Imageboards: Anonymity vs. Tripcodes/Usernames (56)

1 Name: Azumatrix!aZu.351QQQ 2005-09-26 14:46 ID:wvsy875G

I've always wanted to know why imageboards are encouraging anonymous posting so extremely. What's the advantage of anonymity?

For example, on 4chan, if you use tripcodes there, people will look upon you as a "tripcode fag". What's wrong with online usernames?

2 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-26 15:06 ID:H2vEwvZk

This discussion can be found on Wakaba's /soc/, and furthermore you are undoubtedly a stupid, tripcode-whoring faggot for opening this thread with such a pointed question.

http://wakaba.c3.cx/soc/kareha.pl/1110953600/

3 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-26 15:13 ID:F/DzWRkK

>>2
Hey! No flaming!

I'd reiterate all the points that have been made in http://wakaba.c3.cx/soc/kareha.pl/1110953600/ but I am too lazy right now.

Also, we have this thread on Anonymous posting:
http://4-ch.net/net/kareha.pl/1127551023

4 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-26 15:18 ID:F/DzWRkK

One more thing, though:

> What's wrong with online usernames?

It usually doesn't add anything to the form of communication and information exchange most of the time.
It has its uses but I have found posting and lurking to be much more enjoyable without having lots of fixed handles, signatures, avatars, etc. all the time. Except for required identification over a longer period of time (rarely needed) names and tripcodes don't serve any good purpose and are more likely to create drama (e-penis, cliques, tripcode cracking, etc.) which is not really what I am looking forward to on these type of boards.

Not to say that all users who post with handles are bad, though. Some are pretty classy and excellent and to be a good poster it really doesn't matter if you have a name or not. I find it more often than not that people who constantly use handles fall into the types of negative/annoying behavioural cycles which I pointed out above.

5 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-26 15:29 ID:hPPPSQAO

also http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan

> What's wrong with online usernames?

Nothing. 4chan /b/ jumps on them because they mark attention whores, newbies and the self-important. The sort of people who are ripe for trolling, I guess. Don't take things in /b/ too seriously.

6 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-26 22:35 ID:yWxHWqMK

>>What's wrong with online usernames?

It encourages and builds unnecessary things such as reputations, and it makes it look like the named person can't do anything unless people know that it's him contributing, which leads to ego inflation and all sorts of other unsavory things.

Like I said above, a common view is that handlers/tripcoders want/need people to know who they are, despite the fact that nobody, aside from others like them, cares who they are. Being known and having a reputation will only make things worse.

7 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-09-27 00:32 ID:Heaven

> unnecessary things such as reputations

Maybe, maybe not. In some cases that's a bad thing. Sometimes it's good. None of us has the time to verify all the facts behind arguments, so sometimes we need to take the quality of the poster into consideration.

My favorite example: if WAHa says something about programming, I take it more seriously than unknown Anonymous.

I think this entire argument is silly. Forced naming and forced anonymous are both annoying. If you want to use a nick, use it, otherwise don't.

8 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-27 06:12 ID:Uxz3kxUX

I like forced anonymous on some occasions. img+dat 4 lyfe!

9 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-27 08:12 ID:ZZR2qyl4

here we have ID though

10 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-09-27 08:33 ID:Heaven

>>9
We kinda have Arbitrary_ID

For all sorts of funky ID modes, see http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1127721276/13-14,17-18

11 Name: Sling!XD/uSlingU 2005-09-27 12:32 ID:tACRoRuU

What's the name of that auto-naming mode where one gets individual names like "Betty Shuttleborough"?

12 Name: !WAHa.06x36 2005-09-27 14:53 ID:mC6eEbD4

SILLY_ANONYMOUS

13 Name: Sling!XD/uSlingU 2005-09-27 18:43 ID:tACRoRuU

haha, good name. ^^

14 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-10-09 20:28 ID:wm5uRBxb

I think on boards like this, anonymous contributions are the basic form of communication.

Adding names and/or tripcodes seems to be an added gimmick. There are good reasons to use these gimmicks, but people should be aware of what these good reasons are.

15 Name: 405 - Name Not Found 2005-10-11 13:12 ID:nFCHO410

name is good somtimes , but i enjoy the freedom of being able to post comments two a person disagreing with him , and then later post a comment where we talk about somthing good , if i had a name he could be angry at me , but now he and i don't know who we are talking to.

16 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-10-11 14:23 ID:Heaven

"Names are good somtimes, but I enjoy the freedom of being able to post comments to a person, disagreeing with them, and then later post a comment where we talk about something good, if I had a name they could be angry at me, but now they and I don't know who we are talking to."

fixed!

17 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-04 15:28 ID:jCUJTfVy

>>7
So I assume you don't take a post seriously when it's posted anonymously regardless of the point he or she may have.

18 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-04 22:02 ID:cRU+Rd4Q

>>16 nobody cares

19 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-05 02:42 ID:Heaven

>>17
This has been discussed to death here: http://wakaba.c3.cx/soc/kareha.pl/1110953600/

And to answer your question: I evaluate anonymous posts differently.

20 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-06 16:09 ID:nWyfbT37

i would have written "silly_little_noob" as a name for the purpose of this thread. lol.

Personally, I consider people who post names are those who wish to have direct conversations regarding what they posted. Kinda like writing a "from" address on an envelope for the sake of encouraging your recipient to reply. Thread-wise, I'd use it so that a reply to a post may be addressed to me directly if I consider my post personal enough.

Otherwise, I like it anonymous to encourage a more "everyone say anything about it to anyone" kinda feel.

21 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-06 16:12 ID:nWyfbT37

I guess a drawback to this freedom would be that people can try impersonating others. >_>

Hmm, why does my "ID" change? Is it because I'm using a dynamic IP? (please delete this one if it's too OT)

22 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-07 17:55 ID:59drT9vz

>>21
You can't really impersonate people without a name.

23 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-08 09:22 ID:Heaven

> Hmm, why does my "ID" change? Is it because I'm using a dynamic IP?

Yes.

24 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-09 22:00 ID:T2kTKacS

>>20

Here I am addressing you personally without using your name. If you want to indicate to me that you're you, you can put 20 in the name field. Isn't life wonderful?

Also, here's a bunch of words. I think the first link is a bit too Web 2.0, but it's pretty good otherwise.
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008640.html
http://www.4chan.org/blog/2005/11/09/in-response-to-anonymity/

25 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-10 00:59 ID:H2vEwvZk

Spread the love, A-san.

26 Name: 24 2005-11-10 02:16 ID:T2kTKacS

I'm not A-san. True story.

27 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-10 16:42 ID:Heaven

>http://www.4chan.org/blog/2005/11/09/in-response-to-anonymity/
>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.

The best description I've ever seen of western discussion boards.

28 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-12 04:21 ID:H2vEwvZk

>>26
Er, what I meant was, I was originally going to write something about where he got his anonymity religion from, but I decided that would be a waste of bandwidth and just applauded him instead.

29 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-12 12:34 ID:Heaven

> (4-ch is actually run by another, competing group.)

WHAT A LOAD OF SHIT!

30 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-13 01:44 ID:Heaven

The entire article is. Shii made a stronger case with less verbiage.

31 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-13 03:37 ID:Heaven

I don't know. Several people I showed Shii's article to have failed to be convinced by it. Maybe it is a neater statement of points to remind those who already agree why they agree, but it doesn't have the context that someone new to anonymous boards will require.

32 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-13 04:20 ID:Heaven

I'm not convinced of it either, but I find Shii's more compelling than the 4chan blog. The blogger obviously put some effort into their post, but in the end it's mostly hand-waving, while Shii got right to the point.

Anyway, I'd have found it more interesting if the blogger had read the thread in /soc/ first, because some of his assertions have already been found weak. If said blogger went through /soc/ he'd have found arguments that have at least survived a preliminary trial-by-fire.

33 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-14 04:42 ID:4ap3e0oZ

>>32

Perhaps you should, you know, post on the blog.

34 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-14 04:44 ID:fhI5GmPc

>Perhaps you should, you know, post on the blog.

35 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-14 07:59 ID:Heaven

No thanks. I post on /soc/ because there's some semblance of intelligent life there. I love 4chan for the flames, but you'll never get me to take it seriously.

Also, I don't like blogs. It's a stupid reason, but it's good enough for me.

36 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-14 14:14 ID:Heaven

>>33-34
Blogs are lame. Now that we have these kind of boards there is no point for blogs at all. Indeed, that A-san had to post his rant there instead of posting it on world4ch (or some other place, run by a competing group, lol) kinda contradicts his own points.

What a sad person.

37 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-14 15:05 ID:Heaven

Trackbacks are a silly kludge to try and glue some forum-like (reply) structure on to blogs. It doesn't really work, you still have an awful lot of people just talking to themselves.

38 Name: !WAHa.06x36 2005-11-14 15:29 ID:Heaven

Blogs are like a great machinery set up only to create interesting topics for discussion, and then immediately kill them before they have a chance to develop.

I really need to write a proper rant about that one of these days.

39 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-14 16:42 ID:Heaven

> create interesting topics for discussion

But only topics the blog owner finds interesting. That's a major detriment for something supposedly community-driven.

It also encourages groupthink. Since the readers have no option in the topics provided, those who find it dull go elsewhere.

40 Name: Mr VacBob!JqK7T7zan. 2005-11-15 02:01 ID:Nd9HDNj8

> instead of posting it on world4ch

Well, the post size limit would have to be increased :V:

This is because more people read the blog than read world4ch (although this shouldn't be the case, and I don't know why it is), anyway, and I can't see how it suddenly being in wordpress kills discussion.

> What a sad person.

Oh

41 Name: Mr VacBob!JqK7T7zan. 2005-11-15 02:23 ID:Nd9HDNj8

ps:

> This is because more people read the blog than read world4ch

to the best of my recollection, anyway. This wasn't trackbacked (WEB 2.0!!!!), but he did post the whole thing as a reply to the original blog post some other guy wrote, which I found on google. That one quoted Shii, so everything is already there and the extra stuff is just to impress WEB 2.0 NOOSPHERE ENGINEERS who like lots of words.

42 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-15 02:51 ID:Heaven

> I can't see how it suddenly being in wordpress kills discussion.

Because blogs forcible age.

In a forum, if it's worth discussing, it'll continually be bumped. You can't bump a blog; wheat and chaff are treated equally.

> This is because more people read the blog than read world4ch

No, this is because it was posted at the top of every board in 4chan, most notably /b/. Instead of putting it in a forum for it to live and die by its own merits, it was posted in a blog and whored out to the stupidest citizens on the intarwebs.

That's why.

43 Name: Mr VacBob!JqK7T7zan. 2005-11-15 03:24 ID:Nd9HDNj8

There's only three entries in it; even if that does apply in the general case (which it probably does, and the comments were at one point going to link to a forum thread, but I don't know why they don't now), it won't now.

> No, this is because it was posted at the top of every board in 4chan, most notably /b/.

Someone bought an ad that linked to a world4ch thread, and it isn't getting as many posts as this is, so expecting them to pay attention to the blotter is probably giving too much credit.

I don't remember what my point is anymore.

44 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-15 07:32 ID:Heaven

> Someone bought an ad that linked to a world4ch thread

I've never seen that ad. Considering how ads rotate, it probably received very little "airtime". On the other hand, links to the blogs are persistent. If you replaced the links to the blogs with links to threads in world4ch, you'll probably get similar or higher post numbers.

Anyway, nobody pays attention to ads. I know that's not what 4chan is looking for, but people are very good at filtering out what they're not interested it. In fact, they're so good at it that they often filter out what is of interest. This is why Madison Avenue is getting so desperate.

I think the only ad I recall are the two girls in swimsuits. It's relevant to my interests.

> I don't remember what my point is anymore.

Neither do I. :D

45 Name: !WAHa.06x36 2005-11-15 13:14 ID:mC6eEbD4

> I can't see how it suddenly being in wordpress kills discussion.

Because, as dmpk2k said, no bumping. There's no way to keep a discussion alive on a blog, because as soon as there's a couple of new posts, everyone forgets the old one. On a slow-moving blog like 4chan's, it's not as big a problem, but on a faster-moving one, it means discussion will happen for a day or two at most. I, at least, might only check back once a day or so, so that means I might get a comment in, and maybe get in a single reply, too. That's no way to hold a discussion.

46 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-15 19:30 ID:navyJ/N5

>>37

Eh, not exactly, although it can be used that way, it doesn't strike me as the only potential use.

47 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-15 19:38 ID:navyJ/N5

From what I hear, part of the philosophy behind it, is the informal/formal heirarchical structure that comes from a system in which you know who is talking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2channel

shrugs So far, this seems interesting.

48 Name: 36 2005-11-15 19:48 ID:Heaven

>>40
My point was more about anonymity. Why he had to go and post it in a blog with restricted posting rights for a select elite, under his own name instead of posting the whole thing (in parts of course, d'uh) on world4ch anonymously, I don't know. It just seems sad. The whole blog seems sad.

49 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-17 18:42 ID:Heaven

>>42

But are blogs really supposed to be in competition with forums of any stripe? To me, a blog is more personal. It might be vanity, but it's where I get to post about things that I currently am interested in. Validating individual blog posts by the # of comments, or responses they engender sounds like it might get into the realm of comment whoring and attention-seeking behaviors, something I see a bit too much on LJ. Much like a vanity web page, your blog is your little corner of the web. It's where you spit out your thoughts, to those interested. If people get bored and leave, it really isn't a big deal.

News blogs also need to age, because of the format, and expectations, surrounding any news service. Mainly, it needs to keep current, which will be harder when older news gets aged to the top because it's considered more interesting.

I'm surprised at how much I like this forum, and it's structure. Parts of it are a little odd for me, but that has a lot to do with what I expect from forums. However, it doesn't IMO replace blogs. It's a different tool. You don't have to like blogs, but to me, comparing them is a little like comparing apples and orangutans.

50 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-17 18:46 ID:navyJ/N5

>>7

>My favorite example: if WAHa says something about programming, I take it more seriously than unknown Anonymous.

Isn't that exactly what the format of the forum is attempting to avoid?

51 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-17 20:02 ID:Heaven

It might help if you, you know, read the thread.

52 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-17 20:56 ID:Heaven

>>51 I have been reading the thread. I'm also trying to understand the concept in general. To say I'm a n00b here is an understatement. I'm not attempting to question your behavior by itself. I'm trying to understand whether or not it's considered in line with the philosophy behind 2ch-style boards.
Whether or not this is a good thing, is not something I'm paricularly interested in, right now. I'll make my own judgement on that, over time.
Is there something in particular on the thread that you think I missed? I'm interested in reading it.

53 Name: dmpk2k!hinhT6kz2E 2005-11-18 02:59 ID:Heaven

I meant the link in >>19, but I think I misunderstood where you're coming from.

> Isn't that exactly what the format of the forum is attempting to avoid?

My belief in this format is two-fold:

  • no registration required
  • you can be anonymous (or you can be named)

Essentially, the board policy doesn't enforce certain annoying elements that phpBB and its ilk have.

54 Name: !WAHa.06x36 2005-11-18 12:57 ID:mC6eEbD4

> But are blogs really supposed to be in competition with forums of any stripe?

What they are or are not supposed to be fairly irrelevant. The fact is that they are turning into the main format of discussion on the web, and that annoys me to no end, because they are useless for this.

55 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-18 19:15 ID:Heaven

>The fact is that they are turning into the main format of discussion on the web, and that annoys me to no end, because they are useless for this.

Okay, therein we're in agreeance.

56 Name: 404 - Name Not Found 2005-11-18 23:53 ID:Heaven

>>53

Fair enough, thanks for your response. :)

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