ABSTRACT
This chapter engages the current debate around anonymity in user comments. While anonymity was the norm in the very earliest letters to the editor, anonymous user comments disrupt digital journalism by contradicting contemporary ethical norms in journalism regarding transparency and source attribution. Further, anonymous commenters are often blamed for the apparent pervasiveness of incivility in comments, which undermines the deliberative potential of comment spaces, and many news organizations now require commenters to be identifiable. It is also apparent that, especially in anonymous or pseudonymous commenting conditions, “users have less face at stake and consequently less face to lose”. In sum, the jury is still out on the concrete impact of anonymity policies; while some news organizations explicitly prohibit anonymous comments in an effort to improve the quality of user comments, others may choose to allow anonymity to encourage overall user engagement.
