Its so easy for someone to sit behind a computer and say they support a war when its other peoples children that are dieing and coming home with arms and legs amputated For every war there should be a draft,with no deferments.All people under age 55 should be eligible and draftees picked equally from every tax bracket. If that happened there would be a big change of heart for those that support these wars from behind their computer screens
Well dude I ran for Congress in '04 and I publicly debated policy. If a law were passed eliminating anonymity on public message boards I'd be totally supportive. Somehow I don't think Common Sense would have had the same impact if written by a guy named painintheass.
By "law" I'm being facetious rat. Hell I oppose most legislation. At the same time though I find it weird when pseudonyms take ridiculous, scandalous shots at folks who put themselves out there on the front lines. It's like when I read these insipid posts on newspaper blogs. John Kass writes in his own name. Should the Trib facilitate some "pen name" calling Kass an idiot? I fucked with Rich Roeper of the Sun-Times the other day. I used my real name. After all he uses his.....
You fail to realize the real value of anonymity. It is no different than going to a bar or a coffee house, making up a name, and talking shit. No difference. You would try to end that? ET community lounge is just that. A lounge. People hang out, just like a coffee shop, a bar, etc. This is for entertainment. If some idiot says "I go to ET Community Lounge for my news and information" that person is a moron. Anyone who takes what is said by strangers in a bar or coffee house seriously is a fool...same here. Right to privacy is what keeps it real...and not real at the same time. That you would compare what goes on here to a major newspaper is just absurd, absurd...
I agree. ET policy doesn't piss me off but I think it's just insane when I go to a "reputable" site like the WSJ and read the nutty stuff they allow anon posters to publish.
I think it all depends on where the major newspapers place these things. Remember when Doonesbury was forced off the funny papers section into the op ed section? Ridiculous. By now, I think that people understand that blogs are not to be viewed with the same scrutiny as the front page stuff, nor even of the caliber and quality as the op ed section. If anything, perhaps all of this influx of information and misinformation and the blog world will force people to depend more on their own research of facts, and less than on the appointed talking heads who are providing opinion instead of facts. Look at Fox News as a political reaction to what the right wing didn't like about CNN and what they called the liberal media... I don't think Fox News should be censored, let the people figure it out that they are as much of a propaganda firm as CNN or another other media firm that is owned by major corporations.