Reddit's Case for Anonymity on the Internet (theatlantic.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: All that's required to create an account and post on any of Reddit's 1.2 million forums is an email address, a username, and a password. You don't need to tell the company your birthday, your gender, or even your real name. As Huffman put it on Thursday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, "Reddit doesn't want the burden of personal information ... and is not selling personal information."

Huffman argued that anonymity on Reddit actually makes using the site "more like a conversation one has in real life" than other exchanges on the internet. "When people detach from their real-world identities, they can be more authentic, more true to themselves," he claimed.

Comments

Re:Pseudonymity

[cre1mer]

I've been told that Slashdot trolls are nicer than Reddit trolls.

What Reddit really is

[Anonymous Coward]

Huffman argued that anonymity on Reddit actually makes using the site "more like a conversation one has in real life"

Reddit is more like being told there are cool kids hanging out, chilling, and having a good time, but finding out that it's just a couple of retards mumbling to each other.

Re:Pseudonymity

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a cow. Cows say moo. MOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! Moo cows MOOOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU PSEUDONYMOUS COW!!

Re:Pseudonymity

[Waffle Iron]

With usernames people will still go through your comment history and judge you on previous unrelated comments.

I've done that, Mr. "Coward", and it's clear that you are by far the worst user on this site.

You always post dozens of off-topic comments and trolls on every single story, going back decades. How do you manage to do that? Do you even get any sleep at all?

Re:I want to say Unpopular Opinions Anonymously

[Cro Magnon]

I agree with most of your examples. However, saying that Windows PC are the best computers is clearly hate speech and should be illegal.