Anonymous/Burner Accounts and CD Etiquette

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by BrennanB

People want to be the person that writes that oneliner with all the green dots that people make a thread about to try and figure out what that one liner with not the most substance in it actually means. Or make the funny jokes that everyone laughs at. Too many new students/mentors/people are posting just for that reason. Not to actually be helpful and provide constructive praise/criticism/help to a thread.

A little off topic, but I agree with this 100%. The worst when someone posts an unpopular opinion and then a 'respected' member posts a meme about "I'm gonna have to get my popcorn ready for this!". It adds nothing to the conversation and just encourages others to bash the unpopular opinion.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

A little off topic, but I agree with this 100%. The worst when someone posts an unpopular opinion and then a 'respected' member posts a meme about "I'm gonna have to get my popcorn ready for this!". It adds nothing to the conversation and just encourages others to bash the unpopular opinion.

Firing shots there, John?

FWIW, I don't do this with "unpopular" opinions, I do this when I know a Summer CD thread will devolve into stupidity.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=14

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Firing shots there, John?

FWIW, I don't do this with "unpopular" opinions, I do this when I know a Summer CD thread will devolve into stupidity.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=14

Shoot, I meant to post that with my burner account

While I'm not a fan of those posts, that one wasn't a major offender and you still have a very high 'quality post' to 'fluff/joke post' ratio.

[wilsonmw04]

The irony of a thread on anonymous accounts fill with posts from anonymous accounts.

"burner" accounts need to stop. If you can't stand behind what you are saying or doing, hide behind anonymity. It's not professional in the least.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by throwaway

No it makes it an honest post because you don't have to worry about how you may be percieved and thus you don't have to water down our opinion. If you're on some random team and aren't well known which describes me and the overwhelming majority of people on CD using a main account vs a throwaway holds equal weight. It's only for people like Karthik or Corsetto where using a throwaway significantly reduces the impact.

Or you could just be honest while using your name.

[JamesBrown]

I am a big supporter of tying your name to your CD account. I have been posting on CD for 11+ years, and have never had a need to state an opinion that I did not want tied to my name. I view CD as a professional environment, and try to act accordingly.

The first part of the discussion is allowing people to use an anonymous account to state their opinion without tying it to their name. Specifically to the hypothetical in the original post. I agree, a members personal opinions, political, religious, moral, or otherwise, should not effect their standing in the community as an expert in their field of expertise. This is exactly why this opinion should not be brought up in a professional setting. As soon as you bring these unrelated opinions into your professional life you run the risk of people changing their opinions of you.

I have no need to know what Karthik's opinions are on anything non-robot related, and I don't care to know. For the same reasons I don't share mine. I apply the same attitude at work, and in all arenas outside of personal discussions with select people. I would strongly advise that everyone does the same.

For example (since it keeps coming up) if you have strong opinions about the LGBTQ+ community, if they do not directly effect FIRST then you do not need to state them. If they do directly effect FIRST, then you need to be confident enough in your stance to state your opinion, if you aren't then you need to evaluate your opinion. In general, if you aren't willing to have your name tied to an opinion, then you have no business bringing it up in a public setting.

The second part of this, is allowing someone to bring up a difficult or controversial topic without fear of repercussion. I see a need for this, and I would love to see FAHA revived for exactly this purpose, This would allow users to as these types of questions freely without fear of reprisal. At the same time the moderator oversight would insure that the system is used in a professional manner, and is not abused.

The third argument that I have seen is that the issue is with the red and green dots. First, I promise they are really just dots. Second, I have to say, I would much rather see the reputation system eliminated along with anonymous accounts, than see the accounts stick around.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Firing shots there, John?

FWIW, I don't do this with "unpopular" opinions, I do this when I know a Summer CD thread will devolve into stupidity.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=14

Consider the message it sends when a well-respected CD member preemptively concludes that a thread will have no merit. Does that encourage other members to take the topic seriously or does it, perhaps, lead others to take it less seriously, ensuring it does, in fact, devolve into stupidity?

Maybe a bit chicken and egg, but I often wonder if nothing said at all is better in those cases.

[GreyingJay]

I do not think anonymous accounts should be used to post "unpopular" opinions or to troll.

I do think there can be a legitimate use case for asking questions or soliciting advice about team dynamics without identifying the team in question.

For example, in some purely hypothetical situations, maybe I'm having trouble with a particular problem student (or mentor, or sponsor, or parent, or...) and I need to ask for advice about how to deal with it. Or maybe my team had a real problem with someone from team XYZ at a recent competition. Or, for a more positive spin, maybe I want to collect ideas for how to celebrate team achievements, such as a really great mentor or student. In these cases I would not necessarily want to post that with my full team attribution, knowing that my teammates are reading.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by GreyingJay

I do not think anonymous accounts should be used to post "unpopular" opinions or to troll.

I do think there can be a legitimate use case for asking questions or soliciting advice about team dynamics without identifying the team in question.

When I was starting out on CD and posted a lot of stupid things, I would just PM the big names in FRC and ask for advice. Literally every time they would reply with essays. With them knowing my team, the situation, and the context of the problem, they were able to help more than random shots in the dark like most anonymous threads asking for help end up. Additionally, it creates an unfair bias because the person answering cannot know other sides of the issue. They can't reach out and really help the team itself. Typically, if they know the team number, they can find out more and get to the root causes of an issue.

If people want real advice about their teams, just PM someone. I encourage students and mentors to PM me if you want, but there are much better people who can dish out advice and I've never met one who won't help.

I think the fact that kids and adults here can't vocalize issues with their names attached isn't helping them for when they need to confront people with real issues in real life.

-Akash

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

When I was starting out on CD and posted a lot of stupid things, I would just PM the big names in FRC and ask for advice. Literally every time they would reply with essays. With them knowing my team, the situation, and the context of the problem, they were able to help more than random shots in the dark like most anonymous threads asking for help end up. Additionally, it creates an unfair bias because the person answering cannot know other sides of the issue. They can't reach out and really help the team itself

If people want real advice about their teams, just PM someone. I encourage students and mentors to PM me if you want, but there are much better people who can dish out advice and I've never met one who won't help.

-Akash

It's plausible that those in distress are also ignorant of this channel at the outset.

I do believe that moderators control the queue of new threads from new accounts, so those that fall into the center of the Venn Diagram of "CD Mods" and "wise mentors" in theory could keep those threads on ice and handle it in PMs themselves.

That's a hypothetical, however.

[efoote868]

My biggest problem with anonymous accounts is not that they are anonymous (most accounts are anonymous - you get to control what others know about you), it's that they're often used as "hit and run", which in my opinion is a form of trolling. "Hey everyone! Start Discussing This! I'm not going to contribute any further!" or, "Snide, unprofessional comment. Hahaha, you can't do anything to me!"


In the "A(nother) Sad Day For FIRST", the OP posted once and then went dark. They're not posting again, so the entire thread draws attention to something that was not meant to be public FRC knowledge; and there's no accountability or further discussion with the OP (are they apart of the team? how did they become aware of the tweet? do they know what they're posting would be frowned upon if it was true, or outrageous if false?).

There are other popular anonymous accounts (Does anyone know the mystery identity of Looking Forward?), but the crucial difference is that they respond to feedback and are active after the original post.

[b.arci]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

I am a big supporter of tying your name to your CD account. I have been posting on CD for 11+ years, and have never had a need to state an opinion that I did not want tied to my name. I view CD as a professional environment, and try to act accordingly.

The first part of the discussion is allowing people to use an anonymous account to state their opinion without tying it to their name. Specifically to the hypothetical in the original post. I agree, a members personal opinions, political, religious, moral, or otherwise, should not effect their standing in the community as an expert in their field of expertise. This is exactly why this opinion should not be brought up in a professional setting. As soon as you bring these unrelated opinions into your professional life you run the risk of people changing their opinions of you.

I have no need to know what Karthik's opinions are on anything non-robot related, and I don't care to know. For the same reasons I don't share mine. I apply the same attitude at work, and in all arenas outside of personal discussions with select people. I would strongly advise that everyone does the same.

For example (since it keeps coming up) if you have strong opinions about the LGBTQ+ community, if they do not directly effect FIRST then you do not need to state them. If they do directly effect FIRST, then you need to be confident enough in your stance to state your opinion, if you aren't then you need to evaluate your opinion. In general, if you aren't willing to have your name tied to an opinion, then you have no business bringing it up in a public setting.

The second part of this, is allowing someone to bring up a difficult or controversial topic without fear of repercussion. I see a need for this, and I would love to see FAHA revived for exactly this purpose, This would allow users to as these types of questions freely without fear of reprisal. At the same time the moderator oversight would insure that the system is used in a professional manner, and is not abused.

The third argument that I have seen is that the issue is with the red and green dots. First, I promise they are really just dots. Second, I have to say, I would much rather see the reputation system eliminated along with anonymous accounts, than see the accounts stick around.

This.

I feel mostly the same way, with one exception. That is, if people do feel the need to express their opinion about something (say, an educated guess about the viability of a mechanism), they should be tolerant and respectful. This does not mean one shouldn't outright disagree with something, it just means they have to express their viewpoint respectfully. Said person also shouldn't be worried about hurting another person's feelings (that is not tolerance, that is trying to be politically correct --- which isn't needed in a community where opinions shape how they innovate); as stated earlier in this post, opinions simply need to not condemn/bully a viewpoint. This will lead to better community engagement, I think.

P.S. I hope this isn't ironic because it seems unprofessional; I was trying to be professional.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I do believe that moderators control the queue of new threads from new accounts, so those that fall into the center of the Venn Diagram of "CD Mods" and "wise mentors" in theory could keep those threads on ice and handle it in PMs themselves.

There are some specific circumstances that will cause a post from a new account (or an account with few posts) to go directly into moderation. Most posts, however, do not need any approval from mods before showing up on the forums.

[Ed Law]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

The second part of this, is allowing someone to bring up a difficult or controversial topic without fear of repercussion. I see a need for this, and I would love to see FAHA revived for exactly this purpose, This would allow users to as these types of questions freely without fear of reprisal. At the same time the moderator oversight would insure that the system is used in a professional manner, and is not abused.

I agree with you that in some situations there is a need on CD to allow people to post anonymously. However when I see someone creating a throwaway account and post in several threads and express their opinion, then I have a problem with it. Accounts without team number or name should be restricted to only be able to post in the thread that they started and nowhere else. I don't know if that is technically possible.

[frcguy]

I'll provide my opinion on the subject.

I understand if people want to use anonymous accounts to post about issues on their team. Many people in those situations don't want to discredit their teams or face prosecution from the perpetrators of the very issues they want to post about. Let me give an example. Everyone on my team and quite a few members and mentors of other teams know my Chief Delphi username and the team I represent. If my team were having issues and I wanted to seek guidance, I probably wouldn't use this account to post such a thing.

That being said, creating an anonymous account to post "unpopular" or similar opinions is out of line. I feel comfortable with posting any opinion I have using this account. I own what I post, and if others don't agree with what I write that's fine with me.

One of the keys for me is when I post I always try to be respectful and tactful, regardless of if I am providing technical help or providing a counterpoint to a claim made by a previous poster. In short, it's all in how you present yourself.