Reduction of Anonimity

This article by Jillian C. York brings a lot of depth and things i've never considered before about anonymity and the use of pseudonyms versus limiting pseudonyms. The use of Pseudonyms can present benefits to those who wish to post their views anonymously without fear of being judged. The article brought up some good points about how some individuals have very important reasons for staying anonymous such as reducing threats to their personal lives along with avoiding political or economic conflict. While i do agree that pseudonyms should be used, I believe they should be limited and used at a less frequent extent. There have been some cases such as the Amanda Todd case where major cyber bullying did occur, but i don't think using a pseudonym would have saved her. The death of Amanda Todd was caused by a mix of cyber bullying and actual bullying in which no one supported her and she felt alone in the world. In my opinion everyone should have the courage to use their actual name when speaking up.

Judgement will always exist and no matter what someone does, says, or posts, they will not get everyone's approval and that's what makes us diverse. The use of real names holds people responsible for their actions, if anything i believe that the use of pseudonyms increases hostility in the online environment because individuals will hide behind a username and will say many things that they know they wouldn't generally have the courage to say. One of the general concerns people have is personal security, but the fact is that your online experience is only as secure as you make it ; some people choose to post what they are doing or their current location on social media sites such as facebook and twitter while others can choose to stay off the radar when using facebook and simply use it as a means to communicate with friends and play mini games. My personal experience includes keeping my settings at a moderate level that i find appropriate, but the level of safety is in the eye of the beholder so every individual should have their own sense of what is appropriate so that they can maintain their safety without silencing their voice or masking their identity.

The use of pseudonyms have a different context when determining the ethos of a writer depending on the reason the pseudonym is being used. If there is a blog that you have read and are uncertain about the credibility, some people may look at the username and be more hesitant towards it if that author is masked with a pseudonym. In the writing format it should be considered very credible if the piece of writing is great and the author wasn't afraid to use his actual name, but a pseudonym can be just as reliable. When looking at an author who has written with a pseudonym, try to examine the writing and see if their pseudonym is something silly and unprofessional, or if the pseudonym represents some deep fact about the author and the meaning behind the writing. I would not use a pseudonym as a reason to discriminate a piece of writing or determine an author's ethos, instead i would try to look past that and see how the pseudonym reflects on the writing itself.

My opinion on the matter is still that Anonymity should be limited and heavily reduced in our regular day to day usage, but i don't think that it should be completely banned due to the fact that not everyone is the same and not offering the ability to stay anonymous to those who really need it would ruin our diversity as a whole. Use pseudonyms when needed, but we should try to encourage more free speech and maybe the desire to stay anonymous will eventually die out.