Taking the Pulse on Anonymous Commenting
We’ve been getting more and more requests from readers to eliminate anonymous commenting. (The topic has also been on the front-burner because of a certain article this week.) There are clearly major flaws with a system that allows commenting without accountability, but doing away with it carries its own set of drawbacks in the form…
We’ve been getting more and more requests from readers to eliminate anonymous commenting. (The topic has also been on the front-burner because of a certain article this week.) There are clearly major flaws with a system that allows commenting without accountability, but doing away with it carries its own set of drawbacks in the form of diminished information flow, opinion and overall energy on the site. We’re curious to know how the community feels about the issue so please take a moment to fill out this survey and chime in below.
Thanks,
Mr. B
p.s. Just to clarify, just because you register, and comment under, a username, does not mean that your true identity is on display for the world to see. It means we can easily block a disruptive commenter, or contact him/her by email about bad behavior. It also means that other readers can begin to associate comments over time with a particular online identity, theoretically improving the ability to carry on discussions.
I prefer logging in, and would, except I am having the same problems as Carol Gardens, and a couple of other people. When I log in, my posts are “held for approval” by the system, and then never appear. While some may say that’s divine providence, it’s annoying, to say the least.
I don’t care if people post as guests, per se, but would like to see some site moderation to avoid seeing the sexual and personal comments that have been especially directed at me, as well as a few other people, as well as some of the other over the top nastiness that appears here regularly. I think that a disclaimer with the rules of the site, including the existence of a moderator, worked into the masthead, for all to see, would be fair warning that the free for all is over.
I can’t see how that would be a deterrent for free exchange of ideas. If you can’t make your point without a racist/sexist/homophobic, personal attack, obscenity laced diatribe, then you don’t have a point anyway.
Montrose Morris
11:47 guest, I don’t think you know what “sexist” means. You should look it up. I don’t recall ever making negative generalizations about men or women. Perhaps you mean “sexual”? If you’re a frequent visitor, you’ll know that a conversation between two bold typers is typically far more civilized than one solely between guests or some combination of guests and those who are registered. That’s the reality. I’m courteous to those who are courteous to me.
I know for a fact that Biff comments sometimes under his registered name and other times under guest when he logs out, so what’s the difference? Dave’s comment at 11:47 shows just what an ahole is really is. I can’t STAND most of the registered guests here and would certainly not comment any longer if it became a necessity.
Heres the thing: I don’t wnat to be a member of your “community”. I have infomation to contribute. I seek information from others. I don’t want to make friends. I have those. If you are looking for those online, that’s just sad.
Dave attacks people constantly!
Biff AND Dave claim any “faded type” comment is worthless. Which is an attack in and of itself…
I find both of them more annoying than the majority of guest posts.
I will reaffirm my position, as if you all were waiting, waiting I tell you, with baited breath, to hear it.
I agree with 11:24 and 11:30. Completely.
Something important, including information about houses and neighborhoods, and honest opinions, however skewed and occasionally racist/sexist, would be lost if it were a requirement to sign it.
I also find this to be a fabulous, unique sociological study which would definitely be less fascinating if the anonymous nature of so many posts were lost.
It would be like requiring votes to be public information. Or having research study surveys requiring the identity of participants. It just wouldn’t work.
But 11:30 if you are just “guest” as opposed to “househunterhipster” how can we put your comments in context? And perhaps because you are just “guest” I haven’t noticed a slew of comments like the ones you suggest you are posting about your ongoing house hunt and conversations with electricians/lawyers/agents, etc. I just don’t get the nexus between “guest” posting and your willingness to share such information.
How did you come up with 60% 11:41? please site the statistics.
You just posted with garbage that added nothing to resolving the subject at hand.
But we’re glad you’re reading our posts. I am taking the liberty of including Mr. Champion here as well.
Keep up the good monitoring. Sorry you can’t login at work.
Daveinbedsty, biff champion, and jerri blank hijack posts all the time and take them off topic and offend me with thier sexist conversations. Putnamdenizen is frequently just nasty. Polemicist is also rude. Bob marvin is tedious. And don’t get me started on Ysabelle.
Forcing registration is not going to force people to be courteous. You cannot legislate taste or tact.