As someone who has been discriminated against on the job when my views on religion clashed with those of a supervisor, I have learned over the years to only speak up on issues when those comments can be made anonymously. This is especially true these days where employers can google your name and anything posted under that name (or any account, email, social or otherwise) can be attributed to you.

Free and open speech on any issue is crucial to a free and open society. Those who view anonymous free speech as something that should be regulated/restricted just do not understand that principle and they themselves are more of a danger to others than some pulling a scam online.

The general rule of any online society/forum/etc., is that if you do not like what someone has said, you are free to ignore it. If there is any work to be done, then work on making it easier for readers to mark a particular comment/commenter as something/someone they wish to ignore (and therefore it isn’t displayed).

I personally don’t see any benefit to anonymity and would be content if there was an identity verification requirement for all online activities.

The only people who value anonymity are people with something to hide aka trolls. It’s a lot easier to bash someone irresponsibly when you know that you won’t be found out. Having your name attached to something, and knowing that your comment could be found (and used against you) later, changes how people behave. Anonymity also creates two-faced individuals and people who just don’t learn the proper ethics of internet usage especially when it comes to commenting (eg: people on YouTube). Transparency makes people use the internet properly and also tell the world what they actually want to say in a constructive way.

I personally don’t troll, or voice any opinions online that I don’t also openly voice in public so anonymity is inconsequential.

My preference for non-anonymous situations is because they are most like offline relationships. And what I post online is also what I would say to someone, or to a community face-to-face. And anonymous situations tend to allow trolls and other unproductive, conversations to flourish, which usually isn’t good for any community, online or offline.

I think it would be great to have a compilation of everything a person participates in online to promote honesty. It would no longer allow people to hide behind a facade. All of their personal opinions out in the open. Allowing future employers, networking partners, and romantic prospects to screen individuals based on their online persona/behavior.

Ironically, there are people concerned about the quality of information and writing in comment sections, while the articles themselves are commonly little more than detritus, poorly written, researched.

In my eyes, the more something is abused, the more likely its the govt shills abusing it to make a case to censor it coz they kno its a powrful tool for the masses. Just look at the police brutality videos from miami seattle and the subway bullet to the back. Imagine foreign countries doing that, the chinese police would raid the uploader