# Note to newbies: We are not Anonymous **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 8, 2018, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667 "2018-06-08T05:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/1 "2018-06-08T05:40:33Z")
[Here’s an interesting article I stumbled upon.](https://boingboing.net/2014/12/31/how-imageboard-culture-shaped.html) It was written 3.5 years ago but I found it quite enlightening. While reading the article I started thinking about some of the threads and discussions I’ve seen on Dope boards and speculating that perhaps some of our relatively new thread contributors might have come from anon-type venues. And so I thought it might be worthwhile to point to that article and emphasize This Is NOT an Anonymous Image Board. No, this is, as the article mentions, a more traditional Internet forum. We have our _nom de plumes_, our _alter identities_, our _handles_, as the term was borrowed from CB Radio slang in the early days of Bulletin Board Systems and On-Line Chat Rooms. We might not be cyber-foolish enough to provide our real names, but we do return to our Dope personae time and again in order to create original threads, post responses in existing threads, and engage in lively debate as those discussion threads evolve. [Some of us even dredge up zombie-threads to contribute comments that may or may not be relevant.] Most importantly (and in stark contrast to the anon boards), we [I’d hazard to say most of us] return again and again to these boards and our personae in order to build and enjoy our reputations – as well as to fight ignorance and have our own moments of ignorance fought. And because our collective goal (and the purpose of The Straight Dope venue) is the whittling-away of ignorance, certain practices in anon culture are basically unacceptable here. Personal attacks and harrassment top the list, of course, and (apparently unlike anon venues) we have moderators who are actively reading the threads and issuing warnings (and even expulsions) to participants who run afoul of the rules of civil discourse. In light of the following… > [@](#): > > This tension in anon culture, that every single person is empowered by the whole of the group and thus merits treatment as a peer, turns these individual hostile challenges into a storm of entitled demands for attention. Anons see themselves as peers to everyone, empowered by the support of the group, and thus entitled to participate in any conversation they aren’t forcibly prevented from entering. Even if, for example, cultural critic Anita Sarkeesian didn’t have to deal with harassers and bad faith people, she couldn’t possibly argue with every comer over every point of disagreement. However, not doing so is seen as a sign of the weakness of her arguments, in anon thinking. > > This makes anons perfect cover for harassers. Not being willing to accept bad faith arguments on their own terms and debate them as if they merited a response is seen as proof of the weakness of your arguments. Therefore, it is very easy for actual bad-faith arguers to barrage people with nonsense and demand to waste the time of people they want to harass, using the potential ire of a swarm of anons as leverage. This has long been one of the main tactics of the anon harassers targeting Anita Sarkeesian. She invited argument then didn’t defend her position! It must be worthless. …I feel it’s important to note that on the Straight Dope boards it appears to be considered bad form to barrage people with nonsense, to nit-pick on typographical errors in a contributor’s legal argument or complain about the dates of a historical event being cited a day or two off, to engage in that host of faulty arguments (e.g. straw man, hasty generalization, et cetera) that we know are cheap distractions (including, for that matter, red herrings) – in short, to act as if the Straight Dope was an anon venue. This, by the way, is why CITE? is such a quick and effective contribution to a discussion, for it stands in direct contrast to the anon culture’s ranking of consensus as more desirable than factual correctness. After all, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was rooted in a consensus of opinion\*! If we are seeking knowledge – or at least trying to reduce ignorance, then it is more important to get the facts straight than to get everyone to agree they like them. I think we should be proud of this board and its accomplishments toward the stated mission. We seem to do a pretty good job of sharing facts and debating points with civility, mostly without piling on as if numerical strength is a sufficient proxy for a good argument or devolving into juvenile insult-fests. Good job peoples! –G! - While “group think” was a sociological concept well before the USA had a Space Program, the term entered mainstream discourse after analysis of the Challenger disaster was publicized. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/2 "2018-06-08T06:04:39Z")
But are we your personal army? Do we like mudkips? Are we going to give you up? (Answers to all these questions and more, on this episode of _Dope_!) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/3 "2018-06-08T11:26:23Z")
Oh. When I read the thread title, I thought he meant that we weren’t a bunch of people who wore Guy Fawkes masks and tried to expose Scientology. Well, we DO try to expose Scientology. But we don’t dress up for it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/4 "2018-06-08T11:48:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Do we like mudkips? I heard we did. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/5 "2018-06-08T11:51:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Are we going to give you up? Are we gonna let you down? ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/6 "2018-06-08T11:56:58Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Are we gonna let you down? Every single time! :smack:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/7 "2018-06-08T12:25:01Z")
What does everyone else think about this? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/8 "2018-06-09T01:00:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Oh. > > Well, we DO try to expose Scientology. But we don’t dress up for it. Speak for yourself!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/9 "2018-06-09T01:33:56Z")
In Soviet Durpistan, Scientology doesn’t dress up when it exposes itself to YOU! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/note-to-newbies-we-are-not-anonymous/815667/10 "2018-06-09T03:05:39Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > We have our _nom de plumes_, our _alter identities_, our _handles_, as the term was borrowed from CB Radio slang in the early days of Bulletin Board Systems and On-Line Chat Rooms. We might not be cyber-foolish enough to provide our real names, but we do return to our Dope personae time and again in order to create original threads… Not sure if people here really have _alter identities_. My “posting persona” is no different from my Actual Real-Life Self. If I give an opinion, I believe it. If I tell a story, guess what? It really happened. To _moi._ One thing I like about this board is that if a poster does exaggerate or fabricate their beliefs, an opinion, or a story just to get a rise out of people, they’ll get called on it. This place is pretty good at seeing through insincere postings.