Good-bye anonymous comments, we hardly knew yee?

My immortal beloved transplanted state NJ, is proposing a ban on all anonymous posts in internet forums. It’s intended to prevent potential defamatory remarks about someone that may damage a person’s image or reputation. Thing is, anonymous comments are what make the internet great. Like Alan Smithee at the end of a bad movie when the director wants to disassociate themselves from it, what better way to save your career from further damage?

In this case, write a bad post? No problem. Anonymous has you covered. Write a good post? No problem there either. Anonymous did it. And if it’s a great post, it may even go down in quote history: “When in Rome... .” Yeah, he wrote that. Anonymous can also be plural. Anonymous persons. In fact, Seinfeld rode to fame on the back of anonymous. “Who are these people?” Why, they’re anonymous Jerry.

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While the intention may be good, this just smacks of a kneejerk reaction to an isolated case where someone got their feelings hurt online, and now they want a little internet justice. Another example of a scenario least likely to happen dictating policy for everyone. Great going NJ, but I got you beat before this is even signed into law:

1) More people will just sign up for even more fake yahoo usernames like ‘Ilovedisco1976’ and post comments through a series of proxy sites OR,

2) It will force them to become lawyers who smoke, and start including editorial disclaimers along with the words, ‘allegedly.’ Not to mention, chalking the post up to being nothing more than one’s own ‘opinion.’ You only need look at talk radio and all the comments made under the guise of ‘commentary’ to see how much shit they get away with.

Yo, NJ, there’s really an easier way. Just have the webmasters turn off the anonymous comments feature found in most forums. Works like a charm. Besides, anonymous comments are the training wheels of internet forum lurkers everywhere while they get their courage up to use a real user name like, makethelogobigger.

Yeah, no fake name there.



Tags: forums, law, New Jersey