Oh NOES! The Anonymous!

From a local liberal columnist Sunday:

"Missdorothy" describes herself as 58, female, and living in "Mom's windowless 1950s ... basement." By her own description, she hates Muslims and liberals, likes puppies and "warm snuggles" and loves to cook.

. . We don't know whether missdorothy is actually a Miss or even a woman or whether anything she says about herself is true.

Chalk up another print journalist whom has discovered the shameful, tawdry internet and it's disgusting tradition of anonymity, and how it enables abusers to abuse others.

Ms. Basu - the tradition of anonymity on the Internet is not something that's overinflated. At the dawn of computer message communication starting in the late 1970's, anonymity has been controversial and widely honored. In some degree, it's fostered by the user alias we all use at least once a day to sign on to our work computers.

Some systems and owners since the dawn have banned anonymous aliases and handles, some have widely embraced alternate identities for not only their visitors but also for themselves. A great example is the ISCA BBS, hosted from the University of Iowa back in the 1980's which widely allowed anonymity.

You take a position that The Register should 'slowly' begin demanding IRL identities attached user names and aliases. That's fine. The Register should shoulder every right and responsibility as a corporate publishing identity.

But all the concern on the venom that anonymity breeds is pretty damn stupid.

The venom that Ms. Basu sees on the The Register's site can be partially explained in that the Register, like most traditional media companies, is viewed as inherently liberal by a segment of the population it serves. I think she's heard all the nicknames, The Central Iowa Pravda, etc. The people holding these opinions flock to the Register website because it gives them a sense of dialogue and rebuttal - as though they're they're sticking it to the man. (Although with some of the examples cited, sticking it to the woman might be more appropriate.) In reality, what they're doing is attacking other opinions & forcing emotionally moderate people away or into playing along with their games.

I steer clear of The Register's talkback and web postings because I find them an intolerable cesspit of the worst of humanity. A real-life example of dirty tricks writ large. People loaded with attacks like, "Mr. Id, how do you feel about having an abortion at age 15 without informing your parents and being a degenerate homo?"

I am blessed in that I have a public blog where I can essentially diarize for not only myself but others whom don't mind reading (at least once) my mental diarrhea, and I also have the priviledge of reading what my fellow co-bloggers read as well. Not many others read what we publish, but within our small circle, it's enough.