I've never understood why some people chose to leave comments anonymously (meaning they use a false name, email address and/or web address).
It's not like anyone has been killed or was violently beaten because of a comment they left on a blog. Names are called and words are thrown around like rocks but I don't get why some feel the need to hide behind false information. It's annoying.
But what really pisses me off to no end is when someone choses to leave a comment using someone else's identity. Especially if that identity belongs to be a friend. That's exactly what someone in Burnaby, British Columbia did yesterday when they left a comment posing as Dave Shea.
When I first saw the comment it didn't sit well because knowing Dave as I do it was the type of message he would have said using back channels. More importantly I had a hard time thinking of how Dave could post a comment from within western Canada when he was in deep in the heart of Reykjavik, Iceland.
I'm not amused. Neither is Dave.
So to the person using IP address 206.116.180.35 I have to ask how weak are you? If you can muster up the courage to own your words then come back and leave a proper comment with your own damn identity.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
It was funny, when I read that comment by "Dave" I thought to myself, someone is only wishing they were Dave.
I do this all the time.
I know curiosity killed the cat, but hopefully it won't kill Cooper (or provoke an angered comment), yet I'm eager to know what the Faux Dave said.
This same sort of thing was happening to me last year. Someone was posting rude comments on Eliot Shepard's site. Luckily, Eliot emailed me telling me of the comments. It was a headache, but I was happy Eliot took the time to inform me of this person's conduct.
I hate it when somebody leaves an insightful comment anonymously. It ruins my day.
Recently I've been getting people commenting and even sending me emails via the contact form that are Anonymous and the message they send is something like, "lkfeja." It doesn't make me mad, so much as it makes me wonder.
I think this is illegal in Canada/US.
Doppelgänger
@greg: they don't leave there name for exactly the same reason that has happened in your post. You have publicized information that is private, or private enough that not a lot of people know of such information.
@elliot: I take it you are assuming, cause that is apsolutely not true.
@greg
Although you've picked an example where pseudonymity (as opposed to real anonymity) has been used to impersonate someone else, your response has likely crossed the expectation of privacy one would expect when posting a comment here.
Your words regarding posting, Use your head when responding, don't be an asshat. Knee jerk comments, crass language, and anonymity will surely get your response deleted and your IP possibly banned. Above all else, be mature.
We could regard this user's behaviour as being an 'asshat', in which case, they could've expected their response to be deleted and their IP banned, not publicly exposed.
You argue that anonymous/pseudonymous postings are annoying. Annoying perhaps, but also very Important. For a reasoned and clear explanation of why the importance of allowing users to comment without revealing their real identity outweighs the 'noise' generated, please refer to the excellent Privacy chapter in Code and other laws of cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig and the Anonymity section by the EFF.
Giving this faux Dave Shea the benefit of the doubt, is it possible that there is a Dave Shea in Canada?
For awhile I was posting comments using "Mike D" , not realizing that some people mistake that for Mike Davidson (Mike Industires and Newvine) until some asked me, "are you THE Mike D?"
And, the answer to that is, "yes." I have Mike Davidson beat by two years of age.
Yah, you know --- I thought the same things as whichever Mike D. I went to school with a Dave Shea (and his brothers Brian and Tim) and neither "Dave" nor "Shea" is the most uncommon name. It's a big internet out there. Some other guy named Tom Dolan seems to have won a few Olympic medals actually. Go figure.
I hate it when somebody leaves an insightful comment anonymously. It ruins my day.
Rare is the anonymous comment that is insightful.
...they don't leave there name for exactly the same reason that has happened in your post. You have publicized information that is private...
Bull-pucky. First, leaving a name does nothing, it's just a name. It's not until you tie it to a domain name that the name become relevant to a known identity. Without tying a web address to your name no one knows who are you Kyle. Secondly, If you chose to steal a friends identity you can bet your ass I'll publish whatever information I can find. Otherwise I see no reason for anyone to feel that I would ever jeopardize their personal information.
I think this is illegal in Canada/US.
I can't speak for Canada but I know there is legislation proposed/pending in the United States that seeks to make Internet anonymity illegal. It was written to fight "cyber-stalking" but as I recall all Internet activity is covered.
You argue that anonymous/pseudonymous postings are annoying. Annoying perhaps, but also very Important.
I fail to see how stealing someone else's identity in order to make a comment on a blog is important.
...neither "Dave" nor "Shea" is the most uncommon name. It's a big internet out there.
There may be a billion Dave Sheas on the Internets but there is only one (the real slim shady) who lives in Vancouver, Canada and owns mezzoblue.com.
Oops, mybad Lakh. I'm mixing issues here. That said I still don't believe that leaving anonymous comments on a blog is important except for persons living in countries where freedom of speech is not a guaranteed right and what they say could mean prison.
@greg
Perhaps you haven't seen insightful pseudonymous comments on your site, but history shows they can be incredibly influential.
Although you rightly point out that pseudonymity is key for individuals who do not have a guaranteed free speech, there are plenty of other reasons to be pseudonymous.
Consider posting a comment that advocates a view that contradicts your employers views, or is unpopular or controversial. Habermas contends that freedom from any sort of coercion is required to respect the integrity of discourse. For some, being able to speak with pseudonymity is key to speaking freely.
That said, I enjoy reading your blog Greg and it is your website and not a public service. How open and what features you choose to offer are up to you. Thanks for all the great posts so far.
Perhaps you haven't seen insightful pseudonymous comments on your site, but history shows they can be incredibly influential.
Lakh: 30 - Greg: Love
I tied an email address to my name greg. So if someone like lets say you wants to find out who I am, you can just ask.
And you ever think that maybe I don't have a personal blog. Maybe that is why I do not leave a web address...
And greg, there is about a million other people out there with the name Kyle. So if another Kyle came on this website I wouldn't go blasting him about stealing my identity or a friends identity. ( and yes I consider posting his IP address blasting )
I don't even know who the hell Dave Shea is. And doing a quick people search you will find that:
165 Dave Shea's live in the US.
and that 15 Dave Shea's live in Canada.
@ THE Mike D
Well, in all honesty, the REAL Mike D is from lower Manhattan and has been laying tracks from way back in the day. He can be seen sometimes on stage with Adrock and MCA. Just FYI :-)
Kyle you're assuming that Greg saw the name Dave Shea and went ballistic... I'm not sure that's the case. I didn't see the comment in question, but the text of this story and its comments seems to indicate that it wasn't just posted as "Dave Shea", but was also linked to mezzoblue.
There's no form of annonymity that makes that cool, and a public flogging seems perfectly reasonable.
Well if the guy was being an ass I would agree witha public flogging. But a public flogging involving his IP address is just out of the question.
Chill out Kyle or I'll flog you with your own IP address.
I think that there is a clear distinction between anonymity, psuedonymity, and misrepresentation. If this poster, or more accurately imposter, is misrepresenting himself as another person whom Greg is personally related with the intent to veil his comments within that identity, then exposing his geography is a crude but effective deterrent to future imposters. So you run a reverse IP WHOIS and you get this person’s ISP, and?
Haha. I'll flog you all with my own flog if you dont quit all this flogging. I say we hold a public flogging match, no rules, cage.
That's it, I'm heading to Flogger and signing up for a free Flogspot account so that I may flog you some more and then we'll continue this floggery in the flogments.
I flog greg, pass it on.
Beware Flogger dot com. Apparently you can flog Greg in ways that would scare the living shit out of him (and your self.)
And no. I didn't sign up for their free Flogspot account.
This is why I turned off comments years ago.
Bah. A proper blog without comments is like street preaching with Bose noise canceling headphones on. My opinions and writing may not — oh, who am I kidding — does not please everyone (well almost everyone, the number of accepted comments in the life of Airbag comes close to 98.9875%) but I don't see the point of it all unless there is an opportunity for rebuttal.
I rebut that.
Greg: This is why I stopped running a proper blog years ago ;-)
A weblog without comments is a bully pulpit in a vacuum; it's the best way to run a government and a blog. And Greg, when I'm mouthing off on the Internets, I decide who I am. That's why I'm The Decider.
Now that's a pseudonym!
isn't anyone going to comment on the fact that Dave is in the land of Bjork? Long live Bjork.
Wow - these comments started out as really pertinent and interesting, then turned wicked lame at the end.
It is really Troll-ish behavior, and I think anyone who runs a blog has every right to delete retarded, obviously false, or blatantly stupid comments.
I think the reason why a lot of people use different screen names and such is to protect themselves from abuse, or even worse, getting fired. I actually just had a conversation with one of my co-workers about this several months ago. With the way the internet, and furthermore, connectivity is progressing, what's to stop a employer from conducting a web-based background check on you in the near future? What if you were an idiot back in the day and still have some stupid myspace comments lingering around that you forgot about that don't represent you well now? Just a thought.
the marek,
Does using someone else's name and web address protect you from something that using a completely fake name and no web address doesn't?
If you smoke enough weed and spin a globe fast enough, Iceland looks like it's actually inside Canada.
tony,
well, if someone in the future happens to do some sort of web-based search on me before hiring me, it'd be helpful if nothing bad came up under my name.
the marek,
So, you couldn't achieve that by using a fake name, and not pretending to be some other real person? How does that make any sense? What if I went around using your real name and web address in comment forms, and then this same hypothetical future employer did this hypothetical web search about you and came up with a bunch of comments I left under your name whilst being, as Greg would say, an asshat?
maybe you should just install a piece of forums software. who's this other Jared?
hey - i am just down the road from: 206.116.180.35 (up here on a mountain top) and I would love to hunt him down and say hello on your behalf.
PS Jared - i luv this one: "If you smoke enough weed and spin a globe fast enough, Iceland looks like it's actually inside Canada."
Just tried it and your are dead right... need a mars bar...ciao
that's true, but i don't see why that doesn't make any sense. in terms of someone else using my name, i can't really control that. identity theft is huge right now. as far as using a fake name, i wouldn't be stupid enough to use the same fake name over and over again if i was posting "asshat" related comments and as far as tracking ip addresses goes, that doesn't hold true, because i could and have posted from different computers at different locations before. my point is recklessly posting stuff under your name. i mean, just check out myspace. there's tons of people on there sharing intimate details about themselves (where they work, what they like, who they're dating) with their friends, but also with potentially anyone who wants to know. now, if i was an employer and found out that one of my employees was a racist or something i thought was terrible, i'd probably fire them. i don't see anything wrong with using a different name from time to time.
and just for kicks, i did a search on my name and it turns out there's tons of dan mareks kicking it all over the world. so, i guess my point was pointless after all. *sigh*
PS Jared - i luv this one: "If you smoke enough weed and spin a globe fast enough, Iceland looks like it's actually inside Canada."
Just tried it and your are dead right... need a mars bar...ciao
I think my co-workers are going to have me institutionalized for laughing so hard...I haven't laughed that good in a long, long time. Thank you!
Maybe this imposter was beaten up by the real Dave in high school, and is now slowly executing an elaborate plot to get sweet, sweet revenge, which will ultimately involve world domination at the hands of his army of the undead.
Or maybe it is a psycho ex-girlfriend wanting to ruin his reputation on the web.
Then again it could just be an assclown that has no reason what-so-ever than wanting to be as cool as Dave! I personally would have gone for Jeffery Zeldman, or Brad Pitt.
I LOVE that there is someone in the world who uses the noun 'assclown' -- although, more properly and less USA-ly it's 'arseclown' as 'invented', or at least promulgated by Australian sports commentators, Roy and HG.
Anyways, don't you all have more important things to worry about, such as what our various govt's are doing peeping into your 'real' digital identities?
I personally know 2 David Sheas... so who's the 'real' one with dibs on using that name online?
What you people are missing is not the arrangement of letters making up a first and last name, but the pairing of that with a link to mezzoblue.com, the web site of only one specific Dave Shea.
oh, yeah, that does make a difference.
How knows me? So what difference makes it, if I have used a nickname or not?
Greetings from Germany!
Preach it, sister!
Expose him! Expose me!!
Hrm. Seems like a pretty good chance you just published the IP address of a school, business, cafe, ISP or somesuch. What percentage of people have a static IP address?
It's a pretty rotten thing to impersonate someone else, but until you start requiring some sort of verification of identity, I think you just have to grin and bear it... Posting about it (with or without IP addresses) probably only amuses the immature twits who indulge in such things and encourages more twits to come out of the woodwork.
Actually, I've had the same IP address on my cable internet connection for almost the last two years. They don't want you to konw this, but usually the IP address doesn't change.
As an exterminator once told me: "There's no way to kill the bastard bugs until you blow them out of their hiding places and force poison down their nasty little throats."
Perhaps you should just concentrate on getting your arse out of a sling in Iraq? While I agree that an anonymous comment is right up there with WMD, I do sometimes wonder...
Now, all start bitching... three, two, one, go!
well spam is spam, whom ever it comes from, it gets deleted either way. even if dave wrote it.
Simple solution I do, block the ip range on the firewall if really gets bad.
That's just me tho.
206.116.180.35 sounds like a right-wing IP address to me... Perhaps it was Sean Hannity?