4Chan’s Moot (Christopher Poole) and Mark Zuckerberg of some social network called Facebook, seem to have very differing opinions on internet identity. One is in the anonymity camp (I won’t say who to make sure he remains anonymous) the other is in the open identity camp. Both are right but I think there is an optional middle ground.
Mark Zuckerberg is arguing that Facebook log-ins should become the defacto identifier for the internet user. Your pass to the internet without having to log-in or remember too many log-ins. I tend to use the handle mattbambow everywhere, so Zuckerberg seems to be right. For areas where I want to identify myself and am happy to be called out on things I say, I always use mattbambow and generally log in through Facebook Connect, enabling me to comment quickly and easily.
As we pointed out yesterday and as Christopher Poole pointed out in a speech at SXSW, the openess of the Internet means these comments can be seen and interpreted in anyway the reader wants them to be. You might be reading this thinking what an idiot, or better yet, what a genius. I am hoping the latter. What Poole, Moot, Chris, argues is that in his site, 4Chan, people interact more freely because of their anonymity. Only the brave reveal their true identity in 4Chan. He says that the ability to do this leads to more creativity, people experimenting, and playing.
I think both these arguments are essentially right, but how about this for an alternative. I log-in with my Facebook account, meaning the site has all the information from me that it needs, it reduces spamming and is more secure for the site. However, once logged in I can choose to act anonymously. That way I get to be both creative and connected at the same time.
