Why anonymity on the Internet is bad.

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I’m not a big fan of the screen name. Let me clarify: I think nicknames are great, as long as a person’s real name is easily accessible. Why? Because people behave a lot better and they’re nicer to each other on the Internet than when they use a screen name. I’ve seen this played out countless times on sites and discussion groups over the last eleven years.

Screen names are good when they allow someone to express their personality. They’re bad when people use them to hide behind a computer and avoid being held responsible for their words and actions as they would be in offline society or their local communities.

When thinking on this topic, I remembered a web comic I came across once:

Hiding behind a computer anonymously just does stuff to people.

Now, I completely understand If someone needs to stay anonymous out of fear for safety or privacy. In that case, the next best thing is to use a pseudonym and creating a consistent online identity that you have an interest in building and maintaining a reputation around. You can keep that distinct identity separate from your real life identity if you need to.

Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist, has changed her name on multiple occasions and now blogs under a pseudonym, and now it has become her professional identity. Because it’s a name she’s built a reputation and trades on, there’s a disincentive to damage he name or reputation by acting like an idiot on the Internet or being malicious. The effect is the same as if she were using her real name. (Of course, now that she’s ‘out’ with her name it no longer acts as a privacy filter).