A great many posts seem to reiterate how bad censorship would be, how pointless and futile it would be to only allow positive opinions or warm, fuzzy, encouraging comments. In fact people write the same comments repeatedly every time this topic comes up, which it does every few months or so. But I'm not clear why they do so because I really can't recall anyone actually ever proposing or requesting censorship in the sense its being described here. I don't recall anyone ever suggesting that only "nice" comments should be permitted. So why is that hypothetical scenario so often used like some bogey man that should be avoided?
I was under the impression that this was exactly what was being suggested.
This quote from GriffinSong as an example.
It occurs to me that perhaps in a perfect world an artist would specify what they're asking for in their opening post. For in
stance ...
"I've got a new deck I'm working on and I'm very interested in constructive critique. Go ahead, be blunt, I can take it ..."
Or ...
"Here's a few cards I've done. I'm just doing this for fun, so if you like them please let me know, and if you don't, please keep it to yourself."
... it would make replying so much easier, eh?
This was followed up with suggestions that a subforum should be created, where such rules were in force.
If I have misunderstood, or misread, please ignore my posts on the subject.
And of course, the normal rules of politeness should always apply. Both in real life and here on the internet.
On the subject of real names.
That's an interesting one. But in a way, here, Lillie is my real name. It's the identity I have here, and on other internet places. If I used my real name, very few of you would know who the hell I was, and be able to put my comments into context with the rest of my posting here.
There is also the security aspect. We are told not to use our real names on the internet for very real safety considerations.
A lot of people here know a lot about me, because I have posted about myself. If I had to do that under my own name, I would have said a lot less, as I know that not only my friends are reading, but potentially the whole world.
Using an internet name allows me to be honest, while still retaining a measure of safety.
It would be nice if we could all use our real names on the internet in perfect safety. But the truth is that we can't.
Another (last) point on this is that some names are safer than others. Jane Smith would be a lot safer posting her real name on the internet than Clarissa Culpepper.
If someone wanted to trace Jane they would have a very difficult task with no other info. But Clarissa could probably be found quite easily, along with her address, and a lot of family details.
So that call for real names would give a very unfair advantage to some people.
Also, of course, unless we all undergo an Id check, we can all just say we are Jane Smith. Who would know?