Friday, December 07, 2007

Anonymously Speaking - Part 3


Over at the website of WHMP radio's "Morning News," with Chris Collins & Tom Vannah, I found a podcast from an episode recorded this past November where Collins goes off on anonymous posters at Masslive who have insulted him and Tom on the "TV and Radio" forum.

My feelings on anonymous posters has already been documented. Collins more-or-less reiterates the common complaint us "known" posters have - that anonymous posters are generally abusive and insulting because they are "somebody else" when they're online, and don't have to be concerned about paying any social (or legal) consequences for their words/actions.

Collins mentions that the Masslive folks do a good job of patrolling the threads looking for slanderous or libelous material, which they do. I just sometimes wish they would deliver the editorial sword to some of the more childish and abusive posts. But I guess drawing the line between poor taste and poking fun can be a difficult one.

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1 Comments:

At 1:37 PM, Blogger Tish Grier said...

Hi Bill,

actually, most people working in mainstream media (and, believe me, the Valley Advocate IS mainstream media) know the difference between childishness, bad taste and libelous statements. Often they like to "play dumb" on the matter because they've got some difficulties understanding life online--not to mention that it's some of their own kind (read: journalists and media people) who are often abusing message boards and forums (this is getting more common)

Always beware when the press starts speaking out against anonymity. There's usually an ulterior motive there...

 

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