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.
registration is only as good as the system makes it- without email vetting etc. it’s pretty useless. On the other hand never write off how much info can actually be collected about you when you visit a web site or register for one.
After reading all the commentary so far (Biff and dave- you guys are getting more popular than the What!) 🙂 – I’ve come to think that the only real way to keep the worst stuff out is by a moderator. Let those who want to, register, but unfortunately it seems that the most malicious people will always find a work-around but it shouldn’t be up to other posters to police the site when one of them posts obscenities or personal comments. If Brownstoner wants a better atmosphere, he needs to hire a moderator to keep on top of things. Otherwise at some point the people who really do contribute to the site and those who want to read it because it is interesting and informative will simply stop reading it. when someone’s phone number is posted (and its pretty frightening that it happened), that person shouldn’t have to be the one to see it and then contact brownstoner. A moderator would have caught it before it went live.
I understand a lot of good reasons to allow guest posts, (I should- I post as a guest after much harassment from the trolls), but it’s become a sad free-for-all with less and less to do about brownstone Brooklyn and more and more to do with maliciousness.
bxgrl
Um 3:56, why do I find this extremely hard to believe? What further information would you need to know my real identity – how about everything? If that’s not true, why don’t you say one thing you know that no other individual here would already know from my posts?
what does posting at work and anon have to do with each other??
I’m posting at work too.
You post that same comment all the time 3:59,…you’re as tedious as The What
Dave, get a job. People post after-hours because they *work*. You should try it sometime (and I’m posting at work, which is why I prefer anon).
I prefer guest. It allows me to be more candid. I think the registration actually leads to more dumb back-and-forthing of the type we see from, you guessed it, good old Dave and Biff.
dave and biff have alienated nearly everyone else on here. i see no one agreeing with them, even nokillisa seems to stand her distance.
and jerri blank left them in the dust.
uh oh biff
might be time to change that log in…
Dave,
I’d rather someone post a comment or two at 2am, then see 200 a day from you. Shows what a sorry excuse you are. If you spent even half this time on a worthwhile cause (since your work in Hedge Funds is also a joke) perhaps you could make the world a better place.
Maybe there’s a reason why your lover doesn’t want to live in the same city as you…
WOW…I am truly impressed 3:54
if I wanted to be in that article I would have just contacted the author…he’d been on here looking for people.
Did you have the article framed and highligh your comments?
I think you need a good dose of what you recommended over the weekend!!!