Posting Anonymous: Blessing or Cursing?

The Internet allows us access to all kinds of information about literally millions of different things. Internet forums become more specific as they deal with individual issues. The ability to anonymously post to an Internet forum can be seen as a blessing or a curse. I think it is actually both. There are many reasons why it could be seen either way, it all has to do with personal opinion.

The ability to post things anonymously to the Internet allows for more freedom of opinions because a person does not have to worry about any repercussions from what they might say. For example, someone might post something they don't want their family or friends to know about for a variety of different reasons. Another scenerio might be if a person posts something in regard to their job or employer. We have all heard or read about someone who has lost their job over something they have posted on the Internet. If you can give your opinions without giving your name, you can usually be a lot more honest and forthcoming. Also it allows for the ability to ask questions about subjects that you might be embarrassed or hesitant to ask about. An example of this would be a teenage girl who's looking for information about birth control, but is embarassed or afraid to ask her parent about it. This is very common. Internet forums that offer information about this subject would be very helpful.

There is also a negative side to being able to post anonymously. People posting on these sites are not going to be held accountable for anything they say. Therefore, some information on a forum may not even be true or backed up with any facts. The person posting may not even have any real knowledge of the subject. An Internet forum can be completely based on someone's opinion. An example of this in regards to the birth control issue would be a forum that was posted by a group or individual who is completely against any type of birth control and could give bad or incorrect information out to young girls who would not know the difference.

My opinion is it is both a blessing and a curse to be able to publish a forum on the Internet anonymously. My first reasoning for this is it gives you the freedom of speech without people arguing and attacking your opinions in a face to face manner. You might be in a position at your job where your employer would not agree with your opinion, however, if you can voice your opinion in this manner you don't have to worry about being reprimanded or corrected by your boss. Also, it allows you to express your feelings on a subject without personally being judged. Sometimes people just need a safe way to vent their feelings to make them feel better about things. You still have to weigh the positive against the negatives and realize that these forums could very often just be based on opinions. This type of freedom of speech does allow for arguments to be posted against something you may feel strongly about. Therefore, if you post a forum about something that may be very controversial, you should be aware of what could happen.