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GoKunming feedback...

alienew (422 posts) • 0

@ satirical and bilingual: Interesting. Seems the problem is that posters tend to think of of their activity as social interaction' rather than as participants in a discussion (such as, for example, one often sees in academia (seminars, etc.), although I'm not saying that's perfect either). I think the substitution of electronic contact for real social interaction (you know, where people actually meet and deal with people rather than with (often useful) electronic intermediaries) is scary. Results tend to be that people go around taking disagreement personally, and personally attack those whose info or thinking is different from or opposed to their own.
Strikes me as childish, and perhaps even a bit paranoid.
A broader social problem here, symptomatic, perhaps, of what we imagine 'Progress' to be (i.e., primarily material and oriented around the promotion of competitive commodity production).
Reckon that's as far as I should go in the direction of getting off the immediate subject today.

michael2015 (784 posts) • +1

Resolve the symptom or the root cause. Anonymity creates the opportunity for online bullying. The loss of the mask theoretically makes one somewhat more careful and responsible in their online personas.

As for reverse identification of individuals on gokm - it's a simple IT matter for PSB or any government agency in any country, to track you down to your home, place of work, favorite haunts, etc, if sufficiently motivated. It's even a simple matter to identify if you're using a VPN - which makes it significantly easier to "track you down". The content may be masked - but the traffic pattern is easily and simply identifiable.

Geezer (1953 posts) • 0

To me, this statement "behavior modification is the true danger of psychological censorship" misses the point.

One of the goals of censorship IS precisely behavior modification.

alienew (422 posts) • -1

Well said, Geezer. Fortunately gokunming doesn't engage in it, although it is required by the Forces That Be to pass it on to consumers in order to function. So far this has not been a problem.
Thing about online anonymity, however, is that it can eliminate any serious personal paranoia and simply focus on information, ideas and, perhaps, debate - I cannot possibly take personally comments about alienew, and have a hard time understanding why anybody else has problems with their avatar names. No one thinks right all the time - so what? Considering the viewpoints of others might well be considered a useful supplement to speaking.
If I were a martial arts instructor I don't think I'd accept those with such problems into my dojo.

Geezer (1953 posts) • +1

@michael You and I traded bombs back in he days before down voting. I was terribly aggressive as I considered your words to be slander. Yet, I see a lot of value in your, at times, tedious posts. I am glad you came back.

A simple down vote is insufficient to respond to errors of fact. Any discourse of ideas or opinions is healthy sans name calling. Getting to vote on a post is a fair and reasonable thing as long as it is unlimited. It is feedback, binary but useful.

But in my dotage, I usually just don't give a rat's a anymore.

michael2015 (784 posts) • +2

@Geezer - you and I see things from different perspectives - most probably as a result of different life experiences. Although I disagree personally, it doesn't mean I disrespect. In reality - I believe we both believe in the same thing - just approach it from different positions.

The downvotes can be confusing but - an improvement on the previous system.

As for voting - if the purpose is to avoid flame wars - then real names will definitely help address the root cause as opposed to topical and symptomatic solutions - hence my sorta kinda real name.

redjon777 (560 posts) • 0

Although I'm not a major contributor as some may be on here, I still follow the forums as they do pop up with the odd genuinely useful piece of info.

As such I'd prefer the more real identity user names as Micheal suggested, hence my use of jon 77 in my avatar. Feels more trustworthy and useful when it comes to what people are saying.

Don't see what the problem would be using something like your wechat scan to register but then again, saying that, I think GoKunming maybe worried about losing a lot users if they go down that way.

JanJal (1243 posts) • 0

Registered and verified "real-name" accounts could be optional, visibly marked in posts. Readers could then learn to ignore others, if they so choose.

It would still leave the possibility to contribute anonymously for more secretive people.

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