Literally forcing everyone to be doxed so as to post - what a great hideous idea.
There are obvious reasons why anonymity in forums should be the user's choice, including risk of violence, work-safety, privacy.
This is why so many people are still using pseudonyms on the CBC comment pages, even after the "real names policy" came in. I do not need certain RL paper pushers here knowing my real political opinions or how I express them.
"it would kill social media" Would that be a bad thing?
Social media used to be the editorial page of the local paper. I remember a time when one person wrote to the editor expressing a negative view of religion and churches. Someone else wrote a rebuttal. Then the first guy wrote a counter-rebuttal.
Then the editor realized that people were interested in this back-and-forth, and dedicated a portion of the editorial page to these two. The debate went on for awhile until something else got popular.
Forced doxxing doesn't seem like a good idea.
Also, they tried this in the CBC comments and most of the posts are still utter trash.
That "real names" policy was so annoying. I already had over 10k posts under my original username there, and after having to re-register under a different name, I no longer have access to those posts.
And if they think I'm using my real name there now, they're dreaming. My username there is a character from one of my favorite novels (not a well-known one, so I rather doubt the average person could figure out which one it is).
At the time I registered my new account, there did seem to be some vetting. Not much, but some. It took awhile for mine to be accepted, though I did try to pick one that could plausibly be a real name. But not long after that, they must have given up on vetting them, considering how many Star Trek characters, Archie comics characters, and a dead Prime Minister started popping up in the comments section.
I guess my username there seems a little too non-"Old Stock Canadian" for some people and there have been a few times when some right-wing twit has snarked at me to "go back to your country". I just tell them I'm already in my country, thanks, and can't get any more "back" than I am already.
This is what CBC has to say about it:
They must have changed their minds about when the comments would be open. For awhile they weren't even letting us read them during the off-hours, and when I actually got a reply to my complaint, they had some mealy-mouthed excuse about how much moderating it takes. I pointed out that after they've closed an article to further comments, there is no moderating required whatsoever if people just want to read them.
The moderation there is nuts, btw. They don't follow their own guidelines, as some pretty awful comments have been allowed to stay up, and some of mine have been censored when all I did was state something factual.
Are you saying that we should all be certified not to be bots before we can use social media?
Why not? You have to prove you're not a bot before you can use fanfiction.net, so why not social media?
Still not getting from anyone what these opinions that are potentially at risk are. Vaccine safety concerns? Quebec sovereignty?
The right-wing in Canada has, to a large extent, gone past what was considered normal right-wing in the days of Lyin' Brian Mulroney (in the '80s and early '90s) and all the way over to BS!C Trump worshipers who think the worst of the Republicans are exactly what Canada should have.
In my province, the government does not want people discussing covid. They've spread misinformation that the former NDP leader (Rachel Notley) was intending to send teams door to door, forcibly vaccinating people. The anti-vaxxers here are way past certifiably nuts. It's not just covid they don't want vaccinations for now. They don't want kids vaccinated against measles, they don't want flu and covid shots to be available at pharmacies (or anywhere else) and they absolutely cannot wrap their minds around the fact that the reason we don't have all the epidemics we used to have is BECAUSE of vaccination programs.
In the meantime, all it takes is one group of parents in one region to refuse to vaccinate their kids, and one sick kid to infect others, and boom. Once again, there's an outbreak of what didn't used to be a problem because people used common sense.
It's funny because the "no" vote doesn't accurately reflect the reasoning. The reasons for "no" range from "this could further harm marginalised people" all the way to "i don't want people to associate my opinions with me as a person". Hmm.
Given the vindictive nature of the current provincial government here, there are times when I self-censor on Danielle Smith's FB page. My own MLA blocked me years ago for criticizing the daft curriculum she and a bunch of cronies came up with (none of whom were real teachers who worked with real children). And given that she's now the health minister, I'm prevented from seeing announcements and information that could be important.
