Conversation, Community, and Facebook

[innerSpaceman]

The anonymity of the internet has always allowed for people to say and do things they would NEVER in real life, and hide behind that. But I don't think that was the reason behind the old-school internet "handle" that everyone used for their email addresses and on message boards. I think that was all just for fun, to have a nickname in the internet world. It was affectionate, and I sort of miss it ... but I welcome the more grown up internet universe where I'm simply my real name on Facebook and my email address is myrealname@gmail.com.


The internet offers a sense of anonymity whether we use our real names or not. Everyone here knows who I am - yet I often hit the enter button before realizing it's something I would and should never say to anyone I.R.L.

So I don't think we hid behind the handles. I think we hide behind the keyboard no matter what.