Online anonymity: study found ‘stable pseudonyms’ created a more civil environment than real user names

Comments

• RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  We built a data set of 45 million comments on news articles on the Huffington Post website between January 2013 and February 2015.

  I am no expert but I feel like this is a really bad data set choice for this study.

  source

  • KuroeNekoDemon@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It is. They should’ve used Reddit and Twitter posts/comments from it’s start to the present to get a more accurate database

    source

    • awwwyissss@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Or from the start up until like 2016 when the shills and bots started showing up en masse.

      source
  • MomoTimeToDie@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s just a bad data set for basically anything

    source
  • allo@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    we built a dataset of three of my comments and found that…

    source
• Sibbo@sopuli.xyz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Interesting. But did they reach the correct conclusion?

  In the second phase, users had to authenticate their accounts, but did not have to use their real name with their comments. That meant they could be anonymous to other users but could be identified by the platform. If they behaved badly and were blocked, they couldn’t just make a new account and carry on – at least, not without creating a new authenticating account on Facebook. This made personas on this commenting space less disposable. They became “stable pseudonyms”.

  So, maybe the reason for the more civilised discussion in the second phase was just that they now had working moderation? As opposed to the no-account-or-whatsoever from before?

  source
• Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The greater internet fuckwad theory applies to all things digital. It turns 20 this april: knowyourmeme.com/…/greater-internet-fuckwad-theor…

  source
• Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I was not sure where to share that “interesting blog post” so here is it on the main community. Most of us care about anonymity, so always interesting to see that it’s supported by evidences

  source
• MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  A persona allows people who otherwise wouldn’t to experiment with being magnanimous and making/admitting mistakes(some more cautious IRL, others incapable of backing down).

  OTOH, there’s always people who play Paladins on tabletop, and the mitigating factor of the Block button - most who don’t want to aren’t forced to engage with the worst of us, and blocking someone who knows you IRL has a more complicated cost/benefit calculation. This is one thing I feel cancel cultoure and the younger generations get right; Screw the other consequences when not blocking that shitty uncle, boss, teacher, coworker, celebrity, whoever, is letting them monopolize some of your personal time and mental energy.

  source
• N0body@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  How dare anyone impugn the integrity of Weedlord Bonerhitler69? The man stands as a colossus of virtue.

  source