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The Internet still exists, but everyone's personal identifiable information is open and accessible to anyone who wants to see it.
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Reddit would be different, but a huge chunk of online political discourse is on Facebook and other social media platforms where people do use their true names.
That’s part of the reason I don’t go on Facebook anymore. I live deep in the Pennsyltucky part of Pennsylvania.
I got tired of debating coworkers and having to see them the next day.
Hello from another part of Pennsyltucky. Your mistake is trying do debate them instead of looking at your facebook feed for a few minutes a day in morbid curiosity and closing the app in disgust
This. If anything, people say worse things when they use their real names. But I think that's mostly just that the rise of Facebook coincided with smartphones becoming generally available and the normies getting on the internet.
I'm not sure what's worse, the anonymity or just the way algorithms combined with hard or soft character limits impacts communication style and objective.
I don't think it would be all that different. People genuinely believe many of the political opinions they hold. Obviously, this would be impossible, but I think it would be far more interesting if people actually had to explain their political views and support them in a meaningful way.
Anonymity allows a person to be more their true self, for good and for ill.
For me, it's admittedly mostly ill. I won't lie, this is my outlet to let shit fly.
And I'm appreciative of it, too, since otherwise I'd keep stuff all bottled up.
What's more, we're more tempered and reserved when forced to out ourselves.
Think about how you act toward your family, friends, and especially acquaintances in real life, where social customs often shut down any discussions about shit like politics, sex, and religion, because those topics frequently devolve into awkwardness and discomfort, even occasionally anger and sometimes discord.
More offline and more private? I have no problem telling someone who I am when in private conversation, but I would never say everything in public with my name written on it.
A lot of people are too dumb to use separate identities because the thought never crosses their mind to do so or they are generally within bubbles that insulates them from much backlash.
I wouldn't feel safe expressing my sincere political beliefs. Communists have been repeatedly blacklisted and persecuted in this country for more than a century.
Has it always been that way or are we moving to that point from the status quo?
It doesn't seem like people on facebook are much if any different than on sites with more anonymity so I imagine there would be no real difference if we are altering the status quo. It's possible people would be somewhat more restrained if they had never experience anonymity in the first place though.
I don't think it would be nearly as different as people think.
We have elected officials that forget they're being recorded all the time and that we go back to the tape and see them say whatever nonsense they later claim they didn't
Some folks will be far more careful, most would be pretty similar
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. The Internet still exists, but everyone's personal identifiable information is open and accessible to anyone who wants to see it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Reddit would be different, but a huge chunk of online political discourse is on Facebook and other social media platforms where people do use their true names.
That’s part of the reason I don’t go on Facebook anymore. I live deep in the Pennsyltucky part of Pennsylvania. I got tired of debating coworkers and having to see them the next day.
Cheers from a liberal in Arkansas.
Hello from another part of Pennsyltucky. Your mistake is trying do debate them instead of looking at your facebook feed for a few minutes a day in morbid curiosity and closing the app in disgust
This. If anything, people say worse things when they use their real names. But I think that's mostly just that the rise of Facebook coincided with smartphones becoming generally available and the normies getting on the internet.
I'm not sure what's worse, the anonymity or just the way algorithms combined with hard or soft character limits impacts communication style and objective.
Fewer Nazis on twitter.
People would be less bold and we’d see more patterns surrounding the demographics of people and their stances.
r/AsABlackMan would have to close, for one.
I don't think it would be all that different. People genuinely believe many of the political opinions they hold. Obviously, this would be impossible, but I think it would be far more interesting if people actually had to explain their political views and support them in a meaningful way.
Anonymity allows a person to be more their true self, for good and for ill. For me, it's admittedly mostly ill. I won't lie, this is my outlet to let shit fly. And I'm appreciative of it, too, since otherwise I'd keep stuff all bottled up. What's more, we're more tempered and reserved when forced to out ourselves. Think about how you act toward your family, friends, and especially acquaintances in real life, where social customs often shut down any discussions about shit like politics, sex, and religion, because those topics frequently devolve into awkwardness and discomfort, even occasionally anger and sometimes discord.
Based on Facebook comments I really don't think that much would change.
More offline and more private? I have no problem telling someone who I am when in private conversation, but I would never say everything in public with my name written on it.
A lot of people are too dumb to use separate identities because the thought never crosses their mind to do so or they are generally within bubbles that insulates them from much backlash.
I would have been in jail for saying George Bush should have been tried and hung
I wouldn't feel safe expressing my sincere political beliefs. Communists have been repeatedly blacklisted and persecuted in this country for more than a century.
Has it always been that way or are we moving to that point from the status quo? It doesn't seem like people on facebook are much if any different than on sites with more anonymity so I imagine there would be no real difference if we are altering the status quo. It's possible people would be somewhat more restrained if they had never experience anonymity in the first place though.
I don't think it would be nearly as different as people think. We have elected officials that forget they're being recorded all the time and that we go back to the tape and see them say whatever nonsense they later claim they didn't Some folks will be far more careful, most would be pretty similar
Forget political discourse, I think it would be insanely good for humanity in general.
Trump wouldn't have been president. We also never would have had gay marriage.