An interesting solution I've read (via Slashdot) in regard to dealing with trolls: A Rubber Room - Once you've flagged the committed troller, make it so his comments only appear to him. Oftentimes these trolls will comment freely and continually for months on end, completely oblivious to the fact that no one is reading their comments except themselves.
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^ right - the problem I see isn't one of anonymity per se, plenty of people will freely rant and spew hatred with their own names, it's a problem of moderating a discussion, whether between anonymous individuals or not. I actually see some real benefit to anonymity online.
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I do too...but I still find the experiment with the Mass. newspaper very interesting.Alex Ihnen wrote:^ right - the problem I see isn't one of anonymity per se, plenty of people will freely rant and spew hatred with their own names, it's a problem of moderating a discussion, whether between anonymous individuals or not. I actually see some real benefit to anonymity online.
The rubber room concept is interesting as well, but I think it will only work for a period of time. Users will figure out that something is wrong when other users don't acknowledge a post/topic/discussion...and then multiple usernames creep into the forums (unless you are allowed one username per IP).
Looks like the Buffalo News is going to start something similar to the Sun Chronicle. THey plan to make commenters register with their name, city and phone number.
Cnn.com story
Cnn.com story
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/colu ... 2bc8b.html
P-D Readers: You're not posting a picture of this accused child molester because you clearly have an agenda and don't want "politically incorrect" comments like 'thug'
P-D then posts picture of nerdy looking white kid
P-D Readers: How dare you ruin this kid's life by posting this picture without knowing the whole story!
Why, again, does this paper still allow reader comments?
P-D Readers: You're not posting a picture of this accused child molester because you clearly have an agenda and don't want "politically incorrect" comments like 'thug'
P-D then posts picture of nerdy looking white kid
P-D Readers: How dare you ruin this kid's life by posting this picture without knowing the whole story!
Why, again, does this paper still allow reader comments?
Honestly, you are probably better off never looking at those comments. I hadn't looked at a single comment in over 6 months until I tempted fate and read some comments about an Prop A story a couple weeks ago. It took me about 5 comments before I realized this was detrimental for my mental health and hope for humanity so I had to stop.