I've been browsing through Seth Godin’s brain farts recently and came across his argument for no anonymity on the Web. It goes something like "when people are anonymous, there are fewer social enforcements for good behavior, so they get bad. Real bad." He points to ebay's reputation system as a great example of accountability providing a foundation for successful social transactions.

Recent revelations that people using CIA and FBI computers are manipulating Wikipedia entries seems to confirm Seth's argument. Reuters has a great quote from a CIA spokesman: "the agency always expects its computer systems to be used responsibly." Implicit in that statement is that anonymously editing public Wikipedia content for personal or political gain is irresponsible. Boo anonymity.

But is Seth really right? Is Second Life a mere pixilated porn parlor? What is the value there? What about "H" Meetups? Any value to anonymity there? Or furry conventions? These are all grey areas, and I suppose people could argue that you only get herpes because you're bad, and furries are why Islamic Terrorists hate America.  What about something tamer like WebMD message boards?

And that's where the argument starts to break down, when we remember that people are cruel and judgmental, and Internet anonymity shields us from the slings and arrows of public opinion. I was reminded of this reality while watching this trailer from PostSecret:

Wow. How many of those postcards would've been sent if the sender had to sign her name? Watch to the end and you'll see a sobering alert: the phone number for America's suicide prevention hotline. If someone's dark secret is that they're planning to sort their shotgun collection by barrel flavor, isn't it a good thing that we have anonymous communication outlets? Perhaps Catholic priests, who though sworn to secrecy still hear confessions from behind a screen, can provide a valuable insight in this area.

I'll have to think some more about factors that make anonymity a good or bad thing in a given situation, but I don't think we can realistically dismiss it as a valuable aspect of Internet socialization. I'd like to hear your thoughts and comments, even if you remain anonymous.