Are you really anonymous here?
Robert Parry's post on the Foothill Cities Blog got me thinking about Internet anonymity and how important it is to people visiting and commenting on blogs. Centinel has another post addressing the same issue from a different perspective here.
Granted, the nature of the newspaper business is anything but anonymous. My name is on every story I write or contribute to and my picture is here on the blog and in the paper twice a week. Taking this a step further, we shy away from sources we can't name.
But blogs are different. You choose to come here, you choose to comment and you choose to take on whatever identity you want. That said, this site does keep track of IP addresses of commenters and I have (from time to time) looked at and compared those IP addresses.
I have not (and will not) share that information with anyone. Other than me, there are approximately five people that have access to this site's IP information -- none of them are even remotely interested in finding out who you are, in fact the recent software upgrade has made that task quite a bit more difficult.
I want to know what you think, so I've put together a poll. Feel free to comment as well.
Comments
The Woodward and Bernstein of the Nineteen Hundred Seventies salute you, and so do I-for your ethics/credibility.
Posted by: Miss Havisham | May 8, 2008 11:30 AM
Angela moyer for
Posted by: Angela myers moyer | May 8, 2008 11:38 AM
Frank-
For the record, I am aware of others playing shenanigans with their IDs (e.g. sockpuppetry, etc.).
Under normal circumstances, I would not "out them." However, given the extraordinarily repulsive nature of Hay/Bad Boy's comments, and their tie to a City Councilman I felt it was the right thing to do.
If a councilman, or his close associate, is spewing such venom while claiming to suppor the police, he is a liar and the people have a right to know. The information on his IP popped to my attention (I didn't initially go looking for it).
If HBB had limited himself to calling the police greedy, I would probably not have said anything. That is roughly consistent with Councilman Adams' position, here-to-for. But there is some great irony in having such things spew from an office that has a "We support the police" sign 10-feet from the front door.
Posted by: Robert C. J. Parry | May 8, 2008 11:48 AM
Is it really tour call to make? Just aking...........
Posted by: Anonymous | May 9, 2008 12:37 AM
The funny thing people seem to forget. Your IP is tracked by every website you go to.
In this situation I think it was appropriate to out the poster as the comments were out of line.
Most of the time we just don't have the time to bother tracking them down. An IP won't give the exact street address you need court orders served on the provider to find out who the IP is given to. Frankly, no one I know has the time or funds to do such a thing.
In the case here commenters need to think for a second and look at the issues. What you aren't getting is that the IP showed in an email from a commenter to RJCP the address he was writing from. The dummy used his employers email server and it showed clearly. That was the tip off that something was amiss and to dig.
Posted by: frazgo | May 9, 2008 6:32 AM
myers moyer Angela
Posted by: Angela il moyer | May 10, 2008 1:58 PM
Would you bother to dig if the person posting a comment agreed with you? Treat them like the anonymous jerks they are. Trying to track them down seems a bit obsessive and a manefistaion of some misplaced priorities.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 12, 2008 4:17 PM