On the Internet You Don't Own Shit

[nfotxn]

I hear the following a lot, and it bugs me in a big way. Otherwise intelligent people say it all the time, something along the lines of:

"It's my journal, I call the shots"

I don't agree for a bunch of reasons. Here are a few.

Anonymous comments: I've always kept anonymous posting enabled and as a result have received comments from many sources that I don't think would have posted otherwise. One of which is my brother who isn't big on remembering passwords and logins. If you want a secure discussion then secure the post to your friends group(s). I find disabled anonymous posting and the idea of ownership of your blog like the real world. Where if somebody says something to you when you speak aloud in a public place you merely dismiss them unless they've presented credentials. It's that kind of weird niching of all socialization that I personally am taking an effort to avoid.

There is so much you can learn and sometimes the most sublime statements can come from totally unexpected sources. The internet has this uncanny ability to connect obscure affinities together. This is not a particularly great thing in application. It divides cultures and alienates people from an overall sense of community.

Go mingle and meet new people. Get in arguments and come to new conclusions. It's dirty work but very rewarding.

Also the inability to cope with random criticism perhaps indicates a few things. At the least you're feeling self-conscious, and that's natural. But it's just text and if you really believe and feel what you've written even the most damaging of anonymous comments will roll of your back.

The worst, and I've seen this before, is a creation of a web of compulsive lies. Some of us may remember some fake cancer, for instance. That sort of sociopath shit is creepy and weird. Still see it sometimes to this day.

Ownership of Words: I think it's interesting how people have this sense of ownership over their blogs. When you own everything you say it's very hard to change your mind. Re-consider situations and change your mind like any other rational human being would. Your blog is ether, just let it flow. If you stop this process you stop learning new things and gaining new perspectives. My blog hasn't just served me as something to help me remember things in the past. It's actually been the most useful as a chart of personal growth over the last five years.

Comments

[gusmacroy.livejournal.com]

Actually, I do ask that people present their card to my butler before speaking with them in my parlour.

[satarnion.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I think the "I call the shots" mentality originates from the fact that many journals aren't so much about learning and are a lot about image creation; people want to justify this practice to themselves without seeming shallow. Anonymous comments etc. are unnerving because they pose a threat to that image as percieved by the self and others.

[emramesha.livejournal.com]

People are here for different purposes. I think it's equally as valid that some are here to express themselves and hear themselves alone, some are here to entertain themselves and others (or maybe just others alone), and some are here to engage in debate with the world at large. Some people participate in more than one of these activities. I don't think it's fair to expect everybody to have the same attitude to their written words. That is part of the magic of these fora: if you want to claim ownership to your own words, by all means do so, but don't expect others to respect that ownership outside of the forum in question.

[anthony808.livejournal.com]

Brodie, I have always found your journal interesting, clever and real. One can't ask for much more.

"just let it flow"

[ex-flowed553.livejournal.com]

Really feelin' you on this one. If you put something out there and don't care about being impacted by comments that's one thing, but to attempt to censor them is just plain weak.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I've never had to delete a genuine comment from my LJ. Only ones I had to were a couple of spam comments, but that stopped once I enabled IP logging of comments. I'll always have anonymous comments open on my journal. It is my journal, and I do call the shots, but I'm so hands-off and relaxed about it that it could basically be deemed a free-for-all.

There are a few high-visibility types that have reminded so many about 'rules' of their blogs, and it's so off-putting to me in some ways.

[jawnbc]

I've got a decade of miscreants and sociopaths in my online history. My only expectation is that they be somehow identified. There are so many lame people who will use anonymous comments to be viscious and hurtful.

But I'm with you on the ownership thing. My words, perhaps, but once they're on here...cut and paste is all it takes.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

A round thrashing of "author's intent" if ever I saw one. Another ideological boner. . . at my age. . . imagine that!

umm, nope ...

[pup-ajax.livejournal.com]

If someone's gonna insult me, i require some identification ... anonymity is the coward's way.

Re: umm, nope ...

[jargon.livejournal.com]

My point as well. I've had people abuse me and my friends through anonymous comments on mine.

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

That's why I keep anonymous comments enabled. The one in mine yesterday was the first negative one I've ever received, and it didn't bother me in the least - that would have been giving that person too much credit. What piqued my curiosity, though, was that it was a really old post, so I wonder if I've run across this person in real life at some point.

[clauditorium.livejournal.com]

Good points all.

My main complaint about the "it's my journal, I can write whatever I like" attitude:
Some people use that kind of statement as permission to be assholes (often passing it off as "honesty"). The fact that they make this deliberate decision says some pretty sad things about their character...

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Wanna pet my bunny?

[clauditorium.livejournal.com]

Would love to, but based on your icon, that looks dangerous!

Wanna go pound some mochi, little rabbit?

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Is metaphor.

[clauditorium.livejournal.com]

I know. I was being deliberately dense.
: )

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

*shrug* I fall somewhere in the middle, I guess. I keep anonymous comments screened, but almost always allow them through once I read them.

If they're insulting (and I've had one or two), I simply delete them and move on.

Hurtful things can roll off the back...but having to deal with the initial irritation of them -- especially if they aren't in the least constructive -- is something I don't have to do, so I won't.

[(Anonymous)]

Congradutlation bro... you have a true journalistic ethic.

Could you imagine a newspaper that had the same view of "it's my paper, I'll report what I want"? That'd be downright orwelian! That's like, scarey third rich shit.

Now it may be true hat people run these things for differant reasons. Most i've seen are people that just want to talk about their lives. Ok, well maybe it's just writing a story at that point.

But it seems more and more blogs are actually thought of as news sources, and if that's true, than the way they deal with censorship really should be looked at. And that's what we're talking about, censorship.