Anonymity

There sometimes is a debate whether it is good or evil that one can surf the internet anonymously. I currently became aware of it due to an online article by SPIEGEL Online.

In my opinion it is a good thing staying anonym as it allows oneself to develop an opinion, debate and maybe change the own position without being reproached with the "old" opinion forever. We all know that the internet doesn't forget. So when one day you made statement X, discussed, considered and later you change your mind and make statement Y, one who wants to harm you may circulate that you think X and not Y. The internet is not a little village that allows you to talk to everybody and clear the matter. If repeated often enough all the search engines will find X and not Y and you will be stigmatized without being able to do much about it (just repeat forever Y, but this could be tiring...). This would just keep people from discussing and developing new ideas.

So I am a great fan of anonymity, it allows experiments, playing and the exchange of ideas without taking into account whether a beggar is telling something or a professor. Just the contents matter!

UserDavid, "Anonymous Idea cropped"; Some rights reserved. Source: Wikimedia Commons