The Question and Answer Board

[chwdrhed]

I doubt many would. It really raises an interesting point though, doesn't it? Why is anonymity so important here when it is rarely available in the real world?

Perhaps a decent analogy is a neighborhood meeting or get together of some sort. Everyone knows who everyone is for the most part and yet it doesn't prevent us from participating. We don't hide in our homes afraid that the person down the street might stalk us because they know who we are. Why? Because we generally believe or are led to believe that we know who they are. We don't view them as a threat and hence are not uncomfortable with them knowing who we are. What's different here?

We don't know who anybody is. We could very well be passing the time with people we wouldn't be caught dead with. If we knew the true identity and history of everyone posting here would we be horrified at the truth about some? I guess my point is that the anonymity only solves a problem it itself has created. Would you act in a manner that might attract a stalker if you knew that your identity was public? I doubt it. No more so than you would at a block party. Would a stalker look for potential victims all the while exposing himself to discovery? Seems unlikely.

People treat each other very differently here than they do in normal face to face contacts. Anonymity makes that possible. Take it away and cyber space would be a very different place indeed.