Oh dear, this member hasn't provided any information yet

Why do some forum contributors hide behind anonymity and why are they allowed to do so? The likelihood is that those operating in the shadows provide the forum’s owners with false information.   If you chance upon nasty remarks made against other posters, on clicking the poster’s profile you invariably read: “Oh dear, this member hasn't provided any information yet.”

If one is commenting on a public forum one is exposing the forum owner to prosecution and shutdown. Why should they be allowed to comment without identifying themselves?  Newspapers will not publish anonymous letters.   There have already been cases of successful prosecution. DELFI, a giant news agency is being tackled for legally questionable comments made on forums. Perhaps the board’s moderators could comment as might unknown posters?

Is it too much to ask that posters who refuse to identify themselves be denied forum membership. It would go a long way towards making things easier for moderators.

If someone makes a nasty comment and you click on the posters name roughly all you get is gender, Town / City,  maybe some hobbies they do, or work, so how is that going to identify them? if they use a name that means nothing your still in the same boat.

This is an open every-mans / persons,  forum not a Major Daily Newspaper you can sue for phone hacking or libellous comments.

Ask the moderators to identify members fully i.e.: names / address's etc then you would be the only member.

Baz! I see you chose anonymity. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that identifies you. You could be the person who lives next door to me, my ex-wife, an estate agent I exposed as a swindler.

Many members of this forum, me included are clearly identifiable. Many of us as a matter of principle, transparency, perhaps commercial reasons (blogs too) go to great lengths to identify ourselves. By doing so it adds to our credibility it does not reduce it. Give us the credit for that. Would you or other anonymous posters care to tell us exactly who you are and why you choose anonymity?

By the way, if you read OP you will see that forum owners have been successfully prosecuted for libel following posted comments.

What one needs to take into consideration is that everyone has the right to protect their identity. EOS is not a news paper, we do not publish people's wirting, they use the tools we provide to publish their own material, be it a blog or a comment on a forum thus you can choose to publish under your name or a pseudonym as any writer can. But what many people don't realise is that when you publish on a public forum or web site you are  being indexed by Google, so even if you remove your content from this site or any other site your comments/posts will still appear for quite some time on Google's indexing, meaning you are now in the hands of the internet..which no one controls. For this reason if someone wishes to identify themselves they can and if they wish to protect their identity from the entire world they can too. Clearly this opens the door for trolls and trouble makers but it is far more important to be able to protect your identity than have to deal with a handful of trolls from time to time. It would not be the first time someone has posted their personal email or details on an open forum, or written something that later they have regretted writing and they have become a victim of an online persecution which appears to never end. This is why people have the choice to declare their identity or not. Privacy is everything with the internet. For this reason we have a Private messaging system which is exactly that - private and not indexed or accesible by google or any other search engine where people can share their personal details if necessary. 

I didn't choose anonymity to avoid anything, it's only a forum, I really dont follow the reasons why I have to put out my hobbies or where I live. I dont see anything wierd or strange about anyone just putting the basics on any forum.

Why do you feel the need to know fully my identity? 

My forum name is Baz, I have been known as Baz for more years then I care to remember, it has been my nickname since service days, whats to hide? 

If you posted something on here that was untrue, and I corrected you, then thats the end of it, if you told lies about me on here I would correct you, not prosecute you. This is not Google where they want to know everything up to the point of how many hairs up your a....

If it bothered the forum owners that much why haven't they said before you can join you have to tell us everything about yourself...or you cant join.

Why have you put out information about yourself? who's that interested?  is it because of what you do as a living and in the hope you could possibly get more work from it, because what I do I dont have to advertise the fact, especialy on something like a forum.

I have some friends who were employed in the police to seek out adults who were unlawfully targeting children.  They told me they were very successful in tracing ‘anonymous’  posters.   Apparently it is not difficult for police etc. to ID posters.

Certainly under UK law anyone who ‘publishes’ a libel (that would include posters and the owners /operators of a forum) can be prosecuted.   Remember the Mail and Express paid around half a million pounds in damages to the McCann’s for libellous posts (which the editor of the Mail had told me in an email exchange they had been assured by their legal team they would not be liable for).

I have some friends who were employed in the police to seek out adults who were unlawfully targeting children.  They told me they were very successful in tracing ‘anonymous’  posters.   Apparently it is not difficult for police etc. to ID posters.

Certainly under UK law anyone who ‘publishes’ a libel (that would include posters and the owners /operators of a forum) can be prosecuted.   Remember the Mail and Express paid around half a million pounds in damages to the McCann’s for libellous posts (which the editor of the Mail had told me in an email exchange they had been assured by their legal team they would not be liable for).

Well John the first bit of your post  (Underlined) must put the original posters mind at rest now, to know we, who wont give over our identity,  and could if need be found out, mind you i do think if someone was targeting children I would hope to think the police would take more time to find that person then me who said on a forum...quote so don't sue me.....Your fat and your coat don't fit.....unquote.

As for the McCann's case I think more then a few strong untruths were mentioned about them nationwide, in world wide newspapers then what goes on with this forum.

Ian, yours is a fallacious response. No one has a right to hide their identity. This is a myth. Try telling that to a court of law. We are not talking Julian Assange, Edward Snowden or similar here. We are talking about cowardly armchair anonymity, those who rarely have anything useful or positive to contribute but often make snide comments. You are defending that? I based on article on a little research. Those whose forum contributions were civil were mostly identifiable. Those who constantly sniped chose anonymity.

To use such an objection as yours is to encourage trolling, abuse and baiting. As others have already pointed out forum owners are and have been pursued through the courts for comments made by forum posters.

Forums are not above the law and were never intended to be refuge for anonymous snipers. EYE is one of the better forums. It should take pride in the fact that civility is the norm; there are just a few exceptions to this.

However, you must know as well as I do that social forums could be much more popular if they followed the example of news media. Those few who wish to withhold their identity for valid reason are allowed to do so but the editor must have their correct identity (in case of legal recourse).

Poorly monitored forums are controlled not by moderators but by a small clique. I know many good businesses run by highly competent professionals who steer clear of forums. By doing so they deny us opportunity to benefit from their knowledge.

Over thirty-five years I have mixed freely in the British and Spanish business communities. The reason many refuse to participate is because one or two anonymous, spiteful, perhaps jealous or commercial rivals can from a position of anonymity destroy a business’s reputation.

A restaurant for example might be inclined to share their recipe secrets. I can just imagine some disgruntled poster, perhaps out of malice, or a rival, giving them a tough time. The moderator decides on what counts as abuse or not. There is another expression for that, it is not right to privacy’, it is right to anarchy.’

I don't think I have put any personal information about myself on here yet. Not because I was to abuse people, and not because I don't want people to know who I am. I probably thought at the time, as I do with everything, 'I'll do that later' and never did. Also, I've never looked at anyone else's profile to see who they really are either, and why should I?

Baz Why have you put out information about yourself

Baz,    I am not bothered that posters chose not to show anything about themselves, however, if they do it can lend weight to their posts.  Example, if a person who shows they are a doctor of medicine posts about a medical matter then I would be a lot more inclined to accept the info as being correct, than if the poster were anonymous.

Unfortunately, showing that one has experience in a some areas can lead to ‘ the usual, expected ’ offensive comments by a few posters.

No Roberto but when out socialising rather than in socialising (forum) I find people much more congenial and civil. Perhaps it is because if they come out with a nasty unnecessary insult or put-down they might be decked. I suppose it is similar trait to quite nice people turning into bullies as soon as they gain the security and anonymity of their cars.

The problem with the internet is that it's full of lies and liars. People claiming to be someone they're not. Photoshopped images and pictures with messages which tug at your heart strings but are complete b@#locks. Who's to stop me from putting on my profile that I'm a three-legged lesbian who works for the FBI? 

There's not much point filling out my profile when it could all be lies anyway. I can fill out my profile and then send abusive comments until my heart's content. Then when I'm banned, I can register again under a different name and different profile. Adding information doesn't give anyone genuine credibility unless they are honest and there's no guarantee of that these days.

This is what the internet is like, always has been, always will be.

Fartharder:-   ...........   Then when I'm banned, I can register again under a different name and different profile.

That all depends on the forum’s software.  Each computer has a unique ID which can be read when posts are submitted. Thus the program can detect when the same computer is used, albeit with a different name.  Of course if one uses a different computer then they can start again ‘from fresh’ without being detected.

When you type into Google ‘where am I’ it will show the area where your ISP is.   So, for example, when trying to view BBC from Spain one needs to use a prog which hides their location and makes it ‘appear’ they are in UK.

Baz Why have you put out information about yourself

Baz,    I am not bothered that posters chose not to show anything about themselves, however, if they do it can lend weight to their posts.  Example, if a person who shows they are a doctor of medicine posts about a medical matter then I would be a lot more inclined to accept the info as being correct, than if the poster were anonymous.

Unfortunately, showing that one has experience in a some areas can lead to ‘ the usual, expected ’ offensive comments by a few posters.

elaineG.

Sorry missed that one, what information about myself?

How do you know when a poster joins up that they put the true full information about themselves, just because you think they are a doctor on here, solicitor, builder etc,  and you read the advice would you then not go to your own doctor, because thats a bit like checking your symptems out on google.

You can give out advice to anyone, the problem is getting someone to take it.

Sure some insult other posters, i am not one of them unless they insult me, but not knowing or knowing their identity when they post, helps anyone how?

When you type into Google ‘where am I’ it will show the area where your ISP is.   So, for example, when trying to view BBC from Spain one needs to use a prog which hides their location and makes it ‘appear’ they are in UK.

Well i just did this and i am in Soham, so did it again, now i am in Norfolk, didn't bother a third time as i am no where near any of these.

elaineG

Yes I am fully aware that every pc has an IP address. Websites that use IP address identification are usually websites that contain copyright material like the bbc, channel4, cbs and youtube etc. Discussion pages, forums, blogs are unlikely to use this kind of software so usually a change of username and email address and you're good to go again. I've done this before because I've forgotten my username or password and couldn't remember which email address I'd used to register. 

Roberto makes a good point about each user having a score. This website now allows us to like/dislike comments so maybe it could go one step further and put their comment score next to their name.

I didn't realise I could like my own posts. What a wasted opportunity to make myself look good!

In January 2006, Delfi published an article about a decision by ferry company Leedo to change its routes, which led to a delay in the opening of cheaper routes to some Estonian islands.

The move outraged many of the website’s readers, who posted anonymous comments containing threats and insults aimed at the ferry operator and its owner.

Leedo sued Delfi over the comments and won symbolic compensation of 320 euros from a lower court in April 2006.