What happened to “Don’t give out your name on the internet?” Within the past 15 years, the desire for online anonymity has vanished – as “normal people” joined the digital world, the number of “creepy people” worth hiding your identity from seems to have dropped in comparison. Despite the perceived safety of the online world, remaining anonymous still has its merits.

Anonymity addresses ideas

In an ideal world, political debate occurs detached from the people debating the topic. When discussing the gender wage gap for example, fact-based discussions should be possible between any two individuals, regardless of gender, salary, or race. Productive discourse where different interpretations of the same statistics should occur, where arguents, not participants, are rebutted and questioned. This ideal world does not exist.