There’s a menace in the blogosphere who enjoys dropping in and making trouble. The most obvious way is through spam, but this is also the least interesting. It’s more fun, and more subtle, to drop on in and make a comment that has one or more of the following elements: it’s offensive, obnoxious, critical, argumentative, random, rude, angry, judgmental, sarcastic, or snide. And, to make things more interesting, this person always goes by “Anonymous.”
In just a few moments, this troublemaker can get a blogger – and in turn his/her loyal followers – all worked up and defensive. Then, after causing all of this frenzy, anonymous might stop back in to whip things up again or simply move on to find new, sensitive souls to harass. It really doesn’t matter what the responses are to Anonymous’s comments, either, because their identity is safe and there is no real accountability for their actions.
Oddly enough, Anonymous is only potentially interesting and definitely only has power when we take the bait. I’ll admit it – I’ve risen to a fellow blogger’s defense when some anonymous jerk left a snide comment. And I’m ashamed to say it, but I’ve returned to a blog to follow a particularly feisty debate spurred on by Anonymous. The fact that you can’t hear tone of voice or respond to facial expressions makes me nervous online – so I am often cautious about sensitive subjects…but I’m not always above witnessing other people duke it out.
Anonymous certainly serves a purpose and I admire bloggers with the courage to leave comments open to anyone – and who refrain from deleting incendiary ones. Of course, this also can draw traffic to the site, so perhaps Anonymous is doing them a bit of a favor. And some people might be online looking for a fight or a good debate. Me, I turned off anonymous comments initially to limit spam, but also like some of the security that comes to blocking Anonymous from my space.
Truth be told, I think most of us have been tempted by the allure of anonymous at one point or another. You know, the day you run across a post that is just plain stupid or seriously pisses you off? Perhaps it’s one of those “ask me anything” posts and you have a racy question you don’t want traced back to you? Maybe you’re just bored. Whatever it is, you’ve probably thought about it. But have you acted on it?
I chose to be Anonymous just once. I was having a horrible day, I was angry, and I visited a blog that seriously annoyed me. I didn’t have anything horrible to say – there was no mocking of photos of children or bashing of political views – but I didn’t want my critical, argumentative comment traced back to me. And it felt good in the moment.
But it felt horrible later. The blogger responded naturally by getting defensive and I felt zero satisfaction in it. I felt ashamed. That blogger did not deserve to be on the sharp end of my bad day. I couldn’t remove my comment, but I could resolve to never hide behind Anonymous again. If I wouldn’t say it in real life to someone’s face, I won’t say it online.
So, here’s the question. How do you feel about Anonymous? Have you ever been tempted to comment anonymously? If yes, what was your experience? If no, what changed your mind?
I’ve been tempted. Before blogs were so popular, I have belonged to a few message boards and it’s on there that I’ve felt the urge. The urge to tell someone to grow up, to tell them to stop whining, to say “who cares”. On one hand, it needed said. But on the other, who am *I* to say that to someone?
Great topic! I’ve been tempted before but in the end I never have commented as anonymous. Because, as you said, if I wouldn’t say it to their face or wouldn’t want it traced to me then I really shouldn’t say it. 🙂
I have never commented anonymously and the reason is this (and please don’t take offense since I know you did this one time and I understand your reasoning behind it):
I feel like if I hide my face that I’m not really fully standing behind what I’m saying. I am not a fan of confrontation, but I will always stand up for what I believe in and I feel like it’s less valid if the person can’t see where it’s coming from.
As far as surfing blogs just to leave anonymous nasty comments and get people riled up, I just figure that something bad must be going on in that person’s life and they are trying to take it out on strangers. And I feel sorry for them.
I absolutely agree. Choosing to be anonymous so you don’t have to be accountable, so it’s not personal, because you’re not proud of what you have to say is pathetic. And I felt that way when I did it.
I haven’t posted anonymously and I don’t allow anonymous comments on my blog. I did at one time, but then they got abused and were abused on a very personal post. I left most of them up, but I took 1 down.
The thing is the person who left the hateful comments wasn’t really anonymous to me. Tracking software and stats told me who she was and how she got there.
I’m a big fan of conversation, but if you can’t converse and own up to your views, that’s not conversation. Every time I see a hateful anon comment, I wonder why anyone would spend that much time reading blogs they don’t agree with.
I feel like Anonymous is just there to say what he/she wouldnt’ say to a person’s face. There are some people around who just want to pull others down because they get that satisfaction. It’s awful. Me? When I read something I don’t like and get the itch to say something, I just click the X and move on. I might even just stop reading that blog!
I have never posted anonymous because that just isn’t my style. I suppose I could understand someone doing it because they were embarrased but I feel like when people are being mean, snarky or defensive they should not be anonymous. I think you should always stand behind what you say and make yourself available for discussion otherwise why leave the comment?
I think some people go anonymous on competitions because they dont want the hassle of making yet another profile and password which is fair enough – when someone starts making comments of an offensive nature though I do think they should have the maturity to leave their identity.
If it’s something I dont want to say without being anonymous, I dont say it. Just dont want that on my conscience. I haven’t responded to anonymous either, only because I dont want to fuel their fire. I like to be non-confrontational if possible. And I prefer the blogs who dont allow anonymous to post (when it’s someone trying to be offensive).
I’ve been tempted to say something anonymous, but never have. ANd a lot of blogs don’t allow it anyway. I do, but if I get something nasty, I usually just delete it. I don’t think that’s happened to me but once or twice.
I think we’re all guilty of the Anonymous trap and jumping to the aid of our friends. It’s only natural.