BlueNosedDog

Today in the canteen, instead of worrying about the current state of the Automotive industry (which my company supplies), lunchroom debate was on a topic which seemed to draw me in. Should people be allowed to post anonymously on the internet?

My initial reaction was yes, of course people should be allowed to remain anonymous when interacting on the internet, it allows poeple to talk freely and express themselves without fear or prejudice, but more than that, anonymity makes the internet what it is - if you were to make poeple declare themselves, how long before they’d start wanting proper credits or renumeration for their work online?

But what if my initial reaction is wrong, and wrong because of the argument I’d made. Several others seemed to think differently to me, and although I had initially shrugged off their concerns initially as scaremongering, Daily Mail type worry, or simple nannyism, I actually decided to think about what the net would be like without the anonymity.

I don’t think anyone on the net should have the ability to track you down individually, but if you had to use the same unique alias on every site - lead a real second existence - how much different would everything be. Well for me, not very. I already post everything under one of two aliases, my real name or Cymru2000. Because of this I already check my actions, I don’t act as a troll or viciously attack people because, for me, there is a recourse. Because very few people use the same name as me online (there are a few) if I act like a complete idiot on one site, I’d be treated as one on another.

A few years ago I ran a very popular UK based WWE site (I’m not proud of it, but nor am I ashamed), the fact that I ran that site as I did, with proffessionalism and an even hand, when I started visiting other sites I was very quickly given moderator or enhanced priviledges because people knew who I was. Now if I was an idiot, maybe I would have instantly been sent to coventry and although that would have been a bitch for me, the rest of the internet would have benefited.

So maybe a unique ID, which cannot be changed and can only be you is a good idea. Not just from a Police-tracking-paedophile perspective, but from an accountability and more importantly a social one too. It is the fact that the internet has no social anchor, no recognised decorum and more importantly no recourse for your actions that makes some sites extremely hostile and less useful than they may be - maybe if people had to act in a more responsible manner youtube’s comments system wouldn’t be such a nasty place to be?