Being Anonymous
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What’s the value in being anonymous? It is a question that can be asked in an online setting, giving comments on news stories or when you want to hide your real identity on a social network, or even in real life for such things as voting and spreading news. We discuss the positives and negatives, and whether it counts as a right, in this slightly more political episode of WagzTail.
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About The Author
levi
I am the coyote of the group! This means I am the handsome one, the intelligent one, the one who says all sorts of positive things about himself because he can even though he may be stretching the truth a little. When I'm not hosting or editing the show, you can find me writing the next great furry novel.
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The value of being an anemone, eh? Well, you can always get your water and your food practically brought to you you’re stable… what? Ooooh…ANONYMOUS … Ah…my mistake.
You can help someone out without sounding like your fishing for thanks or rewards. You can report a serious crime without having your name attached (especially if it relates to gangs, where the members could get back at you or your family for your part in it.) Like you said, voting without having your details attached to it. Maybe you’re discussing something in a group that you don’t want friends/family not in the group to know you’re a part of.
Anonymity is an idea that can be as positive or negative as someone makes it. I can see the negatives in relation to online bullying, for example, as it’s an excuse to hide from the consequences of a debate or argument. Having said that, I keep my online fursona identity different to my real name. Very few of my online friends know my real identity, and I keep it that way unless I choose to attend and meet and meet them in real life. To be honest it was more to feel secure: I didn’t want to give out information of myself without being in control of it, and it also prevents being stalked online, for example.
I really wish you’d had time to go into the last part in depth.
Originally, I’d only been on Bryan Davis’s forum so I hadn’t had to worry too much about my real identity and I kept the two separate. Now, with closer online friends and more social networks, a lot of people who met me as Rebel Rider know my real name. I’ve also got online accounts that are under my real name and a cyberstalker could easily link them up if they had the time.
However, I have now started separating Rebel Rider from my real name. It’s mostly because I’m wanting to be an author and I don’t want to worry about a publisher stumbling across my Rebel Rider side. I like not using my real name, not because I can be rude, but because I don’t have to worry so much about friends or business associates seeing I was in a political debate about some unpopular issue. (I do have these debates under my real name on Facebook but I try to keep track of the privacy settings.) If someone did want to stalk me, they could do so easily and figure out both names but I just want to keep the two separate from people who are glancing over my info. (I originally had one email address and I now have two for my online accounts, one based off my real name and another off this screen name.) I do find the separation a little painful since I want to share some of the Rebel Rider stuff on Twitter but I’ve sworn to keep a professional look on there.
If I ever start writing political articles, I plan to do it under a third name and keep that one so separate even a good cyberstalker can’t link that up with my real name.
P.S. I’m not talking about malevolent cyber stalkers, just the type who want to know a lot of info about me.