She talks about preserving group #2 (pseudonyms) while agressively moderating group #3 (trolls). This is the most important balance to keep, and moderation is obviously a necessity. But I think there might be a way to inherently limit trolling by using the proper site design for social interaction. At Freeversation.com, we've developed an invite-only anonymous discussion forum where everyone knows who was invited to the conversation, but not who's saying what. In other words, an online form of Chatham House Rules.
So far, we haven't seen much trolling because we've eliminated the limitless audience of traditional anonymous forums. Our focused discussion groups are limited to relevant individuals only. I just think there has to be a way to promote honest, open dialogue without having to moderate each and every comment.
With regards to freeversation, we're looking to implement our anonymous conversation tool in multiple use-scenarios. One of those scenarios would be to facilitate the type of HR employee feedback mentioned above.
Even in smaller groups though, people may be able to consciously subvert their mannerisms and still get their point across. Not saying it will be easy, but I wouldn't rule it out.
I agree with the plausible deniability point, but i think it can theoretically apply equally to small (and by small i mean at least 10 ppl) and large groups alike. There are many ideas that are not too controversial, but just touchy enough that plausible deniability would be sufficient to overcome the anxiety barrier. This would only work for comments that a user would have no problem being suspected of saying, as long as noone could categorically prove it.
We're planning to implement a rating system for comments.
In terms of participants who contribute nothing to the discussion, keep in mind that whoever starts the conversation chooses who to invite. Presumably, those invited will be relevant in some way to the topic being discussed.
The issue of anonymous slander is obviously a big one, certainly not limited to our site alone. Having some aspect of identified group information may in fact limit that type of trolling, but that remains to be seen. Everything can be used irresponsibly.
Your first point speaks to the question of anonymity's overall purpose. Wanting to be anonymous isn't always a sign of weakness- it's a reality for a lot of confident, intelligent people. Productivity, in our view, is hampered by the absence of contributions from people who have great ideas to share.
Appreciate the support. We're doing our best to get it out there and see how people actually use it. We created it because we think it's important, simple as that. So we definitely plan on sticking around.
that is definitely true. I think a major part of developing this type of discussion space is generating user trust. Besides trusting us, we also need users to trust each other, to keep comments responsible. It's a big task no doubt.
Maybe. The premise of this whole concept is that we don't really know most people's ideas. Even our friends may have important things to say, but we would never know about them. For that reason, I can't say it categorically wouldn't work in a social setting.
just to clarify, we don't associate emails with individual comments even in our backend. Emails of those invited appear at the top of the discussion page. Each comment can be posted independently of whatever email is up there.
One of the co-founders here; we entirely agree that the concept works better in large numbers. We're particularly interested in how the site could be used for those larger classroom or office discussions, as a way to increase productivity and generate more innovative ideas. It could be really useful for social circles as well, but the group would likely have to be more than 10 people.
So far, we haven't seen much trolling because we've eliminated the limitless audience of traditional anonymous forums. Our focused discussion groups are limited to relevant individuals only. I just think there has to be a way to promote honest, open dialogue without having to moderate each and every comment.