SwingOrama Forum

SwingOrama Forum: Lindy Hop: Anonymous Posters

By Ron on Monday, November 22, 1999 - 06:00 pm: Edit

This forum offers us a great way for those of us in the San Diego swing scene to keep in touch. We can find out about events, both local and elsewhere, rave or rant about events or issues, joke, have fun. We can post pictures. We can learn more about swing. We can get a quick swing fix when we have a few moments to spare at work. The program itself is great, with its easy interface and neat features. (Much better than the Delphi forums, in my opinion!)

A forum for such a specialized community as ours can be a real unifying thing. Unfortunately, this forum can also be very divisive. The opinions people write can be taken wrongly. When you are talking face-to-face, miscommunications can be quickly cleared up. A back-and-forth interchange can occur until the point is understood. Inadvertently offensive remarks can be quickly taken back when you see the look of anger or hurt on someone's face.

People will post things here that they wouldn't have the guts to say to someone in person. Personal attacks are easy. But it can hurt just as much. And a person will take away one negative comment and take it as truth even though 20 others thought differently but didn't want to post. Other people, like Margaret, are attacked, even when they don't have an opportunity to respond.

I know this forum is read by a lot more people than it appears from the number of people who post, because I've talked to many non-posters in person. I can understand why many people don't post. They don't want to have their comments misconstrued, they don't want to get involved, they don't want to be personally attacked, or they just don't have the time to phrase something just right. I encourage people to post, but I can understand it that they don't.

I've written my share of poorly thought-out and offensive posts, to my regret, and taken my share of personal attacks, including recently being called a "crumb".

All-in-all, though, I'm still a big free speech person, for here and everywhere. But recently, all the anonymous postings have been really bugging me, and I'm wondering whether the benefit of having them is worth it. I rarely post anonymously, myself, like maybe once outside of the Lindy-Joe thread, by the way. I'd rather stand behind my opinions and posts with my name.

So anyway, I'd thought I'd make an attempt at listing the arguments for and against allowing anonymous postings. The alternative is some registration scheme or restricted access.

Arguments for allowing anonymous postings:

It provides a way for people to voice something that everyone is thinking but not saying. And once said, it can be responded to. If unsaid, it couldn't be. This has allowed SDLHS to make spirited arguments in their defense and others to respond to attacks that they are "selfish", etc.
It provides a way for the large group of lurking, forum users out there to post something without risk of being taken wrongly, or being personally attacked.
Banning anonymous postings would stifle debates.
The alternative, registration, is hard to enforce. People can usually find a way to post anonymously if they really want to.
A complex registration process would make it hard for people, like out-of-town visitors, to post.
People take anonymous postings too seriously, just ignore them.
The Lindy-Joe anonymous thread was funny!

Arguments against allowing anonymous postings:

Banning anonymous postings should reduce personal attacks and other negative postings.
If people really felt the need to post something negative, but they had to post with their own name, they would likely try to phrase their posts more diplomatically.
People being attacked can respond personally to their attackers and maybe try to resolve the issue instead of letting it fester anonymously.
The other swing forums, like Yehoodi, don't seem to have the problem we do with anonymous postings.
Anonymous letters to newspapers and magazines are rarely published, why should this forum?
Anonymous postings have rarely contributed meaningfullly to discussions on here.
Why should this forum allow an easy method of causing hurt and misunderstandings when it is already too easy to do so even without anonymous postings?
People may suspect people of anonymous posts that they didn't write.

By Anonymous on Monday, November 22, 1999 - 11:05 pm: Edit

when my friends act weird i want to tell them not hav them get mad at me. they hav to know

By Reuben Brown on Tuesday, November 23, 1999 - 10:03 am: Edit

The number of Anonymous a-hole type posts on here is quite annoying. Of course, I'm quite annoying myself, but at least everyone knows it's just me being annoying.

By Shawn Hanna on Tuesday, November 23, 1999 - 12:18 pm: Edit

With a hotmail account, anybody can post anonymously on any site, even the Lindy Hoppers homepage. This site just makes it easier with the anon box at the bottom. I can eliminate that feature, or, perhaps better, list IP addresses with all posts, including anons posts (I will purge all old ones to protect those who thought prior anon posts would stay that way). But IP addresses can be fudged anyway! So the question becomes how much time do you want to spend chasing people down.

Thoughts? If the core group of people posting here want something, who am I to stand in the way of progress.

I do believe that people shouldn't have to stand behind anything they post here. Of course you get the random unpleasantness, but it can also lead to a more open dialog as well. (And there are those ***IAN*** who should ignore them.)

By Ron (Ron) on Friday, October 27, 2000 - 02:54 pm: Edit

Almost a year later, I stand behind this posting I made about anonymous postings. My conclusion, unstated, is that the negatives of anonymous posting outweigh the positives.

Look, if someone really wants to post a slam against someone, don't stop it, but they ought to have the guts to post their name. And if they have to post their name, they may take the time to phrase something more delicately, or decide not to. I haven't seen any good discussions come out of the anonymous posting thats been done recently, just personal attacks or general slams that people over-react to and that make the San Diego swing scene look worse than it is.

I say:
o Disable Post as "anonymous"
o Require registration, with email address for every topic
o Add back IP address somewhere

By Adminorama (Adminorama) on Friday, October 27, 2000 - 03:36 pm: Edit

I have an alternative I'll try - let's see what you think of it next week!

-Shawn

By Reuben Brown (Gurureuben) on Saturday, October 28, 2000 - 12:04 pm: Edit

"Look, if someone really wants to post a slam against someone, don't stop it, but they ought to have the guts to post their name."

That's a WIERD thing to say, coming from you.

By Andy (Hitman) on Monday, October 30, 2000 - 12:39 pm: Edit

i liked having the ip addresses as well. makes you have to jump through more hoops. though, as dennis proved that one time, can still be circumvented!

By Adminorama (Adminorama) on Monday, October 30, 2000 - 01:15 pm: Edit

Andy, my frustration with Dennis' little games had me feeling that it wasn't worth trying at all. I've had a small inspiration as to how malicious posts (infrequent as they are) can be discouraged. Stay tuned...

By Blackrider (Blackrider) on Tuesday, October 31, 2000 - 01:20 am: Edit

dude shawn, in all seriousness, anonymous posts suck the worst when only you know who's doing it, and people are getting ripped on left and right (pictures thread). I dont think you deserve that priviledge, regardless if you're the one running the thread or not. It's weak.

annonymous posts are a total cop-out. but dennis told me something interesting: he said when you took away annon. posting last time, the number of posts went down drastically because there were no burns, rags, insults, harmfull things said. no one was interested. it was boring. as interesting as that is though, i must admit, i enjoy using my real name, quite on the contrary to those who get a kick out of being unknown (to most at least :P).
When I say something, whether its spawned from clever-clever land (admitedly, not often), or putting my foot in my mouth (admitedly...oh •••• you), I could care less who reads it and gets offended/pissed off/provoked or stoked. Its not insensitivity, its rather mostly a hatred for all things square (phony savoy style, shitty music, and clones). a lot of things i say on here i wouldnt say in person. a lot of things i would. a lot of things i say on here i would say in person, but in a different way. not as brash.
so, in short, do everyone a favor and get rid of annon. posting and lets see the sparks really start to fly. not that im tired of being the tar baby (along with krista and dennis) who takes heat for being myself. I would like to see who these annon. people are and if they have it in them to back their own play. I always do.

By Blackrider (Blackrider) on Tuesday, October 31, 2000 - 01:22 am: Edit

ronnie...im gonna puke on you some day.

shut the •••• up ronnie.

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