January 30, 2012

SandBox Comments: Steamboat Today "Brent Boyer: What's in a name?"

Brent Boyer:

"Anonymity.

What comes immediately to mind?

Do you think about the ability to post online comments without fear of retribution for expressing honest opinions?

Or do you think about the cowardice of those who aren’t willing to put their real names behind their words?

Granted, those are two very strong reactions to Web anonymity, but they’re also beliefs held by many Steamboat Pilot & Today readers. Few newspaper-related issues elicit as much passion from community members as our online comments, and it’s one we find ourselves revisiting often. And we’re doing it again...."

After all this time (SandBox launched in mid-summer of 2010) followers should be familiar with how we feel about anonymity in posting online commentary.  And how we feel about being accountable for content.  Things are not always as they appear on the surface to be.

Which is the sole reason we chose the genre of spin. 

We're not a news creation or reporting media, we only comment and aggregate what is already out there either in print, voice or buzz.  We had a need to do some online tracking of certain news stories that were being given a free pass by corporate media.  Stop the quashing of voices speaking up against powerful people in positions of trust who should not have been given a safe haven.

There are many reasons one might choose anonymity when speaking up.

Our point is that any reason for choosing anonymity is worthy of being honored and respected.  Protected, if you will.

Where the problem  lies in threads of conversation that take a harmful turn is in the lack of human moderation.

Leave privacy alone and do not track personal information.  Should a real problem arise, forensic technology and a court order can always find the source of internet information.

Instead, moderate your site and content.  It's as simple as pushing the 'turn off' icon on the comments section.  (Read more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

No comments: