Anonymity in the Internet Culture
Anonymous Participation Is the Main Problem of Web 2.0
Apr 20, 2009
People are more involved in the internet activities by the development of web 2.0, when feeling that they can talk to the internet, instead of being listeners (i.e. readers). They have chance to share their opinions, problems, questions, etc. Some try it for fun, and some use it for serious issues. However, people still do not trust in the internet environment completely.
This is indeed a mutual distrust of such an anonymous environment, as people participate anonymously in the internet activities, since they believe that the others do too. As discussed in Internet Culture through Web 2.0 and Social Networks, people are ready to follow the internet culture offered in a new web-based system. In other words, it is not a natural tendency to participate in the internet activities anonymously, but people initially did feel that it is the dominant behavior, and gradually it became a public culture among the internet users.
Common Anonymity in Forums
Forums are one of the prototypes of web 2.0 systems, as people are able to participate in open discussions with other members. The forum softwares were initially based on 'username' rather than real name (though this is also the case for the current versions too, probably because this is now a commonly accepted culture). Instead of profile photo, forums have a place for avatar, which are just symbolic graphics (usually without a meaning in relation with the member character).
The member credit is usually measured with the number of posts (no matter what, a leading post is identical to a simple sentence for agreement), which is normally awarded by the member ‘titles’. In a discussion, one wishes to know the experience of the other party in the topic under consideration, not in this specified medium (forum). When discussing a scientific topic with an academician in a university, it is important to know his/her background in the topic of discussion, not experiences in that university.
In fact, forums are totally anonymous places, and members have no idea with whom they talk. Thus, they cannot trust in the discussion, and just an idea about the topic. For instance, when someone asks a legal question, it does matter if the replier is a lawyer or someone who just knows the problem.
Social Networks
Most of social networks are full of fake IDs and spammers. Facebook is one of the few, which has significantly controlled such abuses. The main reason of this success was the basic culture initially proposed when introducing the system. Initially, Facebook was only available to members having an academic email (from .edu domains). This limited the community to real people.
Later, the community was opened to the public, but the system had rigid policy in comparison with competitors. For instance, the profile should be completely filled and the member was able to do limited activities over chosen networks. Such policy, which is still the case, made some serious limitations for the members, but helped the community to be clear and clean.
Online Dating Websites
Two types of dating sites are available in the internet, with paid or free membership. The websites offering free dating are the home of anonymous activities through fake IDs. People use fake IDs to explore the others’ profile anonymously.
However, paid dating websites are usually trustworthy, as the members need to use a credit card to pay the membership fee. On the other hand, it is not possible to use such services with a fake ID.
Theoretically, such websites should be used temporarily, as one expects to make a date and leave the site; otherwise, the service has not been good.
The Reason of the Internet Anonymity
From these few examples, one can conclude that it was not the people culture or their natural tendency to participate in the internet activities anonymously, but the initial structure of the internet systems (mainly web 2.0 websites) led them to anonymity.
According to this anonymous culture, people usually avoid some services (to satisfy their needs) over the internet, and this has limited the applicability of the internet, which is indeed a major obstacle for its further development.
