The ever-fascinating m00t (Christopher Poole to his mother), founder of the 4chan message board (the font of all memes/bowels of the internet, depending on who you speak to) on online identity, anonymity and how Facebook got it wrong in his keynote presentation at South by South-West 2011.
m00t expands on the idea of persistent identity – the idea that our identity can be tracked across the web i.e. via our Facebook profile with its static name and profile picture and what this means for online culture and creativity. How can you ever re-invent yourself or escape your youthful mistakes when your history can be tracked across the web? And what does this mean for collective online creativity when the cost of failure becomes so high – all your mistakes are attributable to you and recorded for eternity for all to Google? Are you less likely to go out on a limb and try something risky, outlandish or contentious when your name and photo are attached yo your attempt? If you try a few times and are judged to have failed, will you be discouraged, and less likely to try again, when your failings are all attached to you?
m00t calls Zuckerberg out for saying anonymity online equates to a kind of cowardice and inauthenticity, arguing anonymity is authenticity – the raw and unfiltered expression of self, free from the constraints of the judgment of others. m00t points to online communities and forums which attribute value to variables such as time of registration and points systems accorded by the amount of time or interactions the user has participated in. Most would be familiar with communities where these markers carry weight, and will have noticed how members with this kind of cache are accorded a certain reverence, and their opinions carry more weight than most. But is this unquestioning attribution of status useful or helpful, compared with a community like 4chan where anonymous users’ submissions are judged on their content alone?
m00t goes on to explore many more areas of online community, the creation of memes and his new site canv.as (currently in closed beta). I definitely recommend you watch all three videos!
