I have seen many blogs recently about being anonymous on the internet and why it important, this is not the usual, "keep private or you'll have your identity stolen type blog". This is more of a why is the idea of anonymity kept on the internet even with how easy it is to share details, and why anonymity should be kept.

In this blog I am sure there will be some people disagree with what I say, please do not be offended, and if you are, please do not shout about your opinion being fact. I am open to intelligent discussion, however.

First of all, what is anonymity?
Anonymity is defined as not being identified by name. This means not knowing who someone or knowing any information about that, such as age, gender or ethnicity. For example, just showing a username or ID, such as Supernova666 or 03634846.


Why is anonymity important?
Anonymity is important as, not only does it keep your personal  information private, it allows people to judge you for the content you post, and how you behave on the internet, instead of preconceived ideas, or schemas, about people of that gender, age or ethnicity.

I am sure many of you reading this will have heard of The Rules Of The Internet. Rules 16 is "There are no girls on the internet". There is the famous reason for this, that any girl is actually an FBI agent. There is an alternative view, a view I prefer. There are no girls on the internet actually promotes equality. Now I am sure many feminists and do-gooders will argue "why could it not be the other way around", and have there are no boys on the internet. I have heard many reasons for this, I shall bring two to the table, the first is that stereotypically boys are more interested in gaming/computers/the internet. The second, and more controversial reason is, girls are made fun of more than boys. It only makes sense that everyone is brought "up" to the status of male, than they are being taken "down" to the status of female. I believe this is very unfair, but it is sadly true. Back on message now. Having everyone seen as male (I'd rather it be seen as gender neutral, and have people used instead) it means that everyone is treated equally. The reason for this is, in real life girls are able to flirt or use being a women their advantage to get things that a male could not get, for example sympathy, or a free drink at a bar. Males can use being a male to their advantage too in real life, for example generally being paid more than females for the same job, this does not happen in all cases, however sex discrimination acts have been brought in to help reduce gender inequalities. With everyone being seen as one it means that no one person is treated differently than others based on their gender. When a girl says they are a girl on the internet, it is for one of two reasons. Firstly, they want people to know about them, they want to be an individual and not another faceless user. This is fine. The second reason is because people want to use being a female as a way to gain attention. This is not ok. This is the reason for a term which I am sure many of you know, but I won't type. For more information about the famous phrase and why it is used, please PM me, please bear in mind it will contain adult words.

What I am trying to say with that last wall of text was, that with everyone being seen as male/the same they can be judged on their content and how they behave. Using gender as a way to get attention, in my view, is not ok. This is the reason why I do not reveal mine, I want to be judged for what I contribute to the site, not because of my gender.

I try to keep myself as gender neutral as possible on the internet, this is not how I act in real life, but I prefer people to judge me without bias or prejudgments online. If you see me in chat, every now and then someone will bring up an old question, what is my gender. I will never answer this as I don't want people to make judgments based off of my gender. If anyone does know and puts it in the comments, the comment will be removed, please do not.


How is this related to PMC?
This is all related to PMC as far too often I see people saying "I am a female" to me, this says "I am a female, give me attention because I am a female". When people give more detail about themselves, that is fine, that is them expressing individuality. A stand alone statement about them being a girl is not ok, in my view. I like seeing people post new quality content, I really do. I also really like people getting popular because they deserve to because they post high quality content.


To sum up
In all, I love anonymity as it allows us to be equal, people who are judged based on behaviour, and contributions to the site. Once we lose our anonymity we lose our ability to be "free" and able to shape ourselves with no restrictions that we face in our normal everyday lives.