Nom de Plume Syndrome

[Chris Ostlind]

OK, so the previous title for this same thread was, perhaps, a bit sensationalist in nature... still, the subject matter should be opened for discussion. So, we have the French reference this time. It's all the same thing, anyway; The hiding of one's real persona behind a fake name to avoid accountability for what one says on the Internet.

Comments welcomed.

Anonymity brings out the worst instincts
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com

It must have seemed like a great idea at the time.

There was this new medium, the Internet, and newspapers were posting stories on it, and someone decided to create a forum where readers could discuss and debate what they just read. It must have seemed an inspiration kissed by the spirit of Jefferson: a free public space where each of us could have his or her say.

Unfortunately, the reality of the thing has proven to be something else entirely. For proof, see the message boards of pretty much any paper. Or just wade in the nearest cesspool. The experiences are equivalent.

Far from validating some high-minded ideal of public debate, message boards -- particularly those inadequately policed by their newspapers and/or dealing with highly emotional matters -- have become havens for a level of crudity, bigotry, meanness and plain nastiness that shocks the tattered remnants of our propriety.

For every person who offers some trenchant observation on the point at hand, there are a dozen who are so far off point they couldn't find their way back with a compass and road map. For every person who brings up some telling fact, there are a dozen whose ``facts'' are fantasies freshly made up to suit the exigencies of arguments they otherwise cannot win.

Why have message boards failed to live up to the noble expectations?

The answer in a word is, anonymity. The fact that on a message board -- unlike in an old-fashioned letter to the editor -- no one is required to identify themselves, no one is required to say who they are and own what they've said, has inspired many to vent their most reptilian thoughts.

So, some of us are intrigued by what recently happened in Cleveland. It seems someone using the alias ``lawmiss'' had posted provocative comments and scathing personal attacks on the website of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Some of those comments and attacks evinced an unlikely familiarity with cases being heard by a local judge, Shirley Strickland Saffold. When lawmiss made a comment about the mental state of a reporter's relative, the paper decided to trace the nickname. It found that the postings came from Judge Saffold's personal e-mail account.

Saffold claims her 23-year-old daughter authored the comments. Sydney Saffold, who lives in another city, supports her mom's story. Believe them if you choose.

Meanwhile, the paper has been criticized by some observers for unmasking lawmiss, and there is some merit to that. It's wrong to offer anonymity, then yank it away. But it would've been more wrong to have evidence that a judge viewed an attorney appearing in her court on a capital case as ``Amos and Andy'' -- to use one example -- and do nothing about it.

The larger point is that the paper should not have offered its message posters anonymity in the first place. No paper should. A confidential source necessary to break the big story is one thing. But the only imperative here is to deliver more eyes to the website.

As any student of Sociology 101 can tell you, when people don't have to account for what they say or do, they will often say and do things that would shock their better selves.

That's the story of the mousy, mosque-going school teacher swept up in the window-breaking mob during the big blackout. It's the story of the milquetoast accountant who insults the quarterback's mother from the safety of the crowd. And it is the story of newspaper message boards, which have inadvertently licensed and tacitly approved the worst of human nature under the guise of free speech.

Enough. Make them leave their names. Stop giving people a way to throw rocks and hide their hands. Any dropoff in the quantity of message board postings will surely be made up in the quality thereof.

That's my opinion. If you don't like it, well, at least you know who to blame.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/3...#ixzz0jwG0cvhW

[Angélique]

Originally Posted by Chris Ostlind

It's all the same thing, anyway; The hiding of one's real persona behind a fake name to avoid accountability for what one says on the Internet.

There is a second reason Chris. That is that people want to avoid to get damaged IRL by them from the first category. I admire people who can stand that. You are one of them.

Good luck!
Angel

[Tiny Turnip]

Hi Chris. I believe the anonymity of forums is a relatively small part of the ‘bad behaviour’ problem. I don’t find the Miami Herald article particularly useful here.

First and foremost is that writing is such a very limited, such a ‘partial’ form of communication. All the subtlety of nuance and inflectlon that we use in spoken conversation is lost. Even in face to face conversation, it is said that 90% of communication is non verbal. It is very difficult to convey things like irony without the additional communication that comes from tone of voice, facial expression, gesture, body stance. Even in face to face conversation, we have to be very careful about using irony, and robust comment with any but the close friends with whom we have built up a rapport, an understanding.

Forums also bring together people of many different cultures, and even among native speakers of the same language, there can be many different ways of using the same language. I remember many examples of embarrassment as a British student in an American university: asking a female fellow student who I barely knew if she could lend me a rubber (eraser); asking a friend to pick their fag butt (cigarette end) up off the table; telling a friend that she was full of beans (bright, perky, energetic) that day.

Then, the ‘type and click’ nature of making a comment is very quick and easy, and tends to encourage hasty, heated and ill considered postings, compared with the more extended process, and investment of energy in writing a letter.
There is also a long evolved etiquette to writing a letter; done formally it can almost become poetic, and much of etiquette is about avoiding misunderstanding and embarrassment. Although there may be some etiquette to forums, it is often ignored in the heat of the moment.

I believe that as communication and social interaction are so very important to us as a species, we get very frustrated when it is limited at all, or made difficult. We witness this most days when we drive, and see the anger, rudeness, frustration flaring up between drivers when we can’t talk to each other.

I wouldn’t say bad behaviour comes from any particular sector of forums. I have seen it from newbies, long established pillars of forum society, named and anonymous alike. I know I have been annoyed by rudery, and responded inappropriately too.

I don’t have a problem with the anonymity of the forum, but then, with respect to this forum I am a bystander in the world of boat design, and I can see it may well be more of an issue for those professionally involved in boat design and boat building. My professional field is Architecture, a profession with at least its fair share of opinionated, arrogant primadonnas, and I don’t engage in any Architectural forums.

Some people may have reasons of security for maintaining their anonymity, some may find it fun to be someone rather different from their real self on the internet. Many, myself included, assume a name because that is forum ‘form.’
Even a declared real name, or email address does not necessarily give any traceable identity.

It may be that there is a percentage of users that enjoy using the anonymity of the internet to bully or insult, and there is certainly a percentage of inane, timewasting comment. If we can remember to try to ignore the way the comment is delivered, and sift out the useful content, then we can usually avoid being too irritated or hurt by the nonsense.

I am happy being Tiny Turnip, but I am equally happy being Adrian Evans, a senior lecturer at Huddersfield University.
Of course, you’ve only my word for that though...

...unless you’re minded to go digging about on the university website, where you might find an extremely embarrassing marketing photograph of me in a kilt, clutching the smoking gun that is a seacycle pedal drive unit...

[Chris Ostlind]

I rather like that photo, TT. It shows a designer who has a spirit and does not wear a bow tie and designer glasses. I would like to know how the PR guys got you to sit (stand) for the session, though.

I really enjoyed the response to the initial post. Your points are well taken.

I would suggest that our busy global culture tends to dehumanize our presence within the grand workings of the larger organism. The function of hurriedly grabbing our 15 minutes of fame is, no doubt, rooted in the process of feeling like a small, almost unnecessary component. All the time, we cry out for our actions to be heard, to be listened-to with care. On fora such as this one, there seems to be a reverse trend that drives us to seek ever more personal irrelevance by choosing to utilize an artificial title.

Certainly, this overall phenomenon is an interesting sociological quandry. By posting this Op/Ed piece, I am looking to further the dialogue on these pages as to the substance and the purpose of the alias process.

[Doug Lord]

I remember a guy on Sailing Anarchy that used to post some of the most vile postings imagininable in technical threads-he called himself Big Oz. Know anything about him, Chris?

[Chris Ostlind]

You going somewhere with this, Doug, or just amusing yourself?

[Doug Lord]

Well, I was hoping to see some light shed on the topic of this thread.....

There are some kooks out there. I had one from this forum email me yesterday and threaten to "punish me" for my comments that are "lame or poorly researched". My God, it seems that there is a Nylex or Quark around every bend.
"However, there is a way out of that picture", he went on - by writing him an apology. It seems I embarrassed him a month or so ago for barking at some soul for no external reason. I am trying to stop that but I just can't stand seeing somebody, especially a newb, getting picked on. As close to an apology as I am going to get, an explaination of why there is friction, will have to do.
Also, I have too much at stake to put my real name out there and speak my piece. Since everbody on this thread is okay, my real name is Mortimer775. Please don't spread it around.

[Wynand N]

I am who I am.....regardless

[Chris Ostlind]

Geez, Mark, that's very interesting. I had this fellow write me just the other day and say almost the same things. One could almost think that there's a conspiracy of some sort afoot. I wish you the best with that.

Doug, I can't help you with your dilemma, but I'm sure that if you put up a fresh post at Sailing Anarchy to that effect, that you'll get what you seek. They're pretty lenient moderators over there and only the most distasteful ever get themselves tossed.

[ancient kayaker]

What was once regarded as a reasonable standard of courtesy is rarely practiced on the Internet, and often neglected in everyday life for that matter. Like spelling and the art of diplomacy, it is in decline.

I think the news media have a great deal to answer for much of this, together with people in the public eye who set a regrettable example for others to follow. Newspapers do not offer to publish carte blanche every letter they receive in the mail and will only rarely consider publishing an anonymous one. Their lawyers would not allow it and their owners would not let their name be sullied. Those same newspapers assume it is acceptable to do so on a web site.

I don't think it is caused by anonymity, on this forum we do not have to go far from home to find individuals guilty of insult, insensitivity or even simple patience.

Along with web anonymity, should we choose to accept it, comes the right to ignore the offensive behavior, to refuse to rise to the bait, and to abstain from replying in kind. People who exercise this right are particularly to be admired IMHO. They set standards that I aspire to, but do not always achieve.

[TollyWally]

Society has coursened considerably since the 60's. Values not anonymity appears to be the culprit. Given the reliance newspapers put on anonymous sources who are often government workers releasing private or priviledged information in an illegal fashion trying to sway public opinion it is quite hypocritical to see them rail against the concept.

[dskira]

I really wish people here will respect my anonymity and my real name Daniel Skira will be not disclose. I wish to remain under the radar
Thank you all
Alfred De Santis

"Geez, Mark, that's very interesting" Yes, interesting.

[hoytedow]

Better to have Nom de Plume Syndrome than to have Zachary Syndrome.