[1] Donath, Judith S. “Identity and deception in the virtual community.” Communities in cyberspace. Routledge, 2002. 37-68.
[2] Bernstein, Michael S., et al. “4chan and/b: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community.” ICWSM. 2011.
Summary
The common theme in both the papers is anonymity in an online community. Donath, J explains the ideas of identity and deception through a case study on Usenet. After explaining the structure of Usenet, the author goes on to explain in detail the different ways in which anonymity can be exploited and the repercussions of the same. On the flipside, in their work Bernstein, Michael S., et al take an empirical approach to argue that despite high anonymity and short lives of posts, 4chan continues to attract a significant user base.
Reflections
It’s impressive how Donath. S introduces the concepts of online anonymity and deception in an intuitive way through real-world analogies. This natural way of explaining puts complex ideas in a simpler context. There is a thin line between privacy and anonymity as highlighted by Donath. S. One would want complete privacy in an open online community where your data could be easily accessible to any random person on the globe. Again, I would want to know the identity of the person I am interacting with, which would add credibility to the exchange of information. So where do we draw the line? Because the views about online anonymity are subjective. There is a grey area which needs to be defined clearly. One social media platform that does an excellent job at maintaining anonymity as well as giving credibility to users is Steam. To keep this article brief, I have compiled a separate document on how Steam balances both credibility and online anonymity. [here]. This paper also reminds me of a quote from the recent movie “Ready Player One” by Steven Spielberg, which is based on the concept of a VR World where people can live in alternate realities and it says – “People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay because of all the things that they can be”. Anonymity does not only give you the freedom to share your thoughts but also provides an opportunity to be something different in the virtual space with little consequences.
The second paper which studies 4chan gives limited insight into online anonymity. Is it because of the anonymous interaction on 4chan, that it attracts a lot of traffic or is it because of the kind of content that is shared there. Majority of 4chan posts are either related to memes, video games, animes, culture or hobby discussions. Apart from few instances of fake news and death hoaxes, the nature of content published does not demand that a solid identity or credibility be associated with content publishers. While, on websites like Quora and Reddit, where more serious and useful topics are discussed, it only makes sense that a pseudonym or some sort of credible profile bolster the poster’s claim. The authors should also have considered the demographic statistics. How do the demographics play a role here? For example, user base average age is important because the perception of anonymity itself depends on maturity. One simple example to highlight this is that when email service providers first came out, almost every teenager created an embarrassing email address. It is also interesting how certain trends like “bump” are translated into modern-day upvotes and certain customs still remain to be a part of online social communities.
In conclusion, the effects of anonymity on the online community vary from one online community to other. Both Omegle and 4chan provide complete anonymity but only 4chan has a significant user base while the former has lost most of its users. There can not be any set measure as to how much anonymity will guarantee the success of the community. It depends greatly on the nature of communication taking place.
