These are some great comments. I don’t expect “Adam” to respond. To my knowledge he hasn’t been on the site since I requested that he change his username to an obvious pseudonym if he isn’t really named “Adam Wright.”
Anyway, I have yet to actually answer the question… So, why do we discourage anonymity here?
First, here is a community poll and discussion on a related topic that is worth reading for understanding how this forum evolved to its current state:
But, of course, we went into that poll already inclined to avoid anonymity as much as possible here. Here are several reasons we encourage people to identify themselves:
-
It pushes us to have the courage of our convictions. This is essentially what @andrm said above.
-
It causes people to self-censor. This cuts both directions. Yes, it will make men think twice about saying controversial good things. But let’s not forget it also makes us think twice before letting loose our worse impulses. Consider this quote from an article about the people paid to censor content on FB:
“Some of the posts Miguel reviews are on Facebook, where he says bullying and hate speech are more common; others are on Instagram, where users can post under pseudonyms, and tend to share more violence, nudity, and sexual activity.”
-
It strengthens other men to stop self-censoring and begin to proclaim gospel truths with boldness. We live under constant surveillance, and that is another thing that causes us to self-censor. When Bruce Schneier wrote on this, he said:
Consider the decades-long fight for gay rights around the world. Within our lifetimes we have made enormous strides to combat homophobia and increase acceptance of queer folks’ right to marry. Queer relationships slowly progressed from being viewed as immoral and illegal, to being viewed as somewhat moral and tolerated, to finally being accepted as moral and legal.
In the end, it was the public nature of those activities that eventually slayed the bigoted beast, but the ability to act in private was essential in the beginning for the early experimentation, community building, and organizing.
We are progressing the opposite direction with regard to Christian conviction. Going into the closet. Take the issue of sexuality as an example. There is not a single topic or issue providing better evangelistic opportunities for Christians to witness to the world today. Does that mean there shouldn’t be any place for men to explore this topic and discuss it back stage without the world watching? No, of course not. But it does mean that we should be training up and strengthening men for boldness in the face of persecution, not teaching them to cower in fear.
-
It encourages and strengthens accountability in real life. As @Kyriosity said, it matters what one is doing with his anonymity. But even more, as @andrm said, it matters why one is acting anonymously. Combining the two, we realize that the man who refuses to let his pastor or anybody else outside his nuclear family know what he is saying online is telling us an awful lot about himself through his rejection of accountability. Equating this anonymity with men like Knox is absurd. They are not even comparable, because they aren’t doing the same thing.