Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,news.admin.policy Path: math.utexas.edu!news.dell.com!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!news.alpha.net!mvb.saic.com!eskimo!wix From: wix@eskimo.com (Dennis Wicks) Subject: Re: Anonymous posters & Misinformation = Net pollution Message-ID: <Cu6FzE.4B3@eskimo.com> Keywords: misinformation disinformation propaganda net anon anonymous Organization: Eskimo North BBS - The BEST! (206) 367-3837 References: <32253p$220@news.u.washington.edu> Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 18:13:59 GMT Lines: 55 Xref: math.utexas.edu talk.politics.misc:239350 news.admin.policy:19183 In article <32253p$220@news.u.washington.edu>, McDaniel <mcdaniel@u.washington.edu> wrote:

The problem: Anonymous posters supplying pseudo-news reports or otherwise wasting bandwidth in groups more concerened with fact or atleast genuine concerns (such as political talk groups and sci groups.)

The soultion: Limited anonymous posters to forums where accountability for what one says is of little concern (such as rec groups where applicable.) OR provide the owners of moderated groups with detailed accounts of the true identity of any anonymous poster who post to a serious newsgroup and make that procedure known to the would-be anonymous user.

I attempted recently to secure the actual address of an anon poster who deliberetly spread misinformation concerning a non-existant U.S. Presidential Executive Order and a news-look-alike story dealing with proven falsehoods.

Needless to say the administrator of the popular anon.penet.fi server has not been cooperative. I suggest that groups wishing to deal with issues based a little stronger in reality ban anonymous posters and encourage their posters NEVER to repeat information supplied by anonymous posters elsewhere. Some groups have already come to that same conclusion.

I believe that anonymous posting is a valuable service in many forums. However, it seems that service is being abused in political and technical newsgroups.

I suppose yet another solution would be to make widely known the general untrustability of anonymous posters in groups where truth and fact are paramount. But this letter should go a tiny ways towards that goal.

Opinions?

Non-problem. Anonymous posters don't propogate any more disinformation, lies, or junk than "real" posters. I could post my kill file for t.p.g in support of this, but I won't. Anyone who belives anything posted to the net without verification has only themselves to blame. A well-known person posting from a prestigious .edu site has no more authority than any anon poster. The credence you place on the content has to be determined by the posters previous statements. Indeed, I find that several people post very accurate and insightful articles in some groups, but in others their personal biases are very obvious and their posts are worth no more than the typical TV news "man on the street" interview. -- My own opinions E-mail responses to On my own time Articles may be On my own dime Posted at my option