ElectroVagrantHow did posting online change from, "Be careful what you put online!" to many sharing a lot under real names?
z3n0xI think it all started with Zuck wanting to turn Facebook profiles into the “Internet’s Driving License” or some shit about ten years ago: technologyreview.com/…/facebook-wants-to-supply-y…
HamartiogonicCan confirm. Before FB, almost nobody told their real name online. Nowadays you can easily find out who is a racist and who believes in conspiracy theories just by looking at what they post. Usually there’s also their real name and face attached to the post so that you can be sure who you are talking about.
How did this happen? FB made it normal and almost obligatory.
Why did it happen? So that FB could make more money. Simple monkey brain people like to socialize and share stuff with everyone, and FB is simply exploiting that vulnerability.
Can confirm. Before FB, almost nobody told their real name online. Nowadays you can easily find out who is a racist and who believes in conspiracy theories just by looking at what they post.
And more importantly, if you post something the racist conspiracy theorists don’t like, they know your real name and what you look like. So it makes anyone who doesn’t like unwanted attention from violent lunatics keep quiet, thereby emboldening the violent lunatics.
Oh, rats! You’re right. Didn’t think of that at first.
However, that thing is’t too different from the “mainstream” vs. “the others” situation we’ve had for millennia. Previously, it wasn’t acceptable to let your neighbors know you don’t conform to the generally accepted sexual norms or that your gender identity doesn’t match your biological gender. Not too long ago in Germany you couldn’t publicly support people from different ethnic backgrounds. There was even a period of time when it was believed that women don’t even have a soul. Arguing against that would have labeled you as “one of them” as opposed being an outstanding member of the “mainstream”. It’s just that whatever “mainstream” happens to mean seems to change from place to place and decade to decade.
The current era of diversity and acceptance is truly exceptional when you look at the big picture. Interestingly, using your name and your face in online conversations seems to bring ups back to to age of self-censorship. If your reputation is on the line, you better try to blend into the mainstream, even in online conversations.
Even if you’re entirely within the mainstream, you don’t want to risk upsetting some dangerous bigot. Or worse, a dangerous bigot with a following.