Anonymous Comments on the Block
May 7, 2010 by Kathy McManus
Should anonymous online comments be banned?
Anonymity has turned Internet message boards into “havens for a level of crudity, bigotry, meanness and plain nastiness that shocks the tattered remnants of our propriety,” writes Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. With no requirement “to own what they’ve said,” Pitts says, anonymous posters are free to “vent their most reptilian thoughts.”
Editors at the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently unmasked an anonymous commenter using the alias “lawmiss” to post “provocative comments and scathing personal attacks” on the newspaper’s website, including disparaging remarks about a local lawyer. After the Plain Dealer ran a story revealing that the comments came from the email account of a judge who was presiding over some of the lawyer’s cases, the judge sued, claiming the newspaper had violated her privacy.
Anonymous commenting is “under attack from several directions,” The New York Times reports, with news sites in particular grappling with ways to force commenters to act more responsibly. “If commenters were asked to provide their real names for display online, some would no doubt give false identities,” The Times said, “and verifying them would be too labor-intensive to be realistic.”
“Enough,” says columnist Pitts. “Make them leave their names. Stop giving people a way to throw rocks and hide their hands.”
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25 Comments
What do you think? Leave a comment
May 8, 2010 by Patricia Zamor
In this age of anything goes, it is refreshing to read columnist Pitts's "Enough," in which his views about those individuals who uses the cover of the net to publish lies and distortions that often affect other people's lives. Kudos to Pitts for his stance "make them leave their names. Stop giving people a way to throw rocks and hide their hands."'
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May 10, 2010 by Anonymous
The war of the Anonymous is a part of internet culture. Without Anonymous the internet is a "Good" place but that is unrealistic, you cannot censor the world, why meddle with the internet? If you cannot deal with the Anonymous then don't use the internet.
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May 12, 2010 by JASON CHARLES SOBIESKI
This is ******* ********. It is the internet - a series of private networks all linked together in a global public forum. How can you suggest or even think it reasonable to suggest regulating comments on the internet? What does that even mean? Does the writer mean to censor the whole internet? Only a fool would contemplate that.
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May 24, 2010 by dakotah
we should do what ever we want on the internet just about...sure we do have our limits but we can still write things down on the internet without other people knowing who wrote it! i dont like the fact that people are making a big deal about this! there is better things to worry about then this
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July 28, 2010 by m320753
stand up , be proud of your self it's only a comment, nothing big no one is going to hunt you down it's not like you're giving government secrets to some hot looking russian
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May 30, 2010 by Dave Lucas
Yes, anonymous commenters can be a pain! One of the things I always longed to do with my blog, but was never able to accomplish, was get almost a "forum" thing going in the comments section, the way political blogger LaShawn Barber did about 5 years ago.
We bloggers NEED participation from others: the doorways to leave messages and comments should always be present, even if a registration or verification process is required, so that those with something to contribute can do that. How many times have you been moved by a blog post and wanted to inject your thoughts, but comments were either closed or not allowed? It's FRUSTRATING!
Your article inspired me to take it a step higher on my blog, dave-lucas.blogspot.com
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June 1, 2010 by seena
i seriously adore your posting way, very helpful, don't quit and alsomcse training keep creating for the reason that it just worth to read it,excited to find out pleasant day way more of your own content articles, have a nice day!
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July 28, 2010 by Ms. Martin
I'm so over the shock and awe that people are expressing over Mel Gibson's rant. This is what happens during a domestic issue with mates/lovers and so forth. Although, I don't agree with any violence that my have taken place, what I'm sure of is if walls could talk most if not all people are quilty of the same or worse.
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August 10, 2010 by christopher
New thread please blog this on a new page,the issue here is anonymous online comments you see I belive that everyone has a right to speak their mind but please mind others! personal attacks that I stumble across now and then are pure visious these I use as examples to myself and others of what is not Right and Moral
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August 15, 2010 by James Morgan - Puritan Financial Advisor
After the Plain Dealer ran a story revealing that the comments came from the email account of a judge who was presiding over some of the lawyer’s cases.
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August 15, 2010 by James Morgan - Puritan Financial Advisor
The New York Times reports, with news sites in particular grappling with ways to force commenters to act more responsibly.
Reply
August 15, 2010 by James Morgan - Puritan Financial Advisor
If commenters were asked to provide their real names for display online, some would no doubt give false identities.
Reply
September 2, 2010 by George Blackshear
I'm using this format, because there's information I wanted to share but I didn't know the proper avenue. It's regarding the story of rapper T.I's alleged possession arrest. Lisa Beck and Jean Martirez were discussing a term called "hot boxing" and I wanted to let you know where the term originated. The term "hot box" was used to imply what a person has done to a cigarette, when the person was to inhale or drawed so intensely that they would make the cigarette "hot" to the touch of the person that was sharing that cigarette with them.
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