Roots of Online Negativity - Why Target Anonymity?

I noticed that a majority of this unit was against anonymity for usually one reason: incivility.

As the online community continues to develop alongside a growing user population, I believe it is important to understand that the roots of online immorality is not defined solely by anonymity. Instead, I think our rights to be anonymous are just abused by the many characters that create a more hostile web. The right to be anonymous may be viewed as a sort of incentive for a "cyber bully" or "troll" to mess with others. They believe that they can take advantage of this free form of speech without having to worry about being targeted themselves. It's in my understanding that we should come to realize that it would be better to understand individual motives and the context of uncivil situations, such as expressed in the article "To Fight Trolls, Focus on Actions and Context" by Whitney Phillips, rather than hastily shooting at our rights to be anonymous as a way to come to a solution.

Realistically, it is impossible change this mindset of the online community as a whole. We have freedom of expression because every individual has their own perspective of reality and it is, in my belief, natural for us to acknowledge new ideas and opinions. Banning anonymity is in a sense limiting our freedoms of expression. If anything, the whole suggestion that the right to be anonymous should be abolished is absurd. It does not solve that problem that people develop their own reasons to do things whether they are good or bad.

Overall, I do not believe anonymity is the root of online negativity. It may appear as a supplement to incivility, but it serves a greater purpose outside of this context.