Well feck the trolls anyway.

Lapin

ACCORDING TO REPORTS in The Guardian and Boston Globe, website The Huffington Post has plans to end anonymity for commenters.
Founder Arianna Huffington revealed the change during a conference in Boston yesterday, blaming so-called “trolls” for the decision.

Full Article.


So somewhere down the line websites like Boards may have to adapt and insist that contributors submit their real names rather than usernames.

While it may lead to what the article above describes as a "grown up internet" it will inevitably result in less spontaneity and origanility among many of those who post here.

It would be a shame if that happened.

Leftist

have you ever heard of twitter and face book? they use their real names there and it doesn't stop morons being morons.

twinytwo

Lapin wrote: »

ACCORDING TO REPORTS in The Guardian and Boston Globe, website The Huffington Post has plans to end anonymity for commenters.
Founder Arianna Huffington revealed the change during a conference in Boston yesterday, blaming so-called “trolls” for the decision.

Full Article.


So somewhere down the line websites like Boards may have to adapt and insist that contributors submit their real names rather than usernames.

While it may lead to what the article above describes as a "grown up internet" it will inevitably result in less spontaneity and origanility among many of those who post here.

It would be a shame if that happened.

tbf its about time, just because its the internet people think they can say/abuse whoever/whatever they want without any repercussions?... and i hope to god it spreads to twitter etc

I Heart Internet

You're a disgrace OP. You're ugly and nobody loves you!!











(Joke........I'm sure you're lovely)

TeddyTedson

Leftist wrote: »

have you ever heard of twitter and face book? they use their real names there and it doesn't stop morons being morons.

I've actually heard of both twitter and facebook.

Clandestine

The Huffington post is a joke of a website anyway. Very liberally biased reporting and unreliable. Anonymity is necessary on that site because i personally wouldn't want an angry feminist (and the site is loaded with them) showing up on my doorstep or whatever after I criticize Anita Sarkeesian or Hilary Clinton.

shopaholic01

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

pappyodaniel

A lot of the honesty in the post will be lost, I don't give 2 ****s what the poster's name is tbh.

keith16

shopaholic01 wrote: »

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

I would stop at once. Some of the things I think and post here is so shocking, it would damage the town to hear it.

Lando Griffin

Don't mind my real name being used, if the mods could just change Lando to Landon it would save alot of bother for me.

Sofiztikated

If my real name got attached to my Boards account, Cries of Retail would get very, very quiet.

TheBegotten

What would stop you from putting in a fake name anyways? I've done that with quite a few sites where I feel that they have no business knowing any of my personal details. I think I put "Backarse, Nowhere" as my address on some gaming site...

Conway635

I do post with my real name, well, almost.

C635

Menas

Good job that my parents, Mr and Mrs Happy, christened me Trigger.

Ilik Urgee

What's anonymous posting?

The Backwards Man

Wouldn't bother me at all. I never say anything I wouldn't publicly stand over

Dr Turk Turkelton

Clandestine wrote: »

The Huffington post is a joke of a website anyway. Very liberally biased reporting and unreliable. Anonymity is necessary on that site because i personally wouldn't want an angry feminist (and the site is loaded with them) showing up on my doorstep or whatever after I criticize Anita Sarkeesian or Hilary Clinton.

This is sexist against feminazi's!
I'm going to burn a bra in protest and hopefully the wife will buy a sexy one in its place.

Days 298

Ilik Urgee wrote: »

What's anonymous posting?

Generally using pseudonyms but to the extreme be hidden behind TOR browser.

Cienciano

Wonder if they'll do the same for newspapers to stop them making up stories? No more "a source close to said...", "a friend" or "an insider".

Honey-ec

shopaholic01 wrote: »

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

Mine isn't even remotely secret in the first place.

B.A._Baracus

I hear that anti online bullying campaigns are the ones really pushing for websites to stop anonymous members/posts/what ever you wanna call it. It was on the RTE news last week.

It's a silly idea because:
1, It won't stop crap. Alot of sites only allow you to post with a facebook log in and people still tear into each other and spout vile.
2, How could it ever work? :pac: You can only use facebook logins to post on other sites? fine i'll create a profile on facebook and call myself Dick Johnson :pac:

Potatoeman

twinytwo wrote: »

tbf its about time, just because its the internet people think they can say/abuse whoever/whatever they want without any repercussions?... and i hope to god it spreads to twitter etc

So everyone should lose anominity because some people are pr*cks? Why cant people use the report button?

leggo

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

It's a silly idea because:
1, It won't stop crap. Alot of sites only allow you to post with a facebook log in and people still tear into each other and spout vile.
2, How could it ever work? :pac: You can only use facebook logins to post on other sites? fine i'll create a profile on facebook and call myself Dick Johnson :pac:

The big difference is that you can control what you see, so people can bitch about you all you like but you can just ignore it. And if it goes too far it also becomes very easy to press charges, the law is still the law on the Internet and we'll see that more and more as time goes on.

What'll be cracked down on next is the likes of Embarrassing Nightlife Photos craze, posting pictures of people in vulnerable situations to be ridiculed and mocked, that led to the likes of #SlaneGirl.

MadsL

I think DeVore has made it clear on many an occasion in the past that Boards is not anonymous and that your IP address at least would be handed over if your dickishness causes any authorities to request it.

I'm guessing Boards Inc. has the same policy.

April O Neill

Leftist wrote: »

have you ever heard of twitter and face book? they use their real names there and it doesn't stop morons being morons.

I wouldn't post on boards in my real name. I stand by all that I've written, but I am less censored here in what I say, and really like the anonymous element. Not everyone wants to anonymous for nefarious reasons.

Peregrine

I don't see why Boards would have to make such a move.

boards.ie is heavily moderated and you're never actually truly anonymous, not to boards and the authorities anyway. You can remain anonymous among posters but if something you posted breaks some law - boards would happily hand over your details to the Gardaí, as is the law.

If it wasn't anonymous, I could see problems rising from that itself. Like maybe conflict in the real world over clash of very sensitive but lawful opinions posted here because the boards communities are so..how do I put this..local.

Hoop66

I don't understand, Hoop66 is my real name.

I mean, obviously I spell it Sixty-Six on legal documents...

Killer Wench

When she said London, I wonder if she is talking about the hoopla surrounding Goodreads. If she is, that's a shame, because the author misrepresented facts, and is probably launching a bullying campaign for publicity.

MonstaMash

Days 298 wrote: »

Generally using pseudonyms but to the extreme be hidden behind TOR browser.

http://extratorrent.com/article/3125/tor+recommended+to+stay+away+from+windows.html :eek:

ScumLord

MadsL wrote: »

I think DeVore has made it clear on many an occasion in the past that Boards is not anonymous and that your IP address at least would be handed over if your dickishness causes any authorities to request it.

That's what I'm wondering about here, is it just a case you have to register to use the site but will more or less be like boards were your using a username on the site rather than the full details of who you are. It's essentially a level of anonymity but with traceability.

There are many sites where your just "anonymous3479".

Conway635

I like to think of my Boards username as a sort of "one way glass" anonymity.

The lovely people with whom I share my wisdom on here (that's you!) can know who I am pretty easily (as the moderators in my more regular sections would), but people from "real life" who know me by my full name would not neccessarily be guided to my Boards postings by casual searches, thus keeping my reputation unsullied.

C635

kneemos

I don't care what they do I'm going to be frank.

Potatoeman

Conway635 wrote: »

I like to think of my Boards username as a sort of "one way glass" anonymity.

The lovely people with whom I share my wisdom on here (that's you!) can know who I am pretty easily (as the moderators in my more regular sections would), but people from "real life" who know me by my full name would not neccessarily be guided to my Boards postings by casual searches, thus keeping my reputation unsullied.

C635

HR departments check facebook pages these days so someone could potentially find out quite a bit about you. For example there are certain things you cant ask in an interview but people can reveal lots of personal information in general discussions (online). They may not want this information out on the internet for everyone to see. So it would shut down many topics for many people.

Plazaman

kneemos wrote: »

I don't care what they do I'm going to be frank.

Hi Frank *waves

I already have had the legal documents drawn up to declare me legally insane and a menace to the international network if ever my real name gets out. It's because of the badgers see, they tell me what to do.

Femme_Fatale

twinytwo wrote: »

tbf its about time, just because its the internet people think they can say/abuse whoever/whatever they want without any repercussions?... and i hope to god it spreads to twitter etc

People are rarely anonymous on Twitter.
Nothing wrong with people wanting anonymity on a public website once they're not using that anonymity to be a dick. And most people don't. This thing of "I'm the same in real life as I am on Boards" is unlikely though. Everyone's behaviour is modified according to their environment. I'm not saying it's natural to be a complete Walter Mitty or anything online but it is natural to say stuff you wouldn't quite say in real life. In the more extreme cases, some people clearly say stuff they wouldn't dare say in real life.

Clandestine wrote: »

The Huffington post is a joke of a website anyway. Very biased reporting and unreliable.

Same could be said about (presumably) your beloved Fox News.

Clandestine

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Same could be said about (presumably) your beloved Fox News.

Hm? (presuming you think I'm a right wing conservative)
I don't trust Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, etc. All are just as bad as each other.

If I do want news, I'll check several sources before coming to a conclusion.

UCDVet

You can't have an open system, where anyone can post *and* require real names.

The only way you could come close to restricting who posts, is by having a system in place to verify each and every poster. That's really hard, it would take time and money *and* it would still (probably) suck.

If we started a new 'online passport' and we went down to the GNIB office to get our online passport and required all sites in Ireland to integrate with this system so we could be forced to show our real names.....

We'd still have about 80% of users not understanding thing one about how it works. And anyone who wanted could take advantage of them and concatenate their credentials.

You'd waste a countless millions on a system and all it would do is introduce a whole new level of identity theft. There would be underground/Tor/etc... sites where you could buy 100 stolen identities for 20 euro and post whatever troll stuff you wanted.

Malware would be written for the sole purpose of getting your online passport, it'd be like credit cards, but a million times easier since you don't have to deal with issues like delivery. And the websites you abuse don't have much of a vested interest anyway.

That's ignoring the bigger implication that sites could *already* do this. They don't, because people don't want it. Boards.ie (AFAIK) was not created by the government. Some people started it, and we all use it because it is here. Cool. So, to require everyone to use this passport to ensure everyone knows who everyone is would mean *forcing* all websites to require it. And you can't do that. It wouldn't work. Even if you passed a law in Ireland, sites would open up on servers in another country that allowed anonymous posting.

Even if you got every country in the world to follow the law - it wouldn't matter because of encryption.

Even if this were a good idea, it can't work because of how the internet works. At best it will be poorly implemented and waste millions of euro.

pharmaton

kneemos wrote: »

I don't care what they do I'm going to be frank.

I'm with you and I'm being ernest.

RossieMan

whats boards.ie?

Leftist

Leftist wrote: »

have you ever heard of twitter and face book? they use their real names there and it doesn't stop morons being morons.

They just prove it!

shopaholic01

shopaholic01 wrote: »

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

Most of us, I would imagine as it is if my name become well known you'd still be thinking who the hell is he???

Toby Take a Bow

I would stop immediately posting were this to become a reality. I might re-reg under my own name, but I would be surprised if I were to post regularly. But maybe we would just become used to it and eventually get to where we are with Facebook?

Clandestine wrote: »

Very liberally biased reporting and unreliable. Anonymity is necessary on that site because i personally wouldn't want an angry feminist (and the site is loaded with them) showing up on my doorstep or whatever after I criticize Anita Sarkeesian or Hilary Clinton.

Surely that sort of reaction is exactly what you're looking for? I never understand the 'reasoning' behind people bothering with sites/newspapers/etc that they view as beneath them/biased. Just ignore and move on!

Owen_S

I don't see the point in this. Currently, if a 'troll' posts something that is illegal, their identity can be obtained by relevant authorities seeking to pursue the case.

NuckingFacker

shopaholic01 wrote: »

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

Nip over to the dome. It'll be revealed for you. Like it or not.

shopaholic01

NuckingFacker wrote: »

Nip over to the dome. It'll be revealed for you. Like it or not.

Pot luck.

wazky

pharmaton wrote: »

I'm with you and I'm being ernest.

Shirley your not being Ernest?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

NuckingFacker

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It would decimate Facebook. The whole idea sems to be having non-friends as "friends".

stoneill

shopaholic01 wrote: »

How many Boardsies would continue to post if you had to reveal your identity?

I would - but I'd probably stop the pathetic pleading for sex posts.

Gummy Panda

stoneill wrote: »

I would - but I'd probably stop the pathetic pleading for sex posts.

Hahaha no

The people who usually do that have their face plastered around the site

Daveysil15

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

People are rarely anonymous on Twitter.
Nothing wrong with people wanting anonymity on a public website once they're not using that anonymity to be a dick. And most people don't. This thing of "I'm the same in real life as I am on Boards" is unlikely though. Everyone's behaviour is modified according to their environment. I'm not saying it's natural to be a complete Walter Mitty or anything online but it is natural to say stuff you wouldn't quite say in real life. In the more extreme cases, some people clearly say stuff they wouldn't dare say in real life.

I agree. This is especially true when it comes to AH. I've discussed certain topics in there that I would be very reluctant to talk about IRL. The 'unpopular opinions' thread been a good place to start.