So says Julie Zhou, a design manager at Facebook, in her New York Times op-ed on how to defeat trolls:

Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its roots go much farther back. Even in the fourth century B.C., Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges.

That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught. Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly.

This certainly seems to be true for the anonymous trolls today.

What to do? Zhou calls for creating social “accountability” for online commenters. Which, put another way, means giving shameless trolls a reason to perhaps have a little shame.

This kind of social pressure works because, at the end of the day, most trolls wouldn’t have the gall to say to another person’s face half the things they anonymously post on the Internet.

Eli Sanders is The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won this,...

21 replies on “What the Internets Lack: Shame”

  2. One day, far in the future, internet anonymity will be a thing of the past. We’re still in the Wild West phase.

    Also, @ ROM: DIAF, you filthy hawaiian fuck.

  5. You aren’t anonymous on the internets dumbasses. Everything you say and everywhere you go is studiously logged and filed away for future reference.

  8. Also, when is the Mercury going to trash its commenting system and opt for Disqus! Gawd!! I want to be able to sign in using twitter, typing in my email every time is so Web 1.0.

    SMG BITCHES! (Not that I would ever do that in person, unless the FBI provided me with said SMG)

  10. Calm down, People! Plato didn’t disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both The Lord Of The Rings and the Dialogues are completely intact.

  11. @Super Chunky: You’re a bastard plagiarist! See you in court, bro.

    Also, you can utilize the “web 2.0” feature: “Remember me on this computer, etc.” Then you don’t have to type in anything. I stay logged in allllllll dayyyyyyy.

  12. @ROM The FBI set me up!

    The Portland Mercury is NOT about to leave cookies on my computer. (Who the hell knows what’s in them; WSH’s STD?) I clear my history after every session.

    Also Disqus alerts you to when your comment has been replied to by someone else i.e. we don’t have to keep checking in constantly. Not that I do that… (But I guess that’s how WSH “earns” all his money; rich bastard!)

  14. So, this is basically a restatement of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. Nothing new.

    It’s basically true, though. I comment, blog, tweet, etc. using my real name. It really does prevent me from being an ass online most of the time.

  15. So, this is basically a restatement of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. Nothing new.

    It’s pretty much true, though. I comment, blog, tweet, etc. using my real name. It really does prevent me from being an ass online most of the time.

  19. Here’s why “trolling” is getting more press lately: politicians want to pass more nanny-state laws that cripple the free expression available on the internet.

    But a forum with good administrators is troll free. There’s no need to bring the Government into it. They couldn’t solve the problem anyway. The last thing we need is another federal level grab of civil liberties plunging us closer to a police state.

  21. Just more liberral poropogandah from the socialst obama-lovin portland commie crowd.

    (does that work, pdxMB?)

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