What is the argument against anonymity?

What are the disadvantages of anonymity?

I'm not suggesting that the government have any sort of agenda to invade our privacy, but some of us feel an affinity with this kind of person. Not all of us are like that. Some people like to do things because they can do things and then have a bit of fun or whatever. But there are some who feel better doing things on their own, like going into town on their own or talking to somebody on their own or going out to a nightclub. So for people like that, it's just part of the human condition to want to do things on your own. So these things can be a great part of our lives.

We often talk about the disadvantages of anonymity. But some of us feel an affinity with this kind of person.

We talk about the disadvantages of anonymity: what happens when a person who may be very good at concealing themselves has no other options and does not want to become a target. What happens? Do you get stalkers? If someone in the community is identified, does that lead to more stalkers? What if the person involved becomes a prime suspect and that's what gets them targeted? How does that affect the community as a whole? If the person in question turns out to be an innocent victim of the situation, does that make it right? Anonymous people may or may not be as susceptible to stalking, harassment and the sorts of problems you mention. I can't speak for others, but the only reason I use my name is because I want to put people in the position to have to identify themselves. If you tell me who you are, I'll give you my email address or whatever. And I want to use this blog as a means to get to know the person behind the screen. If I like the person enough, I'll post another diary.

Is anonymity good or bad?

For those of you who don't know me, I have been here since day one. And I have been on this site for the last 3 years or so. I just turned 19 in May of 2023 and will be graduating high school in less than a month. So for the past couple months, I have been trying to figure out what my future is. I am looking into becoming a doctor because I love helping people and I love how medicine can help others. But what I really want to do is teach. I love being able to help kids in my neighborhood and around the world with their homework. I love teaching. I love the thought of being able to interact with students and help them understand everything. Teaching is so much more than just homework and tests. It is about the relationships that you build with your students. It is the relationships that you build with your parents, family, friends, etc. It is about the understanding that people can be very different, but sometimes it is our differences that make us special. It is the understanding of how much of a person's life they can control. It is the relationships that you build with your students and how you help them understand that they can accomplish anything. I feel like this could be something that I am passionate about and I am looking for a job that I can help kids in the world with. I would love to be able to teach children all over the world.

I started teaching in the third grade and that was the first time I ever taught. I have been teaching at all levels since then and I love it. I always enjoy the learning process. There are so many things that I enjoy about teaching. I like the feeling that I get when I see a student succeed. It is awesome to see a student come to you with their hand out and say, "I'm sorry, teacher" and you get to see their smile. When a student comes to you with a hand out and is smiling, it is the best feeling in the world. And when you see that student turn their hand in and say, "Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you" it is an amazing feeling. I enjoy watching my students learn and grow. I enjoy knowing that my students are learning and making their own decisions. And I enjoy seeing my students reach their goals.

Why anonymity is harmful?

I can tell you why, but if you want to really learn about what it's like to live and work in a small town, you should definitely come down for a little while and witness for yourself. Or, at the very least, read these essays by people who have lived there.

I got to thinking about this because there are already a number of well-known examples of how anonymity contributes toxicity. Like this video: If everyone is anonymous on the Internet, the only way you can find out whether the comments you see on a news site about you or your company are from your enemies or from actual supporters is to go digging and read their writing directly. That becomes a lot harder when you're in a public place. You cannot assume that your name means anything or that the person writing about you is actually referring to you unless, of course, you actually make that assumption.

This leads me to think about all the small businesses and mom-and-pop stores in our community, some of them so small that they don't even have a formal business license. There may be a guy out there say, an artist who draws comic books who has more enemies than friends. If he writes anonymous, that only tells his enemies what they already know, not any potential fans and customers who might otherwise hear the real message. If you're one of those people who goes around making a habit of criticizing stuff on the Internet, and you want to say anything negative about anything, it becomes much harder to do it anonymously, because someone else with your same opinion could read your writing.

And I don't just mean people who write hate mail anonymously on someone else's forum. I mean people who don't even have their own domain, which might give them some plausible deniability in case of bad PR, but who instead try to say something nasty about another person or company by writing the message under their real name or an innocuous pseudonym on the Internet, and then put out ads or link to the site under their name. They're like a band whose frontman is also the lead guitarist, except they aren't as talented. When the haters start criticizing them, it gives them a huge spike in web traffic.

What is the argument against anonymity?

How can there be a good argument against it?

The argument that a person, company or country which cannot be identified should not have their identity known is not new. It was in existence long before the internet.

Anonymous was defined as: "a single individual who does not disclose his or her true identity, and who operates under a false name or pseudonym, often in the context of political activism". A great deal has been written on this topic already. However, much of it is academic, and not very insightful. There are three primary points I find in support of anonymity:

You cannot be responsible for your actions if you do not know your own identity. You cannot be held accountable for breaking the law if you do not know your own identity. You do not want to live under a dictatorship. These three points are very common, and seem like they make sense. When confronted with these three points an argument against anonymity may look like this: If we don't know who you are, what's to stop you from doing bad things? If you don't tell us your real name, how can we hold you responsible for what you say? If you don't tell us your real name, what's to stop you from breaking the law? Why do you even care who I am? What's in it for me? I just want to get my point across. This is not an argument against anonymity. It's a weak argument, but it's not an argument against anonymity. An argument in favor of anonymity is more than just saying "we must know your identity". For example, let's use the example of a blogger. Let's say the blog is hosted on a free web host. We can easily remove all the personal data by editing the DNS and redirecting the URL to say something like blog. A URL for that is:
We're no longer able to track our site visitor's IP address or other personal information. We have taken the first step. We've shown that we want to be anonymous. The last step is to hide who we are. That way no one has access to our blog, and we can still be the anonymous blog we intended.

But I don't understand why you want to hide yourself so much?