The video I checked out online was LADY GAGA – BAD ROMANCE , because it is one of the most watched videos on youtube. People are hilariously ignorant….

for every one good comment there is a one troll comment...

Depending on the person, the advantages and disadvantages of remaining anonymous varies. For myself, I think remaining anonymous is not a big deal. I do not go around negatively commenting on people’s pictures, articles, and videos, and if I decide to comment, it will always be something nice.

“if you have nothing nice to say don’t say it at all.”

Of course, if everyone followed that saying, the world would be a much sweeter and kinder place.

I do believe that remaining anonymous is that person’s own right. If they do not want to be known as who they really are online, there is not much you and I can do about it. An advantage of being anonymous is the obvious reason, saying or writing something that you can’t be traced back to. Also, if you have an alias online, you can live out somebody that you might’ve always wanted to be like or just let loose without thinking too much about it. The disadvantages definitely outweigh the advantages. I mean in the midst of you feeling better about bi**hing out at someone online anonymously, the other person may be hurt or in fury. Also, you may be trying to live out your dream of being someone you always wished to be or not be, but that is also identity theft to some extent with other legal issues. I guess what I’m saying is, the damage caused by staying anonymous has a lot more consequences then the anonymous person getting their two minutes of fame or vent out. For example, the teens that died mentioned in our article “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt”, where tribute pages went viral and even reached and disrupted the homes of the parents of the girls. Those situations took being anonymous to something totally on another level, it became bullying and harassment.

People are just a lot more comfortable saying things online because its not direct, face-to-face communication, therefore, it is easier. Many people cannot look you in your eyes and say mean things, whereas online you can become who you want and no one would even know (maybe).

I think the web created this phenomenon because the web is already an open source. Anything can happen online, especially nowadays with all the social networking and sharing information business. Not only do people want to be able to comment on others postings but also the people posting want comments themselves. And once the person posting allows others to comment, can you really get mad at someone criticizing your public work?

Honestly, any text communication or any communication online, can be easily miscommunicated and misinterpreted. So to determine whether you are being deceived online, or not, is a bit sketchy. I say this because I could go on your page and comment on your video “wow this sucks” but does that mean I deceived you online, or is it merely my opinion? To look further than that, if someone is pretending to be you by creating a fake profile, then that’s deceiving. But you would never know unless you did an extensive search like we did for this class. OR if they intentionally sent you a message or something. It is a creep fest online.

To combat some of these insane creepy issues many websites now give the FLAG or REPORT option. This allows a person to basically click a simple link and report it as SPAM or offensive. That’s a improvement. As far as any other developments, I’m not sure. Like I said before, you can’t control what people do online. On most websites, when accounts are created, a verification email is sent to make sure the email is real and the person is real. But the internet becomes crazier and more intelligent day-by-day and new bots are invented to pass those security measures sometimes. It’s true that it’s a dangerous place out in the real world, but in today’s age, it is a much more dangerous place in cyberspace.

Trolls are looking for attention, they feed off of it. People should know now to talk to strangers and everyone is entitled to their opinions. You cant please everyone, ignore the trolls and report them if things get out of control.

If you are really interested in creeping online, here’s how. (lol)