HERE’S THE ANSWER

Gleaned from this thread as of 8/18 2:18PM

At least I think this is the answer. Or answers.

  1. Because when you take the IRL identity stuff out of the process it makes communication smoother.

  2. Tradition. Yes, we do it this way because it’s the way we’ve been doing it for a long time. Since the birth of Facebook or whatever.

  3. So crazy people won’t track me down. Which seems crazy. But that’s just the kind half-acknowledged half-conscious consensual fantasy that people seem to buy into. So maybe it’s true.

  • Maharashtra@lemmy.world
    15·
    1 year ago

    No. I don’t enjoy being anonymous, but the problem lies in bodies, organizations, and people abusing the non-anonymity.

    It’s like

    • so you enjoy wearing a space-suit
    • not really, I’d rather run around butt-naked, but given that the environment is so deadly, I’d die if I were to strip off of my space-suit

    Do you understand the difference?

      • GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        1 year ago

        Plenty of things. Doxxing, identity theft, harassment, etc. Do you really want the world knowing who you actually are? To be able to find your address just by searching your name?

        • froghorse@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          34·
          1 year ago

          Well “doxxing” is just publishing your real identity. And if you weren’t anonymous then that would be moot.

          So it’s the address. You are afraid of crazy people tracking you down.

          • Uncle@lemmy.ca
            51·
            1 year ago

            why have you not posted your address and phone number yet? what are you scared of?

          • Apepollo11@lemmy.world
            1·
            1 year ago

            There’s also the risk of identity theft, people contacting your place of work, and other intrusions into your life.

            • froghorse@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              That’s the “crazy people tracking you down” reason.

              There’s gotta be a better reason.

              One I saw here is “it make our communication smoother when you take all the IRL identity stuff out of the equation” (to paraphrase).

      • Maharashtra@lemmy.world
        51·
        1 year ago

        Advertisement. Malware. Scams. Abuse of trust. Current and future exploits that I have no knowledge, or understanding of.

        • froghorse@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          11·
          1 year ago

          So if they know your identity then they can use that to take advantage of you somehow.

          Can you give me an example?

          • Maharashtra@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 year ago

            Can you give me an example?

            Of course, but bear in mind it’s going to be a crude, primitive example.

            Imagine me talking to - unknown fact to me - a pedophile over the Internet. For reasons unknown I made him angry. Angry enough to stalk me, invade the privacy of my home and steal my child, just to make me suffer because he felt I did him wrong.

            My anonymity protects me against such an occurrence.

            • froghorse@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              12·
              1 year ago

              Ya, the “crazy people tracking you down” reason. I get that reason. But really? I mean, it’s a kinda crazy reason? Are there that many crazy people here?

              One nice reason I saw was “it makes communication smoother”.

              Also, maybe it’s just tradition.

              • GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                1 year ago

                I could be pretty crazy, you don’t know who I am and I don’t know you. Also, people can lurk without your knowledge and not even make themselves known to you. Those are the scariest to me.

          • Deestan@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 year ago

            Friend of mine dared to have an opinion while being female.

            She had shit sent to her mailbox, cat insurance providers sending her collection notices because someone signed her up for premium insurance under the name “Whore Cunt” and didn’t pay. And a lot more.

            I have more examples with more people but I don’t want to enumerate them. They make me pissed and I will struggle to get to sleep. For more examples, spend a few hours digging into Gamer Gate history and see how that went for anyone having an opinion that angered the angry mobs.