I don’t think that anonymity will clean the internet from bad things, but I am sure that someone is afraid of what people think and free thinking in general. In facebook a lot of people show their hate with their true names and don’t mind about the consequences. On the other hand, this hate thing is another face of the “politically correct” stuff which started as a good thing but later became a tool to stop free thinking.
Anonymous messages, anyway, have alwas existed. In Ercolano, destroyed by the Vesuvius in 79 AD, someone wrote in a wall of a tavern: “VENIMUS / VENIMUS / HOC CUPIDI / MULTO MAGIS IRE CUPIMUS”. We came with enthusiasm, and with enthusiasm we go away" It was not signed…
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Hed obviously had too many drinks in the tavern 
Me too, in fact due to the sensitivity of people on the internet I’d probably consider myself to more “offensive” in real life. Probably cause in person you can more easily see people’s intentions so people are less touchy
many of the arguments that spring up on the internet would be utterly laughed off in reality. If people acted as entitled, opinionated and overly sensitive irl as they do on the internet society would crumble. Interactions online just shows what’s going on inside peoples heads. In my opinion actions matter considerably more than thoughts. People irl might silently judge and hate and argue with themselves in their heads but it doesn’t really matter. The internet just puts it on display, but it’s not even an accurate representation because people still act how is accepted within communities, an anonymous identity still carries a sense of identity. Look at the difference in tone between here, reddit and 4chan. Varied levels of anonymity but people still follow the crowd.
Tl;dr it doesn’t matter how anonymous everyone is, people just follow the crowd regardless.
Plus it leads to an inflated sense of self importance, look at the length of this comment barely anyone will actually read for example
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Maybe the drinks were too expensive…
Ive got to be honest. I did skip to the bottom sentence 
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Anarchy might be described as a free for all with no regard to societal norms or common respect. Reread what I said above, I advocate for community standards, and self policing as defined by the community. In general most people will tend to flock towards communities of like minded individuals. If there exists a community of people that enjoy hitting each other on the head with hammers, then have at it. Don’t expect that to go ever well in a community of people that focus on baking or DIY automobile repairs.
We practice a degree of self policing here with comment flagging.
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Yes he was being thrown out before he had a chance to sign it
Hmm. But putting self policing in the hands of the public can just as easy lead to witch hunts. Community standards. Your still talking about control. Who decides these standards? Your just breaking down the larger state entity into smaller ones. Im thinking Mad Max now.
Anarchy literally means “without rulers” - and in its philosophical (and practical) application is often far more like self-policing as defined (and agreed by) the community, where decisions are made by consensus rather than by orders from above.
This thread makes me feel awkward on account that I’m a dummy that used his first name as a username(or DID I?..)(I did)
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Hi Ryan, my name is Nikola 
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I wouldn’t say anything on this forum that I wouldn’t say in person or at the workplace. Besides, what if I get tired of a pseudonym?
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Yes, but if you go on-line and read comments people post, some of them are really bad, like insulating, or plain stupid , you can see some of the people don’t put a lot of thought in what they say, plain stupid. Maybe they are like that in person also, i don’t know, but i never experienced such a recklessness in real life, even if you see someone doesn’t like you or he thinks you are stupid, he or she will never tell you, becous there can be consequences for them they would not whant. That is one thing, more simple one, there are other issues , but not as bad like this poison, and harder to explain, and debatable.
People here are generally normal, thats great and i relly like it here. Of course, there might be some confrontations here also, but nothing over the top really.
I think the title is misleading, it is not about this forum, it is about public comment sections, and commenting there anonymous and what it means for the cocnesnues of the social environment in long terms.
I think part of what makes this forum great is it’s focus on a specific subject.
This thread is officially not about electronic music, nor of the forum. Might there be better places to have this discussion? Reddit perhaps?
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I dont treat/view forums and comment sections or social media the same way I would treat a newspaper article or something like an essay. I think its up to how responsible the reader is and how that information will be digested.
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Jeah , i ques so. I am sorry if its budering for anyone here , or wrong topic simply. I am a bit sorry already i started it, not everithing went in a way i expected. I just read it and since i respect people here, i was wondering what is your opinion.
It has long been established in the psychological community that anonymity is strongly linked to abusive behavior. People tend to act rudely, aggressively, and are more likely to engage in illegal activities when anonymity is present.
You see, thats what i needed to hear, didn’t know that, i ques there is a fine line between police state which could stop anonymity on line and freedom. Maybe this is sacrifice to freedom, letting (some) people benig agresive on line.
I read somwhere that a small crime rate is a necessity, otherwise we might enter in to police state if you let the government control to much.
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Many newspapers print worse content than social media, so you can see how things get out of control.
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Sure you can see anonymity as “power to be abused”. But I ve been at it for so long that I am thinking it more along the lines of “responsibility to act civil and with a degree of solidary and goodwill, regardless of being disconnected from %realname%” whenever commenting, even if its under some sort of alias. Of course we are just humans, plenty of negative emotions do spill over if you think anonymity gives you a free pass for being a d:k… but isnt that what being a noob is about
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