This post will seem to conflict with a previous post of mine, but there isn’t really any conflict. Over the past few years, specifically the 2002-2012 range, a trend began. More people began to use there real names and real information on websites and not just on their bank’s website, but on social media and forums too. This was likely sparked by social media sites like Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook. This trend even carried over to Youtube, spurred on by the merger between Google and Youtube. In some instances, real names were not just encouraged, they were required! Posting a false name or Internet handle could lead to account termination. But that wasn’t the troubling part. What bothered me was that most people didn’t seem to mind giving away their personal information like their names and such. In fact, most people were all to happy to give away their identities. But why? What happened? Isn’t the Internet for anonymity? Why were people so comfortable with giving away their information?
As already hinted at in the introduction paragraph, modern social media is partly to blame for people using their real information on the net. The modern social media website began with Friendster, a site few people know about today. As of today, the site is down.* Friendster wasn’t the first social network to come into existence, and it wasn’t the first social network to gain serious momentum. Friendster, however, did set the stage for the massive social media networks that later came onto the scene. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and even Tumblr all use the same foundation that Friendster made popular. And it was with Friendster that the mass use of real names began, even though earlier sites like Friends United and Classmates.com encouraged real names for obvious reasons.
But why have people become so comfortable with this requirement? My guess is that most people have simply become accustomed to it or they didn’t really use the Internet before the real name requirement. If you think about it, the average person doesn’t use a computer for much more than social media. Since modern social media, like Facebook, requires the use of a real name, the average person probably didn’t think much of it, or the average person simply assumed that it had always been this way. Consider that Internet use exploded with the advent of MySpace and Facebook, and most people hopped on the Internet when these sites became massively popular. The vast majority of Internet users never experienced the era when Internet handles were the norm.
But are there other reasons why people have chosen to disclose their real names on the Internet. You bet!
The Internet has proven itself to be many things, but one of the most recognizable things about the Internet is that it is a money-machine and a fame-machine. Both money and fame are hard to achieve if you are posting under a randomized pseudonym. Leet-h@x0r isn’t as recognizable as Julia Johnson, and it isn’t as easy to tie that username to a bank account. And most fame-seekers don’t see any reason to use an Internet handle. To them, an Internet handle is just a hassle and it could cause confusion among their fans. The famous, or would-be famous, brand their real names because they don’t see any reason to brand a pseudonym.
What about civility? It’s no secret that people are more civil when the words they say online can, one day, be used to bludgeon them over the head. Many websites have taken note of this and, as a result, require people to use their social media accounts in order to post comments on the site. I’m afraid posting anonymously is seriously going out of fashion. The famous, and would-be famous, in particular have everything to lose if they say the wrong thing. Celebrities (barring particularly “controversial” celebrities) have been blacklisted from entire industries because they spoke a little bit too freely. The Average Joe, too, is at great risk of losing his job and becoming a public pariah for speaking his honest opinion. But is this necessarily a bad thing? Should people be forced to use their real names, risking real-world consequence, in order to post online? Requiring real names to post may incline people to act more civilly online, however, it also restricts people into saying only that which is politically correct. Dissent is punished. And, as a result, online discussion becomes safe, popular opinion goes unchallenged, and public discourse becomes far less rich and diverse. In other words, a sterile garden is a dead garden. The Internet isn’t a safe place and it shouldn’t be a safe place. It should be a challenging place. I’m fine with portions of the Internet being designated “safe” zones. If Facebook wants to regulate what its users are allowed to say, that’s on Facebook. However, the entire Internet shouldn’t be a safe zone. There should be zones for people who want to be challenged and say challenging things. And these zones will rightly allow for anonymous content creation.
Anonymous people may say some nasty things, but some of the most thought-provoking and provocative things I have ever read online have been posted under pseudonym. I don’t want this to change. Which is why I allow for anonymous comments on this blog, I’ll approve any comment you good folks think up. So long as the comment is more than just “You’re an asshole” or spam.
That was a fine tangent, wouldn’t you say? I live for little bursts of inspiration like that. But, now that the moment is over, let’s get back on topic.
Fortunately, in recent times, the desire to be anonymous has been freshly renewed. Anonymity is now becoming prized, once again, for the reasons listed in this post and this post. People want the freedom to say what’s on their mind, as controversial as it may be. While anonymous posting has waned a bit (or a lot), I bet it will still be around for a long, long time. Even if it were outlawed, it would still find a way. That’s the funny thing about outlawed things, if there’s a market for it, it will find a way.
*By the time you read this post, the link will likely be dead. The linked webpage was simply an explanation by Friendster’s developers naming their reasons for shutting down the site. Basically, the site wasn’t as popular as they had hoped and this was due to the challenges brought about by the changing gaming industry.
No comments:
Post a Comment