Thursday, August 16, 2007

Anonymous/pseudonym comments may be deleted

I'm reserving the right to delete any comment on this blog that doesn't have a name attached to it. If you have something to say, you should have the stones to put your name to it.

23 comments:

FoM said...

jeff,

sometimes the reason why people post anonymous comments is because if they use their real name other users can attack them personally rather than addressing the issue at hand. for example they can talk about gossip they heard about personal connection a person had. or they can talk about what that person does for a living when it has no bearing on the issue being discussed.

what is in a name? for i can make a gmail account in a few minutes with any name i choose. or i can be someone that is not from saipan that you don't personally know. how different would that be from an anonymous comment, for they would both be strangers.

i believe strongly that the only fixation many blog runners have with the anonymous posts is that they want the names of people they know so they can 1) attack them personally and 2) have more crap to spew at their gossip sessions.

i am not trying to be argumentative. i am just chiming in.

on a side note, i don't think i have ever posted anonymously on your blog.

glen hunter

Jeff said...

I think they want to attack the blogger, who is open, while keeping themselves underground. It's an unfair fight. Angelo, Harry, Cinta, Boni, Bree and now me aren't allowing them.

Bon said...

Say your name, say your name!

Brad Ruszala said...

Nice Boni! Had me laughing...

Anonymous said...

It is certainly your right to permit whomever you choose to post on your private weblog.

If the problem is incivility or personal abuse, I would submit you would be doing a service to the community at large if you delete or edit -- does the software allow an owner to do that? -- the offending posts.

However, some of us are employed in positions where the federal or local government, or other employer whose sales are dependent on public perceptions of the business and its employees, or even one of the six highly qualified trial judges on-island are in a position to make our lives extremely difficult or terminate our employment or livelihood if we disagree with them.

Since the beginning of our Republic, the right of people to post anonymous tracts has been recognized. You can read them and take them for what they're worth.

Since this is not a public forum, it's up to you. But I think an absolute bar on anonymity will have a chilling effect on the extent of opinions you will read in your blog.

Does one size fit all?

Anonymous said...

As you are an island newbie, I can understand why you don't believe in anonymous posts. I naively thought the same way my first couple of years. Anonymous #006 explained the issue very well.

Personally, I could give a tinkers damn what you ultimately decide and don't understand why you and others are making such a big deal out of it. Edit and delete!

Anonymously yours,

Anonymous said...

Amen to that 006 -- I only started following blogs recently. Ironically, I posted my first response to a blog entry immediately after the "boycott" thing. So agree or not with the boycott way of life, please understand that some of us run businesses that we do not own and are cannot risk someone else's business because of our own personal opinions. Maybe a better way to go would be to delete anonymous blogs that "attack the blogger" if that's your real issue.

Anonymous said...

Plus, some of us cannot type too competently and are embarrassed to put our names to our typos. Delete the "are" in line 5 above. (And yes, it's me anonymously correcting my own anonymous post.)

Jeff said...

I'm aiming mostly toward abuse. It is the rare newspaper that allows an unsigned letter to the editor. I simply don't buy the anonymous arguments. There has never been a comment on this blog so far that I'd remove, but I see where things are going on Middle Road with anonymous fever and that won't happen here is my main point.

Silly Socrates said...

How about resurrected souls? Would you delete them as well?

Jeff said...

Socrates, Hendrix and some others are safe.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

How do I attach a picture to my blogger signature? I want to be just like Silly when I grow up.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

That out of the way I would like to chime in, in favor of the anonymity issue. There are a number of valid reasons for it. Self interest is certainly one of them as pointed out buy ,errrrr anonymous.

Also, a single writer might have multiple facets to his/her argument and want to present them unbiased by the readers perception of a particular stance taken in a post or line of posts authored previously.

One likes to chip in with a funny name every once in a while as a play on words or other joke on a previous post.

I can think of other possibilities, as can you if you work on it a bit.

This string is a prime example. A complex issue can be discussed with a group of people not knowing for sure who they are discussing it with. In fact without knowing that they are discussing it with only 2 people instead of the six it appears to be.

Either way, I say BOOOOO to censorship in any form. If the poster wants to say "fuck you Jeff, you silly slut", they should be able to do so.

I agree that the anonymous thing can be a little confusing with so many different characters using the same nomen. So why not ban the use of "anonymous" while allowing any pseudo-name the blog poster wishes to use, a la Nonny #006 or Mr. Silly.

A fair compromise?

Silly Socrates said...

To "A fair compromise," that's rather unvirtuous to say, don't you think?

To Mr. Bateman, in order to have your picture appear, you should try uploading a picture to your profile, when editing it. Hope that answers your question. Consider yourself lucky, since Silly Socrates rarely answers questions (only poses).

And I'm different from anonymous because I'm resurrected from Mt. Olympus by Zeus to come to the cyberspace.

Jimi Hendrix and I are exempt from the rule, as Turbitt has said.

If you want to reach me, write to me at sillysocrates at gmail.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

I bow, or at least bend over without osteoporosis as a cause, to the Zeus begotten one.

Thank you for the tutorial (sorry) on photo icons.

Email noted.

Jeff said...

They can say it Bruce. One idiot did, I've been waiting for my first piece of hate mail, but I don't have to provide a forum for it. That should match up with your freedom loving ways.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

Like someone said early on, it's your blog. Your personal property. No one has a right to try to force you to do anything you don't want to do.

But it my duty as a citizen, to try to disuade you from deleting any except the most agregious insults, like that a-hole who posted that silly slut comment. (:-)) (Hope your'e not buying the citizens duty crap).

Hey dude, it's your baby....burp him like you want to.

Anonymous said...

The vulgar five-word post should be summarily deleted.

That'll show 'em not to abuse your hospitality.

The limited satirical content, directed at the blog owner and another pseudonymous poster, is of limited redeeming social value.

Anonymous said...

And I obviously can't count to six.

Bon said...

Thanks Brad. I'm just cool like that.

Bon said...

Here I am putting myself out there. I don't believe that people post anonymously because they are afraid of ridicule or retribution. I believe that it's because we are all afraid we'll say something stupid and someone will call us on it publicly.

When I say "stupid" I actually mean, not entirely accurate, not entirely true, maybe we really don't believe it ourselves but want to say it still, maybe we aren't really sure others will believe us or stand by us, etc, etc.

Come on.
Wait.
A!
Think about it first.

Nobody's perfect and no one knows all the answers, but it certainly is more respectable to ME to put a person to a point. It makes the point real and makes the person real more alive.

A!
A!
Wait.
Think first.

Silly Socrates said...

Silly Socrates smiles.

Silly Socrates said...

When you click on the "anonymous" radio button, are you truly anonymous?

Silly would like to add on by referring readers to here, for more information on remaining truly anonymous.