Banning Anonymous Comments Isn't The Answer
Posted by anastasia on 03-14-2008I stumbled across this Media Post (reg. required) article about how lawmakers (who obviously don't get "the internets") are attempting to address the cyberbulling issue by proposing legislation that ban anonymous commenting. From the article:
In the latest example, Kentucky state legislator Tim Couch has proposed a bill that would ban anonymous comments on boards or message boards. Among other provisions, the act, introduced this month, would demand that operators of blogs or message boards require commenters to register their names, addresses and e-mail addresses.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of anonymous comments, especially when they're flames or critiques — if you're going to take the time to type a thoughtful criticism of someone's post or video or whatever, why not put your name behind it? Yet they are also a way for people to share very personal anecdotes that might be helpful or supportive to other users. By being anonymous, you can share that deep dark "post secret" secret that might be liberating for you to get off your chest and make someone else realize they're not alone.
Just as there is no better parenting through technology, I don't think we can "fix" cyberbullying with technical solutions like forcing sites to ban anonymous comments. The best prevention is education, communication and really, empowering teens to call out bullies and flamers online. This is harder to do within social networks than it is on message boards or larger community sites like virtual worlds where users feel ownership over their community and want to help to keep conversations civil or weed out trolls, predators, etc. Part of the online educational curriculum for teens should be empowering them to speak up when they see bullying behavior online — to tell them if they don't, they are participating as bystanders. If enough teens were to hop on to someone's wall and tell the bully to stop…they just might.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Kentucky State Representative Tim Couch (R-Hyden) can start his own blog with whatever rules he wants, instead of telling everyone else how to run their blogs.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Great post Anastasia. Mandates never fix anything. We have 200+ years of government records to prove that.
I am not a fan of anonymous comments either, but if they are genuine I also don't begrudge a lurker testing the waters and becoming engaged.
I understand why the uninformed react the way they do. They really do believe that something like this is either "off" or "on." However the majority of our population is alive and well today because of the conversations that they did have. Drinking driving, safe sex, drugs…all awkward lessons that lead to me, and many others, to be a healthy productive members of society.