Anonymity May Have Killed Online Commenting

[steven36]

Many comment sections on media websites have failed because of a lack of accountability: Online commenters who can hide behind anonymity are much more comfortable expressing repugnant views or harassing others, and the multiplying effect is widespread incivility.

 

 

Anonymity has an important role in free expression and for privacy interests, to be sure. But the benefits of anonymity online are greatly outweighed by the abuse.

 

Anonymous comments range from the impertinent to the truly hateful, but they frequently contain racist, misogynistic, homophobic and/or anti-Semitic content. Even when people register with their real names but have pseudonymous user names, they often act as if they are licensed to rant, and say horrible things. While there is a subset of people who are proud to be haters and who see real name attribution as a publicity opportunity, most people think twice about associating their names with scurrilous or scandalous commentary. They fear approbation by employers, friends and family if their name is appended as the author of abusive comments.

 

Moreover, as this paper observes, in its encouragement to readers to avoid anonymity in comment sections, “people who use their names carry on more engaging, respectful conversations.”

Some platforms have formed bulwarks against vile comments, but none are fool-proof.

 

Facebook’s real name requirement for users helps curtail the chaos on that social media service. While even those using their real names sometimes post content that violates the community standards set to curtail hate speech — either because they don’t care about being associated with that content (or are part of an online community that celebrates their association with hate) — the real name requirement tamps down base instincts a more average user may have for vile postings.

 

Comment moderation is also useful for controlling abuse, but it is expensive and time-consuming. Many of the sites that have closed comment sections tried moderation but found it too burdensome or costly. Giving automatic priority in publication to real name commenters, and pushing anonymous comments to the bottom of the queue, is another technique that preserves the ability to comment anonymously, albeit at the price of potential obscurity.

 

Ultimately, it will be difficult to change the embedded online culture of saying whatever one pleases. Maybe contextual online commenting is over, and the place for discourse is on social media. But so much of social media, Facebook excepted, encourages anonymity, so the potential for hate and abuse may simply move from platform to platform.

 

A re-boot of online comment sections may be the only solution, with real-name attribution as the rule: Identification is vital for online civility.

 

The Source

[DKT27]

Not a new thing though.

 

Warning, bad language:
 

Spoiler

 

 

To add to that, in Indian news sites, specifically on political news articles, fake upvoting bots are common too.

[steven36]

52 minutes ago, DKT27 said:

Not a new thing though.

No it's not a new thing . I use to always stayed on  the forums  tell like 2011  i  left forums  in 2011 . On blogs  were there's not  much moderation  it is full of trolls and mean people. I hardly ever post comments  on a open blog anymore  and never join one just too post .Only i join a site now days if it has something  I want   Here it is years latter and its still a big problem  that The New York Times written this lovely article  about it .

[Pequi]

I'd much rather have anonymity with trolls than "moderated" discussion groups.

Here in Brazil all the main media cancels ANY post that might be a tiny bit against the ideas that the article is promoting. In effect, it's censorship.

I like to read both sides, even if it means filtering out swear words and abuse with my mind. Some people can only express themselves like that, but the basic idea behind the post might be interesting, brilliant even.

Nothing wrong with moderating off-topic spam though. Hence the brackets around the word "moderated".

There are "moderators" and Moderators. Completely different species.