Posts
In an attempt to be a more open contributor, I changed my settings in 2013 to allow for anonymous comments. My thoughts were that anyone should be able to contribute or share if they find value in what I write. I will tell you this was not without hesitation, I don’t think you should be anonymous in the 21st century. We are all about social media and many channels of communication and I believe each individual should represent themselves and get the credit they deserve besides self branding which is so important in this day and age.
Anonymous has always confused me. I am a part of great network of teachers, educators, media experts that I would continue to enjoy having contact with. Kind of hard to do if your anonymous.
Today, I have to say Good bye Anonymous, I will miss you. You have given me, 3 interesting reads and I wish I knew who you were. As for the rest, more than 20 comments from anonymous have invalid url’s or their website which is always in the comment is A search engine, an advertisement, a bunch of well, crap. There is no way I am going to allow myself or my readers to be subject to clicking on links that do not have anything to do with what I am discussing. These comments, I find have very litte merit and never really go into the topic I am discussing anyway.
In researching this thought futher, I found a great blog post today that is completely what I have been thinking lately. "Troll Reveal Thyself" by Farhard Manjo. If you are going to be online, anonymous no longer cuts it. If you look at youtube and other unmoderated sites you can see the bashing and the plain cruelness that anonymous posts allow.
I found this quote particularly relevant:"Anonymity has long been hailed as one of the founding philosophies of the Internet, a critical bulwark protecting our privacy. But that view no longer holds. In all but the most extreme scenarios—everywhere outside of repressive governments—anonymity damages online communities. Letting people remain anonymous while engaging in fundamentally public behavior encourages them to behave badly. Indeed, we shouldn't stop at comments. Web sites should move toward requiring people to reveal their real names when engaging in all online behavior that's understood to be public—when you're posting a restaurant review or when you're voting up a story on Reddit, say. In almost all cases, the Web would be much better off if everyone told the world who they really are."
