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Comment by keepper | Hacker News Reader

We haven't really tried "real identities". We've come close.

Real identities would require verification, which sites like FB only do after the fact.

I fear that a huge repercussion of the election issues is that we will get there. A real ID may be required for you to post comments in all websites. And i'm not sure how I feel about that. Reality is that it would drastically reduce comment trolling, if your real identify was viewable and searchable by all you know. But at what cost?

I really do wonder what is the root of trolling. What makes a "normal" person take an alter-ego/view/counter view, solely based on lack of face to face interaction...

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Most of the problems of the Internet are mimicked in real life. That's why I don't think "real identities" would solve much, to be honest. Before trolling, for instance, there was the art of the prank (some harmless, and some downright mean -- just like trolls!), and the term "rabble rouser" seems to date back at least a couple hundred years. Some people in real life interact with others in rather toxic manners, in one form or another.

I mean, you get toxic behavior even on something like Nextdoor, where you pretty much know it's the neighbors across the street. Technology has just made things more convenient -- social media removes any curation, and technology also has made some means of harassment much easier to execute.

Myself, personally, I avoid social media that encourages toxic behavior (which usually means, smaller, special interest type sites; social circles that you know; etc.). This involves some degree of moderation or self-selection.

I don't see a good way around limited moderation for Reddit either, which is unfortunate in that it is hard to moderate something that size well (it's usually inconsistent and often arbitrary-ish).

Reality is that it would drastically reduce comment trolling, if your real identify was viewable and searchable by all you know.

That is not at all clear, especially as a percentage of comments. There are plenty of sociopaths who are perfectly willing to troll under their real name. Meanwhile, more reasonable people may quite rationally be worried that expressing any opinion on a controversial issue will lead to online mobs trying to get them fired from their jobs, kicked out of school, or otherwise ostracized. Not to mention scenarios like being a gay teenager in a very socially conservative environment.

Reality is that it would drastically reduce comment trolling, if your real identify was viewable and searchable by all you know.

I don't think it would. Lots of people post horribly objectionable material under their own names on a regular basis, depending on their level of financial security, peer group, and social milieu.

What makes a "normal" person take an alter-ego/view/counter view, solely based on lack of face to face interaction...

Some people are horrible, and are just as unpleasant in real life as they are online.

> Reality is that it would drastically reduce comment trolling, if your real identify was viewable and searchable by all you know

Is this true? I've seen various studies saying that the opposite is actually true, but I can't currently find any of those studies. Does anyone have any sources?

EDIT: some sources, though I don't know the strength of their validity:

  - https://techcrunch.com/2012/07/29/surprisingly-good-evidence-that-real-name-policies-fail-to-improve-comments/

  - http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/07/17/google_plus_finally_ditches_its_ineffective_dangerous_real_name_policy.html

> A real ID may be required for you to post comments in all websites. [I]t would drastically reduce comment trolling, if your real identify was viewable and searchable by all you know. But at what cost?

The cost is that it would prevent people from anonymously reporting abuses, which means that fear of retaliation will have a chilling effect. We've already seen this where people get death threats, houses burned down, etc, when they do things like report sexual assault.

People should be allowed to be anonymous but only explicitly so. The problem now is we have people lying about who they are and using multiple accounts and other forum moderation abuse to push viewpoints, often paid to do so.

>at what cost?

I can see at the cost of making stolen identities worth even more.

As it is websites completely suck at keeping our 'anonymous' identity secure. Our email and passwords are hacked so commonly there are websites dedicated to tracking it. Now you're just adding 'real identities' to the brokered data. Any real trolls will be able to use this data from the dark net pretending to be you. Even worse, since real names are required, any employers will look for you on the internet, they will see your "I'm an anti-gay right wing pro-russian" profiles online and say "you are not a cultural fit for our company". You will have to take the time and effort to clean up what is said about you. Since it's a real identity, it's not going to change, and they already have all the information they need on you.

Good luck in that terrible future.

A lot of this is not "trolling" but genuine hate speech. People will post hate speech under their own bylines on news sites, all day long.

There are two kinds of people who use real names on FB: those who never post offensive content anyway (the vast majority), and those who simply don’t care if offensive content is associated with their real identity (a small minority).

Those who post offensive content and do care, find it completely trivial to get a fake name. FB’s enforcement of their policy is basically nonexistent. This is the second-biggest group of users.

> A real ID may be required for you to post comments in all websites.

I honestly don't think this will ever be the case. Because there is a lot of profit from an unmoderated comment store. Also because it'd be monumentally hard to actually make all sites compliant.

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