Comments on: The Power of Real Names http://www.scheuguy.com/blog/2008/11/21/the-power-of-real-names/ Not-quite daily musings from a marketing technologist finding his way in the health care sector. Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:45:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Jamie Scheu http://www.scheuguy.com/blog/2008/11/21/the-power-of-real-names/comment-page-1/#comment-129 Jamie Scheu Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:13:47 +0000 http://www.scheuguy.com/blog/?p=263#comment-129 Plenty of people on MySpace use their first names (or some variation thereof), sure, but there is still a great deal of anonymity behind that. Take, as an extreme example, the people who were *encouraging* Abraham Biggs in his tragic suicide two days ago that was streamed live on Justin.tv. Even if they thought he wasn't serious, there was a complete lack of personal accountability in the fact that they were hiding behind aliases, which gave them the freedom to act without putting their personal and professional reputation on the line. That's a radical case, and you could argue that it takes a pretty sick person to urge a stranger to commit suicide even as a "joke," but for me it all comes back to accountability. "Trolling," "flaming," or any other sort of personal attacks are enabled by aliases and anonymity. Just look at the plethora of racist, sexist, and homophobic comments on any given YouTube video. Plenty of people on MySpace use their first names (or some variation thereof), sure, but there is still a great deal of anonymity behind that. Take, as an extreme example, the people who were *encouraging* Abraham Biggs in his tragic suicide two days ago that was streamed live on Justin.tv. Even if they thought he wasn’t serious, there was a complete lack of personal accountability in the fact that they were hiding behind aliases, which gave them the freedom to act without putting their personal and professional reputation on the line.

That’s a radical case, and you could argue that it takes a pretty sick person to urge a stranger to commit suicide even as a “joke,” but for me it all comes back to accountability. “Trolling,” “flaming,” or any other sort of personal attacks are enabled by aliases and anonymity. Just look at the plethora of racist, sexist, and homophobic comments on any given YouTube video.

]]> By: Ari Herzog http://www.scheuguy.com/blog/2008/11/21/the-power-of-real-names/comment-page-1/#comment-122 Ari Herzog Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:29:27 +0000 http://www.scheuguy.com/blog/?p=263#comment-122 Those comics are too funny. Every time I see it I crack up. Back to the point: I can understand a high schooler using a GlitterGrrrl handle... but what about college kids? Those comics are too funny. Every time I see it I crack up. Back to the point: I can understand a high schooler using a GlitterGrrrl handle… but what about college kids?

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