Summary
In Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, the author starts by discussing the concept of identity and how it is very loose on the internet. They then talk briefly about Usenet. Usenet is essentially an online bulletin board that is commonly used for information exchange. However sometimes people post things under a false identity giving them creditability that they do not actually have, which can be quite dangerous when getting information about certain matters. Later the author breaks down all the elements of a Usenet post and the general culture of the site. Finally, they begin to discuss the presence of deception on Usenet. One example of this comes in the form of trolls who try to start fights and assume fake identities in order to manipulate people. Some people even go as far as to pretend to be other users and tarnish their reputation. This behavior on Usenet signals how some online boards can generate toxic communities.
In 4chan and /b/: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community, the author begins to explain the basics of 4chan and /b/ board. 4chan is an image board that people can post on to discuss and socialize, they have many different sections but this study focuses on /b/ which is the board built on randomness. Some unique characteristics are that all posts are completely anonymous and posted content gets deleted as new content is posted. These facts then led them to discuss various elements of culture and statistics on 4chan. For example some users make use of special methods like tripcodes to partially circumvent anonymity, while others will archive and bump posts to do the same for the ephemerality.
Reflection
I found the article, Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, very reflective of behavior I have seen on the internet. However, I had never considered the ramifications of someone giving bad advice before, especially in a situation that could get someone hurt. I believe that getting bad advice from someone in the real world is different because you know just who that person is and they cannot fake their credentials. It is also easier to hold them accountable if something goes wrong. Honestly I think the best bet when reading opinions on the internet would be to take everything with a grain of salt and make sure you research what is said before you take action.
While the content on 4chan isn’t clean or even respectable I do find the concept and resultant culture quite interesting. On sites like Reddit there is a degree of anonymity in the sense that it would take a bit of work to track the actual user down, but posts are made with accounts that have reputations which can be affected by posts. There also is the whole culture of downvotes and upvotes where upvotes posts are shot up to the top and downvoted ones are hidden. 4chan seems to directly contradict this. While this does seem to have generated a cesspool I am sure there is some decent communication happening there due to people having complete anonymity. That way more controversial topics will be discussed instead of hidden away like they would be on Reddit. People will just generally be a more unhinged.
Questions
- What encourages people to troll others?
- Is there anyway to create an anonymous community that doesn’t degrade to producing offensive content? Or would that naturally happen when people are not held accountable?
- What benefits does ephemerality bring to an online community? What negatives?
