Few sites give their users a platform to share ideas quite like 4chan’s—a virtual Speakers’ Corner—where anyone can express their opinions on equal footing. Every person who creates a thread has that thread appear at the very top of the index, and no amount of karma or social capital can save it from the depths of irrelevance. It’s ideas, not reputations, that shine here.

    4chan isn’t without its problems and is by no means a utopia, but in many ways provides an accurate representation of who we are: flawed, imperfect. I see beauty in that, and something worthy of continued exploration.



thenewgreen:

I've had conversations with people that seem to think that anonymity means that people are more prone to lie. I'm not sure this is true, I'd be surprised if it were true here, at Hubski. I think it's the opposite. When you know that your neighbor, mom, sister, former classmates etc can all see what you are saying and associate it with you, you're more likely to lie and to say that which is socially acceptable. I think in a community where anonymity exists we tend to get more honesty (sometimes brutal honesty) from people. Many of us have usernames here that can easily be traced to our real names (myself included) but the anonymity is just enough to allow me to speak freely.

I agree with Chris Poole that we could potentially lose something extremely valuable if anonymity were to be tossed aside.


posted 3714 days ago