bad cook, do you critique their cooking? Or politely eat some and next time come just for coffee? When you need some government permit, and the person there is playing solitaire, do you say that they're lazy aloud and risk your form "getting lost"? If there's a group of young men playing loud music on a bus, do you tell them that they're idiots, who don't care about other people around them? What about if you have controversial political opinions and work at a workplace where most people there don't agree with them, do you say them aloud? What about at college, if you think your professor is an idiot, even if true, would you say it aloud (before you pass that subject of course)?
Yes, most people don't say what they think in person.
But on the internet, you can say that your boss is an idiot, that the company produces crap products, that you eat before visining a friend, that the government worker at XY office is incompetent and lazy, that peopl playing loud music in public are idiots, that men should have legalized paper abortions, and that the professor has no idea what he's teaching, because his knowledge was outdated in the 80s when he got his tenure. All of that because you can be ghusto here and not "John Smith" with your real name and anyone being able to google you. Or more realistically, even if you're alloed to use nicknames but have to register with your real name, you'll never be able to safely critique the government, because they'll always be able to get your data.
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Yep,... no one will be able to criticize their employers anymore, nor the local government, police, etc. I mean well. .or risk losing a job or worse.
Yay! /s
That could easily work the same as in real life. Most interactions are not anonymous, but in the cases where anonymity is a requirement, that can be provided. If we can do that in real life, it's even easier online.
But in real life you don't really say a lot of things aloud.
If you had to anonymously describe your workplace, your bosses, your company, their products, etc., would you really say the same thing anonymously online and in person or with your real name attached to the text?