There is this common point that all these people pushing for us to use our real names on the web espouse – it will bring civility back to the conversation.
Ya. Okay.
What dream world are you people living in?
Just because people use their real names, whether forced to or not, it doesn’t mean that they know how to be civil. Just check any thread of a conversation about politics, sex or any subject you want to pick and you will see some of the most uncivilized comments coming from people using their real names.
Real names are no guarantee that people will think before opening their mouths and showing how nasty, opinionated, and cruel. If anything I have found people who post anonymously or use pseudonyms have more couth and express themselves with more intelligence than their named counterparts.
Mike Masnick at Techdirt had what is really a typical example of this in a post today:
Yup, that real name thing sure makes the conversation a lot more civil.
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