4chan Blog

In Response to “Anonymity”…

Posted on 11/09/05(Wed)04:11 by Anonymous-san · Filed under Articles

This was written in response to an article someone wrote about anonymous messageboards, such as 4chan and world4ch! There are certainly a lot of words here. If you feel like jumping into this pool of text, go right ahead and leave what you think.

The guy that wrote that huge article said:
There are ways of remaining anonymous, but also claiming identity (with a password scheme called tripcodes) and there are image-based boards filled with Anime and Porn called Futabas, but the basic principals still remain.

The intended aim of having names/trips is so that when the discussion at hand is turned in a direction where individual discernment between posters is essential to the conversation (e.g., a thread created by a moderator for the sake of communicating with the userbase) then the names can be seen and reacted to. However, many of the moderators are “just another one of the guys”. We post anonymously with the rest of the userbase. We laugh at the same stupid threads, we photoshop all the same stupid images, we engage in the same stupid flamewars.

Yet we still understand that there is a time and a place for revealing one’s identity. The adage “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him” applies itself readily here: for if there is no need to show everyone “HELLO MY NAME IS ANONYMOUS-SAN AND I HAVE BEEN POSTING HERE FOR THE PAST 23 MONTHS ALSO I AM A MODERATOR” with every single post you make, then showing it when you post will get in the way of what you are trying to say. Any threads that you make will be full of posters kissing your ass and never disagreeing with you for fear of being banned or ridiculed, even if the thread you make turns out to be a stupid thread or if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

However the concept of names/trips only has validity if the poster in question was already known at the time he entered the community, and people are free to post in any way they want. With a name alone, if they have not been educated as to the concept of a tripcode (and thus looking like a nonlurker, something that singles one out among any group); with a name and trip, if they wish to broadcast to everyone that they and they alone are posting (in some contexts this is fine, but in most others it can be interpreted as egotism, an overwhelming desire to stand apart from the community and even as an antisocial gesture if used with every post), or anonymously, where one’s words are judged solely on their meaning with absolutely no prejudice or closed-mindedness.

Of course, there are many people who believe that “standing by the words that you say” is the only effective way of communicating. This has its good points and its bad points. If you are out to build an internet reputation, to distinguish yourself among your peers, this can be seen as a detrimental attitude, especially when applied to a community that already has a rich and detailed culture. Not a culture defined as “who said what” but merely “what happened”. If you make a legendary post and then find that it has changed the political and ideological landscape of the BBS, or if you make a really good joke and it becomes an instant catchphrase, then saying Yeah, that was me that said that. Look at me, I’m posting with my name so you can all look at me and say “that’s the guy that said that really funny thing about three months ago” can and will be considered egotistical.

On the other hand, if you make good contributions to the community and don’t want to be seen as egotistical, then posting them anonymously is a lesson in humility and taking things in strides. As long as you yourself know that you created a fad or delivered the finishing blow to a heated argument, then that victory is both yours (internally) and shared by the community (externally), because there is no real way of knowing who has said what. Your victories become the victories of the group: your losses become the losses of the group. Anonymous posting promotes a sense of closeness, of comaraderie, of a shared culture that is seen on only a superficial level in forums where anonymous posting is seen as “cowardly”, or that anonymous posters are there merely to troll because they are afraid of revealing who they are.

The fact is, that anonymous posters don’t post without a name to conceal their identity: they post without a name because the things they are talking about are not of such critical importance to warrant plastering one’s signature all over everything.

Personally, I have a name and trip that is known by many of the posters on the BBS. However I don’t post with it because of the reasons I’ve stated above, mainly because who I am really has nothing to do with what I say. If you think that your identity somehow is supposed to give more or less credence to your words, then you are mistaken: for it is this preconviction that starts one on the road to elitism, a difficult issue with any forum. The words that you say will be judged merely on their own merit in an Anonymous system, and believe it or not people WILL adapt to it very easily.

Once usernames and avatars and search functions and all that fluff is removed, anonymous BBSes become solely focused on the transfer of ideas, and can be an interesting sociological study on the dynamics of a group. When someone reads an anonymous post, he will not spend any time thinking about who the person is, but will focus on what he says. People will become more adept at paying attention to details, to writing styles, to little unconscious touches that mark each poster. They will learn from and in turn give back to the community, and will help it grow.

Some other guy said:
I think this is backward, Russell. The problem with message boards isn’t that you can’t be anonymous, it is that you CAN be anonymous. It is darn easy to have a fake identity on the web, and then you can flame and spam and do whatever without any accountability. I can’t imagine the discussions on 2ch would interest me. I definitely consider the source when I consider a comment.

Wow! You good sir need to take a step back and look at things from another perspective! The only time anonymous posting ever devolves into that kind of environment, with people giving false information for the sake of doing so, and flaming and spamming, is when the majority of the other posters are expecting nothing more than clear-cut on-topic conversation. If you’re talking with your friends, and the conversation slowly shifts to another subject, do you forcibly tell them “HAY GUYS STOP TALKING ABOUT THAT SOMEWHAT RELATED TOPIC WE’RE STILL NOT DONE WITH TALKING ABOUT MY NEW CAR!!11″ and expect them to approve? No, because doing so stifles the natural flow of conversation.

If you put up limits to the way people are allowed to express themselves, then people will not feel comfortable expressing themselves. It’s as simple as that. A forum with flexibility is most resistant to hardship and will evolve as a community of real people do, because that’s exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. As I said before, sociological experiment.

The reason people do those kind of things, like flame and yell at people over the internet, is because people like this guy get so miffed about it. If he were to just sit back, relax, and have a good time, not being oppressive, and not being haughty, he would learn to take things in strides. Who knows; the people who you think are spammers and flamers may actually be really good posters in other threads, people you’ve agreed with! Are you going to throw out your acknowledgement of their ideas merely because you don’t like what they said in another completely unrelated thread? Isn’t the whole core of conversation about clashes and resolutions?

When multiple people gather in a place, there will be collisions at first. However these will diffuse throughout the space and eventually reach an even level. People will learn to get along with other people, they will learn to appreciate differences in opinion and be receptive to them, and they will do so without ever knowing others’ names. And that’s just so very poetic, to me. How amazing it is that the way we live and die is the way we most effectively communicate. At the end of the day, you close your browser and chuckle to yourself, saying “God, >>352 in that thread made such a hilarious mockery of that one idiot. He really got what was coming to him! He’ll think twice before opening his mouth and spewing that pile of bull in the future.”, you realize that not only did >>352 gain some personal satisfaction from his contribution, but everyone else in the thread did as well.

And it’s that fun-loving spirit, that ease of manner, that makes posting so enjoyable. You don’t need to worry about if someone is flaming or trying to pick a fight: ignore him if you want, or yell at him. But don’t take it too personally, it’s the Internet. Don’t worry about if someone made fun of you because you said something stupid: maybe you did, and maybe you should read up on stuff before you decry it. Maybe HE is the one who’s wrong– okay, so what? You know he’s wrong, everyone ELSE in the thread knows he’s wrong, so bitch him out about it. You should be able to take what you dish out to communicate on the internet, free of pointless protocols and mannerisms and politeness that really have become a hindrance.

It’s good to have two selves when you’re on the internet: one self that is your true self, with which you conduct your everyday real-life business; and another which is hardened through battle, through countless clashes of opinion, one that has emerged victorious one minute then been utterly defeated by a master wordsmith the next. One who isn’t afraid of telling it like it is, of needless “let’s be nice to everyone even if we really disagree with them” philosophy, of the Human Potential Movement. If you aren’t capable of comprehending the difference between when someone REALLY MEANS something and when he is just bitching on the internet to get a rise out of people, then you honestly should move back in with your parents.

To prove my point, I submit for examination two cases. The first is of 2ch’s News4VIP board. To briefly explain its purpose, it is a board to which moderators have the ability to banish troublesome posters. They can’t post outside of their prison, but others who are NOT banished are freely able to post as well. And what kind of threads do they make? “lololololol hay guys i farted” and “YOU FUCKING FAGGOTS SHUT UP ABOUT THE GODDAMNED BASEBALL GAME, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT” and often you’ll get an absolute gem of an Ascii Art Thread (look up the Soumen thread on world4ch to see what I mean).

The News4VIP board has the largest volume of posts of all of 2ch. It’s the largest, most active board on the largest, most active internet community in existence. And it’s not confined merely to those banished posters. A very good number of them post there for fun, as a trollsink, then switch IE windows to a serious discussion on physics. They can differentiate between the two modes of communication.

The second case is that of what has become known as /b/. You really can’t describe /b/. On Futaba, /b/ is the directory under which the “2D Misc. Image” pictures are posted and critiqued. Being Misc, it doesn’t have any specific guidelines for posts. Therefore, anything goes! You’ll see photoshop threads, pornography, anime screencaps by people who are watching shows on their TV Tuner cards, serious threads about philosophy, and threads where the OP bitches about his girlfriend. As of this writing, I know of no less than THREE separate /b/s, each one on a separate server, on Futaba, each one having millions and millions of posts.

By comparison, all other boards combined may strive to hold a candle to the postrate and types of threads that you can get there. It’s really a mixed bag, and it has good days and bad days. But it’s the best representation of human sociology that exists, because there are no restrictions. People are able to do what they want to do in a virtual environment, and it is healthy.

We here at 4chan have a /b/ of our own, and although it isn’t what we’ve intended it to become, it has taken on a life of its own with over 3.27 million posts itself, while the board with the next largest number of posts is /a/, the board where people post anime/manga related pics, with 194,000 posts.

Look at those numbers. Indeed, the reason why there ARE so many /b/s on Futaba Channel is simply because there are so many people posting at such a high rate that it has to be split up lest the board software utterly crumble. Something is obviously being done right here. Discourse limited only by the whims and imaginations of the participants allows for the most personal and community growth. Let’s compare with a traditional forum.

In the West, we do not have one universal internet culture. The closest thing we have is a scattering of acronyms and lists of popular websites, where people gather and bicker about who comes from where. It is a terribly feudal system, where the online populace lives out their entire posting lives ferociously dedicated to one particular forum and IRC channel. Oh, we all know about the same acronyms or what have you: but that’s only because they were invented at a time when we DID have one enormous communication medium that everyone went to– Usenet. They spread through Usenet, these emoticons and acronyms, and when everybody and their grandmother started getting Internet access, people wanted to have their own websites, and finally their own forum systems. And everyone started to take the initiative to create their own personal forums for, say, three people, on one limited subject – cars, football, baseball, music, particular bands.

After things split up, people made their own offshoots of these things so now there are thousands of forums, each with a maximum of hundreds of users, all completely separate and limited in their domains. The only shared community they have is with themselves and with the posters of Usenet twenty years ago. There is at this time no enormous community that people know of. Sure, people have heard of SA or Fark or Slashdot, and these are certainly some of the largest with thousands of people in their userbase. But with the penchant Western sites seem to have with plastering usernames and avatars and fluffy icons and stuff all over the place, it is daunting and unnecessary to the true aim of a forum– to spread ideas.

A system whose focus is on ideas should have a minimalist interface to lessen distractions, and also to maintain compatibility with all sorts of browsing/posting technologies. Perhaps some users are using cell phones to read/post, or maybe they are reading through an older system that does not have all the bells and whistles that a newer environment would have. In either event, using a CSS-heavy, web2.0-extended interface to a forum increases server loads, bandwidth loads, client-side processing, and adds visual elements that can be distracting and more difficult to grasp and work with than “type in the box at the bottom of each thread and press Post”.

Contrast this with the Eastern side of the internet. Sure, you have your spattering of personal sites and blogs, but 2ch is so huge that ANYONE with an internet connection who spends any time of consequence online has at least heard of it, if he doesn’t already post there. It’s huge, it’s popular, and it’s anonymous. Hiroyuki hit the nail on the head when he said that anonymity on the internet, where you don’t know someone’s name or face unless they choose to tell you, is the natural form of communication. And with a BBS as huge as 2ch is, you have to do something pretty enormous to garner any sort of fame there, if that’s what you’re after. (People who post for the sake of accumulating attention are incredibly vain and base people, and they are quickly weeded out by the posters who post because they *like going there*.)

On a phpBB forum, you have to remember lists of usernames, avatars; there is enormous drama on these forums. Let’s say you, the budding internet user, come upon a forum and sign up to post there. Now, why would you do this? There are two major reasons why you would go through a process and register to start posting in an already existing internet community which you have never seen before: either you have a one-time need that will soon be filled, a thread to create asking one question; or you are simply looking for a place to introduce yourself and make friends over the internet.

In the first case, you may get your answer to your question in a matter of hours or days, and then never go back there again. In the second, you may be ostracized because you posted without lurking. The practice of showing registration dates and post counts right in users’ profiles is evidence of the fact that inherently grained into the Western posting system are the excuses and red tape that bar new posters from posting and keep original posters at their place in the clique. A user coming to this site for the first time and making a thread will typically be greeted with “shut up faggot and stop posting” or “who gave you permission to post in our forum and hang out with us” or “why are you posting without lurking” or something to that effect.

However, with an anonymous BBS you don’t need to worry about that. Posting anonymously you are completely safe from people judging the worth of your comments based on the fact that you haven’t been posting there. In fact, as far as they know, you could have been posting there before they started going themselves! Thus ideas drive the conversation, not “who says what”. Of course there will be people who may give out incorrect information: but when they do so anonymously, they have nothing to gain from it. Where is the “proof” that they did that? Well, it can be manifested in other posters who correct them. It’s a discussion forum, meant to be the exchange of ideas, not a clique where someone can only speak and be heard if he’s proven himself to posters who have been there before him.

Anonymous posting is a relatively unknown segment of internet communication whose advantages need to be introduced to the large percentage of Western internet-residents. And we know that although 4chan has a HUGE number of visitors, only a relatively small percentage of them ever post. If only 5% of the userbase ever posted you would be guaranteed to see new content every time you pressed F5.

So hopefully this little essay has turned some of you on to the prospects of anonymity on the Internet!

Permalink

148 Comments

Manonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:18 No.236

when i first showed up in /b/ I went by ‘manonymous’ because i thought i was cool, eventually i stopped, not because tripcodes were unpopular but because it made no discernable difference.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:20 No.240

#2: This is anonymity 101
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:25 No.243

I am no inspired
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:26 No.244

i had the original second post, the one that read:
tl;dr
and has since been deleted.
thank you.
Not Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:33 No.245

I read like 30 seconds worth of this…We cant talk about this right now get back on /o/ so we can finish talk about my car.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:39 No.246

This essay is win.

If only it could make an actual differance.
Anonymous' Hive Mind 11/09/05(Wed)05:42 No.249

I like this article. It didn’t mention the good side of registered posting (and with registered, I mean NAME, not such idiotic things as POSTCOUNT or JOINDATE), but I guess that is because it isn’t ABOUT that. It’s about the good side of unregistered posting.

Good article. =3
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:45 No.250

Much to think about but my first reaction is I post as Anon, Name sans-trip, and Several trips. To me that gives maximal freedom. Stay around any forum for a short time and you’ll soon recognize the regular posters/contributers by their words. So in the end as long as Anonymous remains an OPTION identity remains “Moot”.
In any multi-human discourse there will always be an attention whore, a bully, an idiot or a combination. I learn and enjoy (almost) as much from ‘tards as the cognecenti.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:52 No.252

Here’s an interesting idea: have a checkbox, when making a thread, of whether to make that thread anonymous-only or not. Default it to checked. Mods will probably like unchecking it, but users can as well, if they want. Of course, unchecking the force-anonymous box when you have nothing interesting to say will lead to a microcosmic version of a normal forum, complete with trolling and flaming.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:53 No.253

There is a somewhat legitimate use for php fourms though. If one is posting their artwork in an art forum for critique, they should have a name for people to identify them with.
I post frequently in an art forum like eatpoo, where it is pretty important to know who you are and how the people who comment on your art stand as artists compared to you (generally).
The display of “how many posts” each person has made is rediculous though, any way you cut it.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)05:57 No.254

Japan is superior?

Good post, very thought provoking.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)06:04 No.255

+1 wis
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)06:19 No.256

Too long, too much to read. But the first three lines were interesting.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)06:43 No.257

Good article. Hope the Russ guy posts a response.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)07:03 No.259

Anonymous: The Only True Poster
Amonynous 11/09/05(Wed)07:17 No.260

good read, kudos!
Angelguy 11/09/05(Wed)07:24 No.262

How interesting! Very true indeed!
A Tripfag 11/09/05(Wed)07:38 No.264

I agree with this post.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)07:40 No.265

Initially I used a name and tripcode but for some reason Snacks once banned me and kept doing so whenever he saw me post. So I just became anonymous and started liking it.

I made the RacoonSteph.jpg and posted it as anonymous and am proud of it because whenever posted it garners a few “Win!” replies. I like the idea as it’s explained in this article of how something good posted as anonymous becomes the achievement of the group rather than that of some guy just out for appreciation or whatnot.

So yeah, anonymous for life, because it’s ironically the greater identity on 4chan.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)07:46 No.266

is dat sum tl;dr?

In all seriousness, it’s good to find intelligent people actually do use this “internet”, or whatever it is. =D

I
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:01 No.267

I semi-actively participate in a Named Board and IRC centered around roleplay, and I think identity and a small bit of elitism is more justifiable in this environment due to the nature of the game we play. One generally does not wish to play with a person who has a history of fucking around and doing nothing related to the plot or story, or engages in other antisocial behaviour in the mileau of RP.

Of course, a fuckton of jackasses take it to extremes and get one big fucking inflated ego that’s hard to pop without them throwing a hissy fit and going off to start a “TEH NUE REBEL RP PLAYPLACE YAAAH FUCK YOU ORIGINAL FORUM” that nobody goddamn needs because it just fosters another ten fucktons of drama.

But hey, what’re ya gonna do. Anonymity would not work well or possibly at all in this type of forum.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:17 No.270

very nice, more of theese :)
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:29 No.271

me me me me me me me me me me

Yeah right, we’re not anonymous. They look at our IPs and go “there’s that fucker that ruined my thread the other day”.

Japan superior. Constructicons inferior. I don’t give a shit if you’ve memorized how I make sentences. Internet: Serious Business.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:45 No.272

I wonder how much more confusing this situation would be if people were assigned a random name from a pool of maybe ten, even if they used tripcodes. Heh.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:48 No.273

>>271
Proxies

BTW, you people should try to make interesting replies to this guy’s blog, those web “2.0.1�? LOL AJAX” could have an interesting perspective about this debate and much to learn from the anonymous 2ch-style messageboards
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:54 No.274

If I wanted to quote this article for my essay, how should I cite you?
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)08:59 No.275

>>274
In the standard format you are required to use. Mention the title of the post, the URI, the date, and the name Anonymous-san. If your school won’t take it, they just are stupid homo nazi jews.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)09:07 No.276

Fine thing, gave me a brand new[to me] perspective! Huzzah!
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)09:09 No.277

>>275
cool, thanks.
anon 11/09/05(Wed)09:30 No.279

i lol’d at his comment about “wow, its a giant shoutbox!”

mainly since those shoutboxes usually have shit in them that no one wants to read
Anymouse 11/09/05(Wed)09:42 No.280

Anonymous names are so much fun, though.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:02 No.283

I read like three or four sentences of that article. Was good, though. Most useful three sentences I’ve read in a while, anyway. :)
Anonymous#Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:08 No.284

This essay didn’t cover anything really new, but it covered the old ground really well. I have two things to address, though.

1)The essay should have addressed the fact that on /b/, the quality of the posts generally goes up when forced_anon is in place. This is a lesson that ch00b learned with their random board before wtfux died.

2)IMHO, Anonymous posting will never be considered seriously by people outside of the otaku communities (eg in political forums) precisely because of the lack of accountability. This is not just a matter of egotism, but it’s a matter of estabilishing experience and authority (eg, who would know more about political maneveuring; Dick Cheney or Joe Sixpack?) on the subject being discussed.

Also, in serious *discussion* forums (obviously not /b/) anonymous posting is far too subject to adequacy-style trolling. PHPBB and other named forums are subject to that too, of course (adequacy was a bb, after all); but with those forums you can look at the established posters’ history and figure out for yourself the degree to which they’re full of shit.
i am not Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:17 No.285

well it would be very fine and all but sadly on /b/ anonymous posters are there merely to troll because they are afraid of revealing who they are. it is full of idiots tthat are here just to make fun of someone to make up for the shit they have to taike in real life

personaly i don’t se the point for name anonimity on 4chan becouse you are anonymouse here anyway, only the mods know your ip and all, the same goes to the anonymous people, they are not anonymus actualy becouse the mods can see theyr ip and knows “who sayd what”

i write my name becouse i’m not a clone, i’m not a thing, i have a name, and it would be nice if other people would type in to the name feald something so becouse i like to know who am i talking to and all. all i see now is just bunch of amoral basterds caling each other faggots and poasting gay porn to prove that the one they cals a faggot is a faggot while hiding behind the name of anonymous becouse they would not get flamed back that way

simple logics
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:34 No.288

I’m “popular” on Gaia, and sometimes I enjoy the attention I get, because I can just post shit. So that makes me a bad person? D:

I like the recognition, but having your ass sucked when you make a stupid comment can get frustrating.

I appreciate what you say, I’m going to drop my tripcode. You reminded me of why I came to 4chan, thank you.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:36 No.289

Anyone who says they “consider the source” when looking at someon’s comment lacks critical reasoning capabilities.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)10:51 No.292

>>286
>>290

there are two type of people that are anonymouses, the ones that are here to troll, and the ones that does not want to be trolled, anyway i kinda agree with the part about ego of the named tripcode “fags” (i see that here on the internet the word fag does not neceserely mean that you are homosexual)
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)11:48 No.297

I agree 100% with everything in this article. As a non-Japanese 2channeler living in Japan, I have a special appreciation for anonymous posting; when I post on 2ch, my words are not those of a “gaijin,” but just those of another nanashi-san. It’s the only time I can be completely at ease about my identity as a foreigner. As a matter of fact, when I DO claim that I am not Japanese, people often accuse me of “tsuri” (trolling), i.e. they think that I am a Japanese pretending to be a gaijin.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)12:27 No.298

/r/ forced anonymous in 4chan. All of it.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)13:18 No.304

Anonymous is superior
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)13:47 No.306

good comment #289 !

anonymous-san said it already: its all about communicating ideas.

Why should you discard a good idea posted by Joe Sixpack on a political forum just because he has no political experience? Or why grant a shitty idea posted by Dick Cheney a higher value ?

If you always consider the source then you could just as well turn off your brain.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)13:59 No.307

>>297

Ha ha! I’ve seen that exact situation play out in reverse. Nice to see human nature is the same everywhere!
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)14:17 No.309

string tastes funny

good article. (‘-’)b
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)14:32 No.316

>>306

You wouldn’t judge the comments on -that basis alone-. But if telco lineman is telling you your aorta is in your neck, and a thoracic surgeon is telling you it’s in your chest, you might use the relative professions of each to bias your judgement of which to believe — and you’d be quite reasonable to do so. And on the other hand, if you want to know the difference between the ring wire and the tip wire, you prolly should consider the lineman more informed than the surgeon.

The problem that this treatis doesn’t pay attention to is that in matters that are closer to objective fact, “considering the source” is perfectly legitimate. But, “considering the source” isn’t a psuedonym in an online forum. You can’t check a psuedonym’s background.

Psuedonyms are the same as no name at all. A name that cannot be traced back to you and identified with your reputation and history is effectively NOT YOU. They are useful only to create a “reputation” correlating with the psuedonym.

Given that boards that require registration are pretty much all of the psuedonym nature, this discussion should have completely avoided trying to debunk “consider the source”. The need to even think of considering the source goes right out the window when you realize that both “anonymous” and “tripcodefag#4322432″ are quite effectively still anonymous, with the only difference being that the tripcodefag anonymous is trying to build a psuedonymic reputation. The sources are the same — an anonymous person. You’re now free to judge only on content.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)14:37 No.317

>>316

Most of the people I know use the same, if not a similar, name when registering for forums on the internet. Google your internet moniker, if you have one, and see what can come up. Now look and see what kind of dirt people can dig up on you if they so tried.

You can be traced.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)17:32 No.320

You have inspired me to be anonymous. On /b/, at least. I like to get to know people from the boards that post things I like, such as /e/… in hopes that they’ll send me more shit!
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)19:29 No.321

These have always been my views, I completely agree with everything you wrote.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)19:54 No.322

A tear in my eye, good man.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)21:01 No.323

/b/ should be permanently forced-anon
You will not outlast me, I'm Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)21:07 No.324

I really like how we’re all one big happy anonymous camaraderie.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)23:07 No.329

You have opened my eyes to the unnessecary tripcode usage that I have been doing.
Anonymous 11/09/05(Wed)23:13 No.330

From the article:
“But [/b/ is] the best representation of human sociology that exists, because there are no restrictions. People are able to do what they want to do in a virtual environment, and it is healthy.”

I think the existence of /b/ and places like it is probably a Good Idea, and certainly its popularity means that something is being done right. The fact that NEWS4VIP and Futaba’s /b/ are similarly popular just reinforces the point.

But I wouldn’t say /b/’s lack of restrictions makes it “the best representation of human sociology that exists.” That assumes that the desire to impose rules is somehow less natural, less distinctive of human sociology, than the desire to be free of them. All societies, or at least most of them, have some kind of rules — standards, norms, codes of behavior, whatever you want to call them. Even in otherwise spontaneous and unstructured social interaction, there tend to be “unwritten” rules. Some groups may be more permissive, but there are more groups with rules than there are groups with none at all. The desire to define acceptable conduct is itself a common part of human behavior. If anything, /b/ is an aberration because of its lack of restrictions. But as I said, that seems to be a good thing.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)03:33 No.331

>>316
“both ‘anonymous’ and ‘tripcodefag#4322432′ are quite effectively still anonymous”

This only applies to people who have never seen tripcodefag#4322432 post before. As soon as you see a second post by this person, he/she is no longer anonymous, but “the person who posted X.” Yes, you may not know their identity IRL, but this has little to do with anything. If you think that you have to know someone’s “true” identity in order to differentiate them from anonymous, you are dead wrong. For instance, how many people do you think know Blackberry? Many. Now, out of those people, how many of them know her real name and personality? Far fewer. Those who only know her as a /b/ camwhore may not know anything about her besides “she’s a cute girl who posts pics on /b/;” the, as you called it, “pseudonymic reputation” which she has built for herself. However, when Blackberry chooses to post a reply using her pseudonym in another thread, people are going to look at it differently than if it was posted by anonymous; she uses her identity, not as a real human being, but as an internet personality, to add weight to (or take away from, depending on your view) her words.

If you honestly think that “pseudonyms are the same as no name at all,” then you are gravely mistaken.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)03:52 No.332

Well reading all that made my night. All the old ground was covered so nicely… I’ll be sure to send this to some people I know.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)07:58 No.333

oh rly? you PASS!!!

/me smiles from being a part of this with all of you awwww~
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)09:54 No.334

I think one of the more interesting things is that tripfags and anons alike both post stupid shit on /b/ but boards like /n/ and /g/ or politics on world4ch don’t really lose quality from anonymous posting. It seems like to people that know about 4chan and what it is but don’t really post here assume that the shit that goes down in /b/ is the result of anonymous but in reality it’s the result of the kind of atmosphere that board creates. From what I’ve heard fyad gets the same kind of crap.

lol posting in a legendary devblog.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)11:10 No.335

>>334
as was mentioned before, the quality of /b/ usually goes up when forcedanon is in place eliminating all the tripfaggery drama
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)15:49 No.337

Identity is one, Anonymous is Many.
Identity is nothing; Anonymous is All Things.
Identity is death; Anonymous is Life.
Identity is finite; Anonymous is Eternity.
Identity is an end; Anonymous is The Beginning.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)15:58 No.338

We don’t forgive.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)17:12 No.339

i agree fully with this, and i agree even more with anon #285

simply put — Anonymous for the win. We are 4chan, 4chan are we.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)17:45 No.340

A-San. I love this essay. Thanks.
Enner 11/10/05(Thu)20:54 No.341

I don’t know what the hell I just read, but I feel enlightened and content now.

I think I’ll still use a name in most of the boards I go to. Mostly because I’m selfish and need visual proof for myself that I posted something and can keep track of it.
Anonymous 11/10/05(Thu)23:44 No.342

Like many of the other people in this thread, I initially posted on 4chan with a name back before I understand the culture of anonymity. With time, I found myself losing the urge for “internet popularity” (and realized that even if I had a name, nobody remembered who I was anyway) and started enjoying posting for postings’ sake. There’s freedom in losing one’s ego and focusing on adding to the quality of a specific board, rather than adding to your own personal fame/prestige.
Alene 11/11/05(Fri)05:17 No.343

Anonymous-san’s argument against tripcodes and people who want to have an identity online (Gasp! The monsters!) amounts to little more than “it’s not cool to use tripcodes.” School aged kids are insecure enough to respond to that type of pressurizing rhetoric – indeed do anything to avoid unpopularity and standing out from the crowd – but I’m too old for it. I’m an old fart and I’m just me, not fashionable or cool.

Protocols, mannerisms and politeness aren’t a hindrance. The internet itself wouldn’t even be possible without network protocols. Humanity collectively founded its world on a foundation of personal responsibility and structured cooperation. Maybe all of that will change, maybe people will marry their dogs, I don’t know. I consider myself a throwback then.

I change my handle(s) once in a while as it suits me, but I never post anonymously, and heavily resent being pressured to do this or do that based on flimsy manipulative arguments and group conformity. I’m totally cool with other people wanting to be anonymous, but I expect them to reciprocate and be cool about me not being -as- anonymous (I’m still mostly anonymous). If they’re not going to be cool with it – I’ll still be cool with them. Anonymousness and the degree of it should be a choice. Freedom is choice on a foundation of tolerance. As soon as you feel like your hand is being forced by the mob’s opinion, your views manipulated by convincing essays, you’re throwing away your precious freedom.

Last time I checked there was nothing wrong with being a little vain and liking yourself, being proud of your achievements, and proud of having a history of good postings and reputation for being a good poster. I’m just not ready for this extreme cult mentality, the ‘erase yourself’ philosophy, joining the Borg collective, etc. “Your victories become the victories of the group: your losses become the losses of the group.” sounds like cult/military/communist propaganda. Frankly there’s no parallel between this group and me. I don’t think in exactly the same way, like exactly the same art, etc.
Anonymous 11/11/05(Fri)05:27 No.344

>>317
Good point. My Tripless name has multitudesof hits. Almost all 4chan. So I post some pretty lame-assed shit. My ego’s not tied to anything I do online. If the Mods & Gods or even Homeland Security want to know who I really am I don’t care. I use tripcodes for my own amusement. If forced Anon should become the standard here I’ll adapt. I guess I just don’t get what the furor’s all about. That said:
>>342
I have also found that my non-Anon posts are less apt to engender replies but that’s not why I post. There is, for myself, a freedom in having doppelgangers that are a ‘tard, a troll, an idiot, noob, geezer or any combination on /b/. What I post still gets judged by the merits, or more often lack of merit of the content. As to fame/prestige or even infamy–’tis fleeting at best even in the “real” world.
Alene 11/11/05(Fri)10:42 No.345

I deleted all my posts and am not posting anymore. I won’t be part of anything referred to by anyone as a “sociological experiment”. How offensive is that? Do people even read this stuff? The main reason anyone’s anonymous here is for protection because everyone is breaking copyright law all the time here. This whole article is just a cover story, trying to pretend like there’s some other reason why people would want to be anonymous. People want to be anonymous so they can commit crimes and do unsavoury things they don’t want others to know they’re doing! It’s an obvious attempt to hide in the herd so you won’t get targeted for a legal action for the copyrights or other reputational consequences of having extreme sexual tastes. This article is a cover up for the real reasons why people are anonymous here, and as such, it’s a massive pack of lies. And it’s not like this technique is working anyway. The copyright Gestapo are punting websites left and right these days and they’re not letting anonymity slow them down. Stuff is being withdrawn, deleted, and censored like never before. So quite soon if not already you’ll all just be bunch of anonymous irrelevancies throwing the same load of low quality unlicensed public domain art back and forth endlessly. But you won’t even have your dignity or identity to fall back on. You won’t be able to make friends or get to know people properly.
Anonymous 11/11/05(Fri)11:42 No.346

Anonymous is superior.
Anonymous 11/11/05(Fri)12:30 No.347

>>345
You are a bad troll. When you try to defend a lot of unrealted ideas without having some good way of keeping the direction evident, you create a few weak trolling threads instead of a strong one. Go back once you are better learned.
shut 11/11/05(Fri)15:05 No.348

>>345

this post made us angry! grr! here is our anger over the internet! you’re winning! grr!! we are so mad!!
Ano 11/11/05(Fri)17:06 No.349

i don’t want to read all the article (journalist one and 4channer one), can someone explain me in a few lines or few words what is this shit posted by the guy about 4 chan ?
Anonymous 11/11/05(Fri)17:53 No.350

Well done, Anonymous-san.
Guy With Hat 11/11/05(Fri)21:41 No.351

>>343
Well put.

Closeness? Community? Does anybody see, and identify themselves as part of, a loving, caring 4chan collective?

I think the article and this “blog” entry takes TOO positive a view of anonymity. Anonymity is not the solution to everything, just as registration isn’t (for example, nearly every time I’ve seen somebody ask for one of our endless unfunny memes to be explained they’re told to lurk more, fag ). I personally don’t buy some of their arguments, like “registration keeps out good posts and lets in bad ones.” I’m sure we attract a few scholars who just can’t stand having a username, but certainly not every post here is brilliant and insightful. Some people even take the fact that there is no “paper trail” as an excuse to act like a dick. This is a small minority of users here, but they make themselves disproportionately vocal.

I’m a political science major. It’s against my nature to be anonymous, to act like an idiot, or not be just a bit prideful. I didn’t know of tripcodes when I first came here, and now I don’t care enough to use them (or perhaps I care so much as to not use them. hm…). This isn’t just a place where anonymity is encouraged. It’s a place where using a name is discouraged. Anybody with a name is seen as an “egotistical tripfag.” If people are here for discussion they’re in the wrong place. The text box is a place for people to provide some information, vent their dumb opinions, and belittle or praise others. That’s why I come for porn, torrents, and wallpapers, and generally stay out of arguments…
Anonymous 11/11/05(Fri)22:14 No.352

>>351

Being told to lurk more for not knowing everything happens on /b/, but not elsewhere.

You are not somebody important. I do not care about you and your life. I don’t want to know whether you are serious or not, and what are your ideas.
I expect the same from you.
Shii 11/11/05(Fri)23:32 No.353

>>351

As the guy who came up with that simplification, I feel obliged to respond.

You need to rethink what’s a good post and what’s a bad post.

With anonymity, people are expressing their true feelings, without having to care about whether their peers’ opinions are hurt. As posts from the heart (or the ass) they are more genuine than the sweetened-up versions of the same thing you would see on a registration forum.

If people want to make a rude reply, usually social mores prevent them. With perfect anonymity the only thing stopping them is their own willpower. Sure, this will cause perfect chaos on a nonsense board like /b/, but it can also be quite enlightening.

So stick that in your political science thesis and suck on it.
Shii 11/11/05(Fri)23:37 No.354

Also, the Internet is a totally different place from real life and >>343 probably longs for the good old days of Usenet when everyone used their real name. I think such a place still exists (well.com?), but it’s not very useful to build a “community” with strangers when you have real, physical friends offline. “Community” is the wrong name for Internet forums; it’s just message-board feudalism, and I’d love to see the day when it’s eliminated.
Anonymous 11/12/05(Sat)00:19 No.355

Egotism comes up quite a lot in this essay of sorts. You dont need to have a trip code to be egotistical, especially if thats what your after even under anonoyminity. A feeling of smug self-satisfaction is achieved by many im sure, and even though they arent sore winners in the sense of wanting to rub a triumph in someones face, they take away the medal of that battle and harbor it unto themselves and tell tales of it later to freinds who they know on a face to face basis. Its all in the agenda of the person, and doesnt necessarily always label a person egotistical. If a person wants to be seen as diffrent, its because he feels no sense of self. Being apart of a whole leaves some people feeling detached and looked over as just, to qoute pink floyd, another brick in the wall. To some, not being looked at as a single entity leaves people fearful of not existing as something that has its own acknowledgement and weight. I use a tripcode in /s/ all the time, and it has nothing to do with egotism. I use it as a quality stamp. When people see my tripcode, they know that what ive posted is going to be of a higher quality than what is currently being offered. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a sign post to signify to people “Hey, this is some good stuff! Dont Miss out!”
I know a few other posters do this as well, and i hardly see the egotism in it.

Most of the time i post anonymously, more than 95% of the time i would say, and i always post anonymously in /b/. /b/ is where i go to just unwind and vent. And i agree with a lot of what was said about /b/ and it being a base for nothing more than a forum for unchained ideals and raw emotion. A place to step out of the pipe line of society and flow your fluids into a system without boundries to hinder the direction of your own truth or what you find funny. Its a place where you dont have to worry about walking on egg shells or conforming to the way the outside world wants you to behave and act. Its a place where free will can be utilized to a much fuller extent, without direct confrontation against what you have to say. Its nothing more than information being tossed back and forth like a game of ball, and i love every minute of it. Its quick, fast, and sometimes testing your knowledge and wit. Its an excercise in being essentialy human, and being anonymous has people attacking the info, not the person. They are forced to deal with things alone, without having a face to acknowledge an emotion to, just the ideal. Its looking into who you are, seeing whats really deep down in the core of who your are when nothing is left but your collection of personally accepted beliefs, and pitting that and that alone against anothers in an arena of information exchange.

Its brining things down to a singularity that is hardly ever achieved, and was never achieved before the onset of the internet. When you are anonymous, you are nothing but opinions. This is funny, i hate this, i enjoyed this and i think you will too. We are neutrality of skin and exist only when putting an idea through the keyboard and onto the web. Living as what you believe and nothing more. Digital conciousness under an interactive enviroment. I dont know if its healthy, mainly because i was never given a handbook by the creator of the human race, but its something i do enjoy immensely.

But trust me on the sunscreen.
Anonymous 11/12/05(Sat)02:39 No.356

“It’s against my nature to be anonymous, to act like an idiot.”

Then why the hell are you on 4chan? Better yet, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ONLINE AT ALL?
Anonymous 11/12/05(Sat)06:29 No.357

>>355

> [...] they take away the medal of that battle and harbor it unto themselves and tell tales of it later to freinds who they know on a face to face basis.
The difference being that they do it offline. An “online identity” can give rise to the urge to do this on a board, which anonymous BBSs try to prevent.

> I use it as a quality stamp.
No problem there, tripcodes are optional for a reason. Use them when appropriate.
Anonymous 11/12/05(Sat)12:41 No.359

> I use it as a quality stamp. When people see my tripcode, they know that what ive posted is going to be of a higher quality than what is currently being offered.

Nobody cares about this; it’s why nobody objects to pupu or #WAHa.06×36 posts. The problem is that you might have an overinflated opinion of your own posts, but anonymity lets people safely tell you that.
dickdocdack 11/13/05(Sun)03:38 No.361

these boards are lame. there is no other thing to say.
lame.

why do they use it only on 4chan and similar bbs ? cause they are lame.
why other boards have much more diffusion. cause they’ve much more features.

4chan board is lame, there’s no other thing to say.

to those who ask “why are you still on 4chan? bla bla bla”
cause i love hentai and 4chan is one of the few boards not japanese – korean – whatthefuckoflanguageisthat – that are on the web.

but i’d love to have a decent board, shit how much i’d love it…
even punbb would be better than this..
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)07:32 No.362

>>361 must have missed the part about the biggest BBS in the world running on this kind of system. But I guess if it happens outside his immediate sphere of awareness, he is incapable of comprehending it.
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)14:16 No.364

Both these articles are very well done and show the reality and the possible future of Anonymous posting.

Many registration boards are set-up to limit input from users until you have certain post count or are a certain rank, so if someone has information that is relevant or could be considered valuable this information will be lost to the discussion which in the long run will hurt the overall quality of the discussion. Just because someone may have not posted 100+ times and had other users give “Kudos” or “Reputation” X number of times does not mean that users information is not worthwhile.

As for the idea that the world needs to know if the person posting is an “Expert” on the topic in question is bullshit plain and simple. If someone needs advice on a heart problem they are not going to post a thread on a fucking board, they are going to call a doctor. If they are going to take the posts of some user whos username is “The Dr” as professional advice from some board and then find out that person is the keyboard player for The Revolution just proves they are a moron.
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)14:48 No.365

Why you’re posting a long, serious response (I assume so without reading it) to something Russell Beattie said is beyond me.
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)15:07 No.366

>>351
I think the reason we disagree so much is because we have different goals. What do you want out of 4chan? Hentai? Porn? Intelligent discussion? I know what I want — a sense of community. I love the feeling of being part of the “borg.” I love that I can post into some thread with a really insightful comment and have people say, “yeah, he’s right!” I love that I can also post the stupidest crap that humanity has ever seen (and oh, I have) and have people say, “WIN!!!!!!” No one knows who I am. No one cares. I like that.
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)20:04 No.368

I enjoyed this… I enjoyed this very much. Now if you’d excuse me….
WIN!!!
Anonymous 11/13/05(Sun)21:20 No.369

>>361
“even punbb would be better than this..:” is the strangest thing about your post. PunBB is far better than phpBB or any of that other crap.
Anonymous 11/14/05(Mon)00:14 No.370

There’s an issue of responsibility here.

The idea of registration is that you are held accountable for both your intelligent input and your fuckwit input. If there’s one thing the Internet needs, it’s greater user responsibility.
Anonymous 11/14/05(Mon)02:55 No.371

>>370
Nobody needs to be held accountable by name – the post is held accountable by its content and veracity. The responsibility falls on the other anonymous posters to point out if it is true or false, stupid or funny. The focus is the comment, not who’s delivering it.

A wonderful read =]
Anonymous 11/14/05(Mon)22:46 No.372

Anyone to whom the entirety of this essay was not completely obvious should go commit suicide.
Uru 11/14/05(Mon)23:15 No.373

Despite being a long-time internet user, I was never interested in BBSes…until I found 4chan. Now I come here every day. I usually lurk, but I’ve posted on various boards. I never would have posted if I had to create a personality, or if I did I would have been much more careful. Then /p/ would never have heard of the Red Chinese Air Force Diet, Exercise, and Sex Book. lol

I like 4chan because of the wide variety of things you can find here. I can go to /k/ and enjoy the tanks, planes, and guns. Then I can hop on over to /e/ or /s/ and get some pics of sexy girls. Then I can go to /b/ and find jokes and wierd stuff. Then I can go to /g/ or /v/ to get some interesting info on technology or video games.

I’m sure that 4chan would get only a small portion of its current posts if it required registration. People like me would be scared off by the time investment and identity investment. Then 4chan would cease being interesting…it would take hours for new content to appear. This lack of interesting stuff would cause even fewer people to come here, and less frequently, making the problem worse. 4chan without anonymity isn’t 4chan at all.

4chan is far from perfect, of course. People do crazy shit here all the time…stuff like posting photos of penises with bad cases of VD or saying awful or untrue things and trying to stir up trouble. That’s why 4chan is not for minors. Adults can just ignore these things and keep going onto the next topic. 4chan will never be perfect, because nothing is perfect. Love it or leave it.
Anonymous 11/14/05(Mon)23:20 No.374

>>371
Agreed, people post this ‘responsibility = post history’ like there really was some tribunal in the internet where people who have posted content some particular retard/faggot/whatever chose to dislike were tried and sentenced to b&.

If I think that Anonymous has posted something that has no merit I can criticize that post on its own value without mocking (willingly or not) somebody as a person. On the other hand if I’m Anonymous I can tell TripCodeFag#121221 or even admin##whatshisname that this particular post is of little or no merit without making any personal enemies.
Uru 11/14/05(Mon)23:35 No.375

Tripcodes are good because they’re optional. They serve a purpose. You can make a personality on a board if you want. Then, if you want to post something you don’t nessecarily want tied to your personality, poof, you’re anonymous again.

Always keep in mind that internet identity is a fickle thing. Tripcodes can be hacked or stolen. A sibling or friend might steal your tripcode by looking at it over your shoulder and then go post as you. Even more stable things, like password protected users or IP’s, can be hacked or changed. Your only true identity is your real life identity, and the internet is not real life. If you want to people to know your real identity, then go talk to them face to face. The fresh air will do you good. ;)
Russ 11/15/05(Tue)03:40 No.376

Wow, this is a great post, and an interesting thread, sorry it took me a few days to find it. As I wrote on my blog (which the writer responded to), I’m still learning about the whole concept of 2ch-style boards and the pros/cons of anonymity. The popularity of those types of forums really speak for themselves, and prove that many people’s assumptions of anonymity (including my own) that its only for trolls, etc. aren’t necessarity correct, and might in fact be totally wrong.

Thanks!

-Russ
http://www.russellbeattie.com
Anonymous 11/15/05(Tue)06:51 No.377

So we essentially just wasted 12 minutes to be told that we shouldn’t care who says what.

I think we all knew that already.
Anonymous 11/16/05(Wed)01:22 No.378

This essay makes me proud to be Anonymous.
RazorTM 11/16/05(Wed)18:20 No.383

I think Anonymous should read some Ayn Rand.

>>343 “Your victories become the victories of the group: your losses become the losses of the group.��? sounds like cult/military/communist propaganda.

I’m in the military, and while we do everything for the sake of our unit and our country, we are still people with identities, not some faceless war machines. I treat 4chan the same way: I like to post things to help out the community, but I still want to be myself instead of some faceless image-posting machine.
Anonymous 11/17/05(Thu)16:53 No.386

>>383
The difference being that in one of those scenarios, you interact with people in *real life* whlie in the other, you’re interacting with a bunch of idiots over the internet.
Anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)02:15 No.387

Fuck tripcode faggots. That’s about all I have to say. Really, we don’t care who you are. Tripcoders are annoying brats.
Selectively anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)04:49 No.388

>>387

Fuck you. If you’re too much of a coward to own up to what you said in the last thread the next time you post, then fine, be anonymous. If you’re just posting random crap or images, being anonymous is fine, but if you actually plan on talking about something, names are the way to go.
Anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)05:48 No.389

#375
Exactly! Options=Freedom.
Anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)05:48 No.390

This article rocks my socks. And Russ is a fag.
Anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)10:23 No.391

This article is longer than Longcat. And Longcat is LOOOOOOOOONG.
Anonymous 11/18/05(Fri)12:30 No.392

i was banned from /b/ because i flooded for anonymity and against tripcode users :(
Anonymous-san !Co7ArOTpLQ kinda defeats the purpose? 11/18/05(Fri)18:16 No.393

>>own up to what you said in the last thread
that’s cool because instead of going through the trouble of evaluating your opinions on their factual content readers should concentrate on your NickName and the fame you’ve gathered on a completely unrelated topic.
Anonymous 11/19/05(Sat)01:55 No.394

>>393

Hello I post with my name on average like once a week and I make hundreds of posts a week so no it does not defeat the purpose because I only post with it WHEN I NEED TO
Anonymous 11/19/05(Sat)02:08 No.395

I am Anonymous.
Anonymous 11/19/05(Sat)04:01 No.396

#392
Perhaps “flooded” was the issue.
Anonymous 11/20/05(Sun)10:15 No.402

People who post with name and tripcode are just attention whores who want internet fame.
Anonymous 11/20/05(Sun)15:22 No.403

>>383
A name is neither a identity nor a face
Joan-Michele#Valkyrie 11/21/05(Mon)03:23 No.404

Interesting read, but since I don’t have a reason to be anon (yet), I’ll just use my pseudonym. :)
Anonymous 11/21/05(Mon)19:27 No.405

>>388

This is the point #371 and #374 completely missed.

Having an identity keeps you in check, and I’m afraid that telling me to ‘shut the fuck up, this /b/ zlolmg’ does not, and will never, nullify this fact.

4chan is mostly Anonymous, for instance. 4chan is also mostly fuckhats who take turns at calling each other names. The Oriental approach to online comunication promises no less of a reduction in faggotry than the Occidental.

The notion that you are unable to analyse post content because it is readily attributable an identity disgusts me. YOU are the only person who can let it marr your clarity. ‘Ooooo, my critical thinking skills are inadequate I BLAME YOU VBULLETIN!’ Shut the fuck up.
Anonymous 11/22/05(Tue)11:58 No.406

I read it all.

I CAME.
Anonymous 11/24/05(Thu)08:30 No.408

If anonymity is so cool how come the board is always so uninteresting.
Anonymous 11/27/05(Sun)14:54 No.409

This article has terrific arguments. Anonymity means never having to become a stereotype or role in a group, ie. being the funny one, the stern one, the voice of reason, the angry one, etc. People tend to build up stereotypical personas online that are nothing like their real selves. To compound the problem, online audiences expect stereotypes even when none are present. For instance, if you flame someone one day, everyone will expect you to keep doing it day after day, and if you decide to stop flaming one day, people won’t adjust but will keep seeing you the same way, because they have you stereotyped as a flamer. Anonymity forces people to take you on face value every time, short-circuiting their attempts to toss you into a bin and stereotype you. This ultimately forces them to respect your real self in a way a superficial handle never could.

I don’t think anonymity encourages bad behavior. I’ve found over the years people with handles are capable of the same if not worse level of flaming as anonymous types, especially if the flaming is part of a persona they’re trying to reinforce. The worst flames I’ve ever received were from people with handles, well known and long-term handles in fact, whose flames were only about their ego and desire to build a reputation of being tough and clever – and I was just an accessory to their rise to greatness. So I believe anonymity could actually help prevent more flames than it causes, though this wouldn’t be immediately obvious or noticeable. It would at least reduce flame severity, as it would depersonalize flames. It’s harder to give or receive personal attacks when you take all unique identity out of it.
Anonymous 11/27/05(Sun)17:43 No.410

>>404 was owned
�? 11/28/05(Mon)18:03 No.412

>>405
>Having an identity keeps you in check

>The notion that you are unable to analyse post content because it is readily attributable an identity disgusts me. YOU are the only person who can let it marr your clarity.

You’re contradicting yourself here. We’re all equally unanonymous to mods/admins with or without nicknames. The only ones to keep us in check with our forced handles would be fellow users. Whether or not you willingly let the other persons perceived or real persona give or take away credit from their post is ultimately irrelevant because on some level you have already made up your mind to like or dislike that persona. Provided of course that he/she has posted something that has caught your eye.

>4chan is mostly Anonymous, for instance. 4chan is also mostly fuckhats who take turns at calling each other names.

You’re Anonymous and you’re calling other people fuckhats, case in point?
Fox Lee 11/28/05(Mon)20:42 No.413

Interesting article. It hasn’t changed my way of seeing things – anonymous posting results in just as much dickheadery as named posting, AFAIK, so I don’t really give a shit which one people like – but it’s not always a question of egotism when people want to identify themselves. It’s a better-or-worse kind of thing – I will say what I feel, and I will take responsibility for what I say whether it makes people like me or hate me. I’m all for a person’s right to be anonymous if they so desire, but why do the anti-name/trip whiners feel that wanting to do that is wrong?

It sounds like the issue is less that people are afraid to take responsibility for what they say, but more unwilling to say what they feel. Frankly, I do think that’s kind of sad – this is the internet, and our identities here – such as they are – shouldn’t stop us from saying what we feel. Weighing in against the majority here certainly isn’t going to do me any favours, but I still want to say what I’m saying, so I’ll just have to deal with the consequences.

In short, the original poster brought up some interesting points, though it would have been better from a less biased perspetive IMO. On the other hand, to the many respondents who are being violently anti-name, fuck off and stop bitching about it. It’s just a different way of doing things, not necessarily better or worse, so just grow up and let people choose as they will.
trip fag 11/28/05(Mon)22:23 No.414

Personaly I think the idea of the article is correct. But on /b/ anonymouse has because the mass voice of allot of the idiots of 4chan. The infuriatingly stupid of 4chan that have nothing good to offer, yes there are the few anons that have something interesting to add. There for the only way to seperate yourself from the mass anon horde of idiocy is to use a name and a trip code. So in my mind using a trip is not the evil impending on the “free speech” of the site. But, on this site, the mass anonymouse is, before this site can become something better/revert to what it was like at first, the collective IQ of anonymouse needs to come up.
Anonymous 11/30/05(Wed)19:46 No.416

>>412

I’d rather be held accountable by peers because of my behaviour than an admin because I bear the culprit IP.

System Borg allows nowhere near the same opportunity for psycho- and sociological growth, and the thinking behind it is appalingly negative. Let me explain.

When you get chastised/owned/whatever on a reg board, it’s a very public thing. Everyone knows it’s you and face is lost. You exhibit negative behaviour, you are penalised. This is done in the hopes of detering that behaviour in future. This action has a psychological effect. Attention-whores and trolls feel that they are affirmed; to most forumgoers, though, the feeling is embarassment. The community is saying ‘GTFO’ and they mean it.

Consequence is important–this is why the saying ‘if we don’t remember history, we are doomed to repeat it’ exists. As Internet users, we can only hope to simulate consequence for other internet users: the Internet in and of itself is not an arbiter. Do you honestly think banning Anonymous from /wherever/ due to underage content is an effective deterrent and the psychological sense? In the sense that goes toward making sure he’ll reoffend less often in future?

System Bord isn’t a solution to faggotry, it’s an easy loophole.
Anonymous 11/30/05(Wed)19:48 No.417

>>is an effective deterrant *in* the psyhological sense

(whoops)
Ed 11/30/05(Wed)20:52 No.418

Posting in a legendary blog!

Ehh, looked at Bigboards.com…Gaia online only needs 78K more members to hit 3M?? Jesus.
Anonymous 12/02/05(Fri)20:47 No.451

The amount of comments here just goes to show that Anonymous posting works and is good.

Like butt-sechs, apparently.

But then why would the chihuahua say such mean things to an oyster the size of mother theresa’s left nipple?
The only real explanation of this is that the toilet seat was left up and the niggas went on rampage and ate all the KFC around the corner.

Love /b/-n00b
LOL Tripcode 12/04/05(Sun)11:13 No.468

I usually post under anonymous, but for no real reason. I’ll admit, the week of forced anonymous was awesome, and what made me post in the first place.

Anonynous works because it attaches no stigma to any name that can be linked to you, so you’re free to post you opinoin.

On the other side though, if you do use a name and tripcode, it makes it easier to follow conversation when you know who you’re replying to, and that’s all. If you’re worried about using a name that links back to you, use one on 4chan you don’t use anywhere else…it’s not like I call myself LOL Tripcode everywhere I post…
Faceless Minion 12/04/05(Sun)21:19 No.471

I can’t seem to get how so many people say that anonymous or nonanon is TEH ULTIMATE SUPERIOR!!!ONEONEONEONETWO… There are so many flames up and down the spectrum here that it is rather disconcerting.

Personally, I think what is superior about 4chan’s system isnt anonymity, but it is the FREEDOM that one has. One can either stand out from the crowd if they want, or be part of the anonymous collective.

What DOESNT work is when people are forced one direction or the other. Nameboards with things like forced postcounts are an example of this. They just serve as a way for elitists to make little kingdoms around themselves. Unfortunately, often 4chan itself is another example of this kind of negativity. The sheer hatred that is thrown at people that use tripcodes or names is quite staggering, if you take the time to look it over.

Ultimately, freedom to post anonymously or post named = win. Trying to force someone to go one way or the other = fail.
Anonymous 12/06/05(Tue)00:50 No.474

If self-respect, integrity, pride or whatever are important to you, you’d do well to not seek to have these needs fulfilled via internet message boards. Go out in the real world and accomplish something real.
Anonymous 12/22/05(Thu)12:15 No.545

This is a fantastic article. I think registered boards do have their place, and that a continuum exists from /b/ to SA to Slashdot or Ars to some ultra moderated site. But the need for, and freedom granted by, a forum like /b/ is undeniable after witnessing it in action. It is truly unique, fun, and occasionally even amazingly inspiring and insightful.
Anonymous 12/23/05(Fri)23:36 No.546

I thought the ‘lurk more’ and ‘tripcode fag’ stuff was just another meme? I don’t think they’re being personal when they insult noobs and tripfags. Anonymous is never personal. Whats the point?
Anonymous 12/27/05(Tue)22:19 No.566

tl;dr
Anonymous 01/09/06(Mon)10:27 No.586

All anonymous thread checkboxes would fucking rock. :D
Anonymous 01/12/06(Thu)22:42 No.590

We all know of forums that force registering and names to users and even persecute people who change nicks or don’t have an “net-persona”. It’s a pain in the ass. Since I first entered 4chan, I’ve been hooked to the concept of anonimity as a way to promote free speech and communication.
Anonymous 01/24/06(Tue)11:20 No.765

This is excellent topic but still its interesting why west is not more interested in these type of boards? I think asian nations have more advanced collective way of life, they are more dedicated to some group or corporation. On the other side west shows individuals how to build something for yourself, to work for your own gain and community is always second.

2ch-style is very popular and still it seems nobody from the west really cares about it. West more likes SA/fark or other registration-based boards.

Of course there are exceptions. I dont like idiotic SA or fark. I like 2ch-style boards and whole concept of anonymous internet.

Question is, how to make 2ch-style boards more interesting for the westerners?
NotAnonymous 02/22/06(Wed)12:53 No.946

Tell them they can trade CP! LoL.
kaiser 02/25/06(Sat)13:42 No.962

OK,I wil do it!
Anonymous 04/05/06(Wed)01:52 No.1226

Originally I thought the article was well written unfortunately after reading the comments, I have my doubts

From what I understood, it’s not as much anonymous vs. identity. It’s more like 4chan against the rest of the message boards with names
Anonymous as hell 04/22/06(Sat)15:41 No.1238

when i posted in 4chan for the first time i did something unprecedented, i used my real name, because i noticed that in the community it’d make no difference
Anonymous 04/25/06(Tue)20:45 No.1275

anonymous boards are the way of the future.. for serious discussion.
Anonymous 05/13/06(Sat)00:09 No.1372

bring back forced_anon!
Anonymous 06/01/06(Thu)08:31 No.1389

Its been a while since I’ve read that article, but I remember it only barely touching on the biggest problem with anonymous message boards like 4chan… people don’t have reputations to worry about. Reputations keep people in check, encourage them to be quality people of some sort or another and helps prevent them from making dicks out of themselves. An anonymous message board opens doors for people that are usually concerned about their rep to start preteen-style trolling and spamming. Its not so heavy in the image bords, but many of the topics in the discussions boards degenerate into people calling each other faggots and making the kind of arguments that you’d expect from a pissed off PMSing teenager. And they can dick around as much as they want and stick around as long as they want without having to worry about forming a bad rep and having people team up on them and disregard their opinions because they’ve pissed them off/severely annoyed them in the past.
Anonymous#TripsForTheLose 06/20/06(Tue)01:25 No.1414

I definitely agree. Tripcodes for the lose.
Forced_anon forever.
Dickhole 07/29/06(Sat)21:20 No.1493

Mmm.. Anonymisity.. Large Penis.
Anonymous 08/08/06(Tue)14:25 No.1500

I’m actually going to be using this essay in a research paper on electronic communications. Woo.
Anonymous 08/19/06(Sat)18:16 No.1512

Has its advantages and disadvantages.
Anonymous 08/20/06(Sun)11:28 No.1513

I wish I had read this sooner. I had a debate with my best friend about the “evils” of myspace and register to post forums, basically stating the same the arguments. This sums it up so well, though: massive win.

Still, to each their own. Anonymous is happy here, and will remain here until the tubes are clogged forever
Anonymous 08/31/06(Thu)16:36 No.1531

That is in line with the idea that people on the internet are just letters writing themselves all over the place. no people, just ideas crawling and squirming… love it…
Anonymous 08/31/06(Thu)18:48 No.1532

Well, I have some sort of respectability and fame in certain fan community and I have never thought that your standing actually poisons whatever you have to say. Great work!
Anonymous 10/22/06(Sun)09:32 No.1573

I have always been for an anonymous Internet but have never stopped to think about how a registered nick can sometimes be bad in a post. From now on I will make sure that even my regged users will have the chance to post anonymously if they want to. So this article helped me open my eyes a little bit more, thank you.
The Red Barron 11/06/06(Mon)00:15 No.1586

I use a name to discern who I am, but refuse to be a tripfag.
Anonymous 11/06/06(Mon)22:41 No.1588

Here is an idea throw your computer away and hope you do not get withdrawals!

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