If you choose to post comments anonymously, there is no way I can follow your anonymous instructions to go back and do something with a previous anonymous comment that you now want to change, because when you posted it anonymously the first time you put it in the wrong place or something of that sort.
I am thinking about requiring registration because so many people comment anonymously that it hinders communication. Often people will write, "As I said previously..." and nobody has the slightest idea what they are talking about because the previous post and the current one are anonymous. The conversations would be a lot more interesting if people knew whose comments they were reading and commenting on.
7 comments:
To use "I" anonymously is blasphemy!
People could always comment pseudonymously if they wanted. Then (assuming everyone chooses different pseudonyms) we would solve the problem of not knowing "who" said what, and identities would still be protected.
Beth--people can post comments with pseudonyms as always. But the problem is that most people just post with no name or pseudonym. We have an undetermined number of people who always post as "anonymous." That creates confusion about who is commenting on whom, and that is compounded by all these references to "what I said previously" when nobody has the slightest idea who is commenting.
After the ridiculous, frivolous, SLAPP lawsuit (now dismissed) against Bill Davis by Texas State Senator John Carona (posing in one of his corporate person alter egos), which included subpoenas for the ID of people posting on this blog and others, I understand why people are nervous about this. However, I don't see how you are any better off as "anonymous" than as "Sugarlips." The subpoena would yield or not yield the same information about you either way. And I don't greenlight libelous posts in any event. I just delete them.
The internet has always been a place for timid people to say what they really feel..anonymously. I personaly like it, and would hate to see it suppresed.
As far as being fearful of thugs like Corona abusing the process of law to stifle dissent...this is exactly the chilling effect "they" are looking for.
Also...in Massachusetts subpoenas stop at the State line in civil suits.
Why didn't you just pick up after your dog with it, and mail it back
to those creeps?
Mike--I agree that people should be able to keep their identity off the net. The point I'm trying to make is that there is no loss in security if somebody uses a pseudonym instead of the default "anonymous." Both are equally anonymous, other words. However, there is a big gain in communication if people can see which comments and follow-up comments come from the same person.
Responding kinda late, I agree that the multiple "anonymous" comments are confusing. Now I personally am considering switching my nom to "Sugarlips" just to spice things up.
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