text: 
  Anonymous social apps fail because anonymity removes meaning, enables meanness - pmcpinto
  https://backchannel.com/these-failed-apps-discovered-a-hidden-rule-of-the-web-391471ca5952#.ajqvtw76z
  ======
  Veen
  The thesis here seems to be that social media is only worthwhile so long as it
  fulfills the attention-seeking impulse of people like the author.
  
  I may be unusual but I avoid Facebook precisely because I don't want that sort
  of attention directed at my brain farts and the ephemeral detritus of my
  everyday life.
  
  When I make something worthwhile and of substance, that's different, but I
  won't be putting it on Facebook.
  
  ~~~
  Xeoncross
  > it fulfills the attention-seeking impulse of people
  
  That is most of the market share. We all want attention, but a small percent
  of people look for it in non-compromising ways.
  
  ~~~
  M_Grey
  For so long, FB and that kind of social media has not only been normalized,
  but the people who don't use it are seen as "odd". Snowden definitely started
  to change that, but there is no substitute for time and experience online.
  Most people don't have much of either, so it's easy to lead them around.
  
  I don't think that most people would have sought to publicize most details of
  their lives without prompting. The reason why the prompting exists is simple
  and obvious: your information is valuable product which can be packaged and
  sold.
  
  ~~~
  Xeoncross
  I don't doubt that most people would probably not "publicize most details of
  their lives" \- but the fact that we want attention is obvious.
  
  I talk to lots of people and if I start asking them about themselves or their
  life most are happy to talk about themselves as long as you don't seem like a
  threat in some way.
  
  People are naturally self-centered and enjoy attention. Kids are the best
  example of that.
  
  ~~~
  M_Grey
  I agree that people want attention, but I think the notion of gaining
  attention through notoriety online is generally a bad idea. It is however,
  very profitable for people to seek that kind of notoriety, and unprofitable
  for people to be anonymous.
  
  ------
  yarrel
  Real Names do not solve this, though.
  
  From the WELL through YouTube to Twitter, people will be mean under their irl
  identities.
  
  And there are real social costs to removing anonymity, which
  disproportionately fall on precisely the kind of people you'd want to stop
  meanness against.
  
  ------
  Jeaye
  Obligatory link to The Real Name Fallacy: [https://blog.coralproject.net/the-
  real-name-fallacy/](https://blog.coralproject.net/the-real-name-fallacy/)
  
  A great deal of research has been done on this, since back in the Usenet days.
  
  ~~~
  devopsproject
  Or you could just look at facebook comments
  
  ------
  kefka
  And I look at these 'apps' and I think:
  
  "Usenet did it better, and semi-anonymous, and ubiquitous."
  
  ------
  CM30
  So how come more general anonymous forums work? Because while parts of 4chan
  and other similar sites are topic based, the likes of /b/ are just a general
  free for all. Why do people continue posting there if it's anonymous and
  generalised?
  
  Why are the general discussion sections of anonymous imageboards the most
  popular part of said sites?
  
  ~~~
  grillvogel
  4chan consistently features some of the worst posts you'll ever see, as well
  as the most brilliant things you'll ever read or see on the internet. no other
  site can replicate this, and for many, those diamonds are worth putting up
  with the garbage
  
  ~~~
  M_Grey
  Like actual diamonds, I'd rather wait for their to erupt to the surface, than
  mine through all of that dirt.
  
  ~~~
  grillvogel
  the quality is pretty diluted by that point
  
  ~~~
  M_Grey
  Diamonds are mercifully unchanged by their journey through a kimberlite tube.
  It's true, you still have to break them out of the rock, but it's better than
  swimming through mantle!
  
  ~~~
  grillvogel
  they aren't literally diamonds that was just a metaphor. delicate memes don't
  always survive the journey to the surface
  
  ~~~
  M_Grey
  I know what you meant, I was extending the metaphor. I would rather crack
  rocks for diamonds on the surface, than swim through shit below. I realize
  that's a preference issue, not a "right way / wrong way" issue for the record.
  
  ------
  decasteve
  The most valuable online communities, newsgroups, forums, etc, that I've been
  taking part in over the past 23 years have been pseudoanonymous. In the 1990s,
  we were attached to our handles/aliases/pseudonyms. We would become known by
  these online names, separate from our "real" identity, but they did have
  meaning. People knew you online by that identity. You could stop using that
  pseudonym but you would lose the connection to your community built up on that
  name.
  
  ------
  golergka
  Honest question: why did these app try to remove abusive content? Did they
  actually see a correlation between abuse and users leaving the app?
  
  ~~~
  jlebrech
  investors demanded it i'm sure
  
  ~~~
  golergka
  Why?
  
  ~~~
  snerbles
  Probably in an effort to be "friendly" to potential advertisers. They usually
  don't like their products appearing next to potentially abusive content.
  
  ------
  darawk
  What about 4chan? That's pretty successful.
  
  ------
  lawless123
  Didn't someone get arrested for making threats via Yik Yak? it's psuedo-
  anonymous .
  
  ------
  transfire
  So you start out believing in free expression, then special interests hammer
  you in main stream media and you cave. Your business falls apart. And we end
  up with a self-inflicted nanny state that squashes dissension and reality, and
  prevents people from actually evolving.
  
  ------
  diyseguy
  If this were true, then Usenet would never have been a success. It only died
  because Google bought DejaNews and then killed it.
  
  ------
  wheelerwj
  the author has never heard of 4chan?
  
  ------
  jlebrech
  they went downhill when they asked users to come up with a handle.
  
  ------
  ashark
  Declickbaited:
  
  Anonymous Social Networking Apps Fail Because Anonymity Removes Meaning,
  Enables Meanness
  
  (and the apps focused on by the article are Secret and Yik Yak)
  
  ~~~
  oblio
  > Enables Meanness
  
  Now that's an understatement, if I ever saw one. I'd call it more of a "stand
  underneath a waterfall of sewage".
  
  ~~~
  ashark
  Article used the word "meanness" so I did too.
  
  Which is, of course, not remotely a "hidden" rule, and may be one of the _best
  known_ rules of the Internet. Penny Arcade gave it a name, years ago: The
  Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. So the headline's not just uselessly hiding
  info to be clickbait, it's _lying_.
  
  ------
  throwaway420
  > Without names attached, people’s words become either mean — or meaningless.
  
  The complete opposite is true.
  
  The true meanlessness in society is the bland echo chamber on places like
  Facebook where everybody parrots the politically correct ideas they're told to
  say by the corporate media.
  
  With real names and identities attached, most people are usually pressured
  away from saying any idea that goes outside of the narrow 3 x 5 Card of
  Official Approved Public Opinion. Real names and identities create an echo
  chamber of political correctness and trying your damnedest NOT to offend
  anybody lest you ruin your social or career prospects. Sure, some people
  trickle in truth sometimes, but enough people are silenced so that people who
  hold normal opinions are made to feel like they're the minority.
  
  As far as meanness goes, sure freedom sometimes gives people the ability to
  say dumb things, but there's no way to curb that without restricting freedom.
  But honestly, the true meanness in society is not people telling the truth and
  leading them down a road to ruin. To give a very minor example: you're not
  supposed to say the truth about fat people because we have a body acceptance
  movement that has declared that everybody fat is beautiful and no choices are
  unhealthy. Wishing that something was the case doesn't make it so and denying
  reality and "not being mean" leads to people destroying their lives. The real
  mean thing in this case is to stay silent and deny reality and not tell the
  truth.
  
  ~~~
  GrinningFool
  > With real names and identities attached, most people are usually pressured
  > away from saying any idea that goes outside of the narrow 3 x 5 Card of
  > Official Approved Public Opinion.
  
  I'm just wondering if you've looked at any hot topic that uses disqus or
  facebook for comments?
  
  People aren't exactly reluctant to speak their minds, with their real names
  attached
  
  ~~~
  jameskegel
  a small subset does not justify the norm.
  
  