Anonymity on the Internet

[tbieter]

I read this today. The book is free on Kindle. Its a good read. I like Schopenhauer.

Anonymity, that shield for every kind of literary scoundrelism, must disappear. The pretext for its introduction into literary periodicals was that it protected honest critics from the wrath of authors and their patrons. But for every case of this kind there are a hundred cases where it serves merely to allow complete irresponsibility to reviewers who would be unable to defend what they write, or even to conceal the shame of those so venal and abject as to recommend books to the public in exchange for a tip from their publisher. It often merely serves to cloak the obscurity, incompetence and insignificance of the reviewer. It is unbelievable what impudence these fellows are capable of, and from what degree of literary knavery they will not shrink, once they know themselves secure in the shadow of anonymity. Rousseau already said in the preface to La Nouvelle Héloïse: ‘Tout honnête homme doit avouer les livres qu’il publie’ – which means in English: ‘Every honest man puts his name to what he writes’, and universally affirmative propositions can be reversed per contrapositionem.* How much more this applies to polemical writings, which reviews usually are!

Schopenhauer, Arthur (2004-09-02). On the Suffering of the World (Penguin Great Ideas) (p. 120). Penguin UK. Kindle Edition.

[Kayla]

kayla is not my real name

and i did not register on this forum using my real last name

it has not happened on this forum but on other forms i have on various occasions had creeps send me creepy proposals, snapshots of their genitals etc

it would be idiotic for me to use my real name on the internet

many other people have many other reasons to remain anonymous

[reasonvemotion]

Kayla....... are you on Facebook?

I use my real name on Facebook as do my friends.

Other places I use the same name as here. It would be interesting to see shots of some of the people here on this Forum. usually nothing like a person imagines him or her to be. It does make a difference when reversed. Voice or word first, sight second. If it is the CW here on the Forum, I have seen your profile, and yes, what a surprise. Not at all formidable.

[Kayla]

i use facebook but i do not use my real name

my friends know who i am

and i try to keep my security settings as secure as i can

[Mark Question]

there is no anonymity or it is everywhere if we dont know all and if we have different roles and profiles everywhere and if they are all personally connected some way?

when all sensing technology is everywhere, looping telemetry data from our bodies?

[fiveredapples]

I really am Wittgenstein.

[Arising_uk]

You're a homosexual?

[Satyr]

i use facebook but i do not use my real name

my friends know who i am

and i try to keep my security settings as secure as i can

It's unfortunate to be able to hide such symbolic shit like cultural monikers, baptismal names, and geographical location while being totally unable to hide your essence and your nature: a simpleton.
Whether one calls you Marcy or Tracy or Cary cannot hide the fact that you are a moron.

In public you might get away with it. Most are like you and most would not give a shit enough to tell you.
They would pretend that your stupidity was cute and that when you regurgitated the common mantra it was an indication of how "normal" you are.

But here....here?
Unless protected from the big bad world, you are like a lamb outside the barn.

Who cares about your cries, dear...meat is on the table.

Have they stopped crying Clarisse?