Meerkat Prompts: Anonymity
Time to reproduce a prompt from the prior version of Meerkat Musings. It is worth noting that this appeared to cause a bit of upset last time, for reasons that are beyond me, but judge for yourself if there’s anything here to get in a twist about:
Drawing inspiration from Nesslabs, I find myself confronted by an interesting question. On the basis of personal experience, I dare say the answer entirely depends upon circumstances.
There are various reasons why someone might wish to remain anonymous online. Some of these will be legitimate, and some, not so much. The use of pseudonyms can be an expression of creativity, a persona used to explore one’s own self (Darth Timon says hi!), and sometimes it’s safer, especially when making use of a web forum or message board. After all, it goes without saying that if you use your actual name, you can leave yourself exposed. It is also worth noting that once something is placed on the internet, it never leaves. What we write about, what we make videos about, or podcast about… it is preserved. We can delete it, but various tools and means exist to recover what we believe – or hope – to be lost. Anyone who is online is leaving a digital fingerprint, so what we all need to carefully consider what we put out there, and how we do so.
In some respects, it is impossible to be completely anonymous. In order to register for legal and official services of any kind, we have to use our legal identities. However, in any other avenue, what reasons might we have to lower the veil, so to speak, and be our naked selves?
You there, I was speaking metaphorically, put your clothes back on. You know who you are.
Holding one’s self accountable for online behaviour is one reason to drop a pseudonym and act under one’s real identity. If our antics reflect poorly upon an internet persona, do we care? No one can easily hold us to good behavioural standards, and I have witnessed enough trolling in my time to know that under the cover of anonymity, people can and will be cruel and savage, and often unrepentant about it. In a way, we perhaps perceive ourselves as invincible when we act under a nickname, which gives rise to all sorts of unpleasantness. Therefore, dropping the mask, and being acutely aware that our words and deeds online can be directly attributed to us, forces us to act as we should, in the hopes that we are perceived as decent and honourable in our conduct.
Does it always work out that way? Of course not. Some people are rude and arrogant and conceited, regardless of whether they act anonymously or not. The only difference is that by acting as themselves, they are more easily accountable for their actions, something the average internet troll does not care for.
With all that said, to return to the titular question, my definitive answer is ‘sometimes’. There are times when it makes little sense to expose personal details. There are times when a person may have a genuine need to protect their identity. Exactly what those circumstances are is something we can only judge for ourselves. There are other occasions where it is clear people are seeking to avoid scrutiny for all the wrong reasons.
