With the recent threats made against Kathy Sierra, and the resulting responses, I’ve been thinking about anonymity on the web.
I’m not going to discuss technical issues, or legal issues – rather broad principles.
There’s been a storm of response, outraged missives saying suggesting various fixes. One of the more common responses has been that anonymous posts should no longer be permitted.
What are the benefits of this approach?
- People will be more polite. I’ve posted anonymously before, and it’s usually not for a good reason, or things I would feel uncomfortable about being publicly associated with. Sometimes expressing anger, or strongly disagreeing with a contrary view (stirring up a racist communitiy for example). But it always feels dirty to me, and probably had no positive effect on the recipients. I’d probably be a happier, better person if I never posted anonymously.
- Wikipedia has had similar concerns. Most vandals are anonymous. They’ve already stopped anonymous people from creating new articles. Is it such a huge step to stopping anonymous edits altogether?
What about the downsides?
- I don’t believe in hiding the truth. Violent, unpleasant thoughts lurk deep down (or not so deep down) in all of us. This is a reality in learning to understand oneself, as well as understanding the reality of the world. For me, the hardest part is understanding my own ugly thoughts, not worrying about others. Anonymous, hateful postings express the dark underbelly of human consciousness. Let’s rather get it in the open and learn to deal with it, rather than cover it up and suppress it, like so much else. A common response to the story was by women in general, saying that they’ve experienced similar treatment for years. Isn’t it time we became more open about it?
- In a generally free society, the only reason to post anonymously may be to protect individual sensitivities. However, there are more than enough repressive societies that do their best to control what is said publicly. Expressing a contrary opinion may be dangerous. Here, anonymity (both actively posting, as well as just passively surfing) needs to be protected.
Generally, the outcome of the Kathy Sierra harassment was positive. There’s no need to rush to implement new, draconian controls that are open to abuse in other ways.
Tags: privacy anonymity kathy+sierra