Anonymity on the Internet A Study of Reddit Users Introduction This is essay is based on an ethnographic project that focused on a social news media website called Reddit. The content on this site is produced by, and commented on by the users who participate anonymously under usernames. My aim was to conduct interviews with users in order to gain perspective on how the users themselves understand and experience their online lives. These users did not have identical opinions about Reddit, or their relationship to the site and its users. They did however, tend to agree on the shortcomings of current ideas about anonymity, and the major issues presently facing the status of Reddit’s group identity. In this essay their testimony has been applied to analysis of individual and group identity formation, as well as the ongoing debate between traditional and virtual communitarians. There has been a lot of speculation by theorists about the effects of anonymity on social interaction and the quality of communities that exist online. As Maria​
​
Bakardjieva (2007) argues that participation in online ‘communities’, for lack of a better word, has become undeniably intertwined with embodied life, while Michele Willson (2007) insists upon using the traditional community as a point of measurement for online interaction. Arguments for each side tend to lean on predetermined notions of anonymity, community, and identity, Barbara Kennedy (2006), however, questions the usefulness of these concepts, suggesting the abandonment of the term anonymity and the adoption of concepts such as Stuart Hall’s ‘identification’ or Rosi Braidotti’s ‘becoming’ in discussing the significance of computer mediated communication. By analyzing these arguments along with ethnographic material from the everyday lives of Reddit users, I hope to reflect not only on the restrictiveness of ideologically charged concepts such as community and anonymity for theorizing online life, but also how those who use these notions as the basis for their arguments hold onto an ideal that may no longer be relevant offline either. ​
What is Reddit? In her book ‘Personal Connections in the Digital Age’, Nancy Baym ​
(2010) ​
identifies five different kinds of support sought through online interactions. Social integration or network support is best exemplified by fan and hobbyist groups; emotional support is achieved through groups dedicated to certain kinds of illness or other crises that may cause stress and insecurity; esteem support is given to those who need a boost in confidence; informational support is exchanged as advice or guidance in relation to specific problems; and finally, though less frequently, even tangible support can be organized through online platforms. Baym gives specific examples of the distinct types of sites where one might turn for each type of support; its members generally value each one as a kind of community. This is one of the many ways in which Reddit becomes increasingly complex and problematic, for it encompasses all of these kinds of support, as well as much more. In my interviews I have come across users who have turned to Reddit for everything from finding potential roommates, to relationship advice, pictures of cats, networks of other gamers, stimulating political discussion, and finding friends in new cities. Before going into detail about my research and the issues I will focus on, it is vital that I attempt a concise explanation of Reddit, this is a difficult task as the site is incredibly diverse and complex. Reddit is made up of over 6,500 subreddits and 21.5 million monthly unique visitors (​
Reddit Blog, 2011)​
. Each subreddit is a unique forum offering its subscribers content posted exclusively by users, therefore the users are both the producers and consumers of the information on each subreddit. In a post on the official Reddit blog an administrator wrote that, “​
The most important fact is that reddit is not a single community; it's an engine for creating communities ​
(Reddit Blog, 2011)​
” ​
A subreddit, therefore is considered a class of online community, each one with its own ‘purpose, standards, and readership.’ Each subreddit begins with the ‘redditor’ who creates it, this person becomes the initial moderator of the community and has the power to appoint additional moderators. A moderator’s job is to, “remove abusive, inappropriate, or spammy posts from their subreddit, change the visual style and add content to the sidebar, respond to feedback and requests through shared moderator mail, add new moderators and remove more junior moderators” ​
(Reddt Blog, 2011).​
In addition to moderators, and technically more powerful, are the administrators of the site. Their jobs are to, “maintain the code, organization, and infrastructure, develop new features and merge community contributions, handle policy violations and site­wide abuse, keep the lights blinking.” ​
(Reddit Blog, 2011) Anyone can create a subreddit and decide on its rules, regulations, and ultimate purpose. There are subreddits for everything one could possibly imagine, even the things one might not like to, such as subreddits that specialize in NSFL (not safe for life) posts that, in many cases, are videos of people being executed. Within each subreddit, users post content in the form of pictures, links to articles, questions posed to other users, etc. Each post has a comment section, or thread, in which other users can post comments, answers, questions pertaining to the original post. Each post, and comments within each post, can be ‘upvoted’ or ‘downvoted’ by the other members, thus allowing for the most popular posts and comments to rise to the top of the page and gain visibility. With each upvote and downvote the user whose post or comment is being judged gains and loses what is called karma. Anyone can see how much karma any other user has, as well as all of their post and comment history, simply by clicking on his or her username. Next to their username there will be two numbers, one for link karma, another for comment karma. For example, my username looks like this HobsonHero (1 – 35), to contextualize, these are astronomically low numbers in the opinion of most redditors. Higher numbers indicate the popularity, reliability, and authenticity of past posts, establishing a sense of status. ​
HobsonHero I have been using Reddit for about two years now. Signing up to Reddit is quick and easy, you are not even required to provide an email address, and once you’ve signed up you will find that your ‘front page’ consists of the default subreddits provided for each new user, which you may decide to unsubscribe from at any time. The default subreddits are a great place to start when thinking of the typical Reddit user, and what the creators of the site think/know about their demographic. These include: Funny, Worldnews, Politics, AskReddit, Gaming, Atheism, Technology, WTF, and Videos. Keeping in mind that Politics is specifically concerned with American politics a few things can be inferred by these default subreddits, inferences that are backed up by research done on Reddit’s demographics by an independent agency. This agency’s findings show that American redditors come in a close second to their Canadian counterparts for most represented nationality, there are almost twice as many men than women, the dominant age group is 18­24, the most dominant income bracket is 0­24,999 USD, and those who have a bachelors or graduate degree are in the minority. The implications of these statistics will be considered later on. (Reddit Demographics, Ignite Social Media, 2012) I, personally, opted out of Gaming and Atheism, replacing them with things like, London, AskAcademia, TheoryofReddit, and CulturalStudies. As one can see, many things about me can be inferred by these choices as well. I am a student, interested in a very particular strain of academia, who lives in London. I have never submitted a link, though I have some posts and comments. As a redditor, I have very conflicted feelings about Reddit and its users. On the one hand, most of the time, it is a great source for information, and platform for discussion. On the other hand, the fact that young men dominate this site leads to a fair bit of blatant sexism, people also seem to be quite frustrated a lot of the time and opt for offense and abuse over constructive discussion. Many Reddit users are willing to go to great lengths in order to accumulate large amounts of karma. The technical term for this kind of person on Reddit is ‘karma whore.’ The frenzies that have been whipped up as a result of these kinds of exploits will be analyzed later on with the insights of some of the users I have interviewed. Methodology One of the more interesting and complicated aspects of attempting a study of a site like Reddit is in choosing the best method for negotiating its unique forms of interaction. I decided to take two very different routes, both based around informal interviews with users. First, I went on to a subreddit called LondonSocialClub, a tool used by Reddit users who either live in London or who visit the city to find events, or post about events, that they will then meet up and attend together. Finding the appropriate event for me to take part in was the first step, it had to fit with my schedule, and be something more intimate and quiet enough that I would be able to record our conversations. I chose a post about a pub quiz not far from my house and messaged the OP (original poster) asking whether he would mind my coming along and conducting some interviews. Jobson15 responded saying that he and his girlfriend would both be willing to take part, though he could not guarantee the participation of anyone else, and that I should come along. In the end there were about five of us who took part in what turned out to be a very compelling conversation about the uses and influences the site had, not only in their online lives, but in their lives generally ​
(see Appendix A)​
. Most interestingly, everyone seemed to have been drawn to Reddit initially due to feeling isolated and lonely. For example, Meredith had grown up in Kansas City, Missouri and found it difficult to relate to her more conservative peers, for her Reddit became a sanctuary of like­minded individuals. For most of the people who are heavily involved in LondonSocialClub, however, their use of the site as a tool for organizing social events has become so central that they do not necessarily represent the typical user whose involvement is restricted to online use only. Due to this fairly restricted use of the site exhibited by the members of LondonSocialClub I decided to conduct more interviews online using Reddit’s personal messaging system as my medium of enquiry. This was a substantial challenge in itself as it was vital that I choose the appropriate subreddit in which to post in order to get a satisfactory response. Initially I posted on TheoryofReddit, and my fears of getting no response were nipped in the bud when my post was almost immediately deleted by moderators for not fulfilling the guidelines of that subreddit. One moderator suggested SampleSize as a more appropriate place to collect data, another less helpful moderator simply said, “There's no navel gazing or even question asking in this thread. You're simply asking for volunteers. If you want to come back and discuss your ​
results and findings​
, then feel free. But without any data/discussion to start with, this isn't really appropriate for this sub reddit.” ​
(see Appendix B) ​
Unhelpful, and slightly annoying, as this may have been, my faux pas led me to SampleSize, where I posted a request for those interested in my topic of study, which I summarized as being on anonymity and Reddit, to send me a PM (personal message) in order to take part in an interview. Within a few hours I had about fifteen messages in my inbox, some of the interviews fizzled out, some gave me very basic one sentence answers to my questions, but about six ended up being incredibly helpful, and vital to my approach to subsequent research. Contextualizing Reddit This opportunity to use different accounts and, therefore, varying degrees of anonymity is something quite particular to Reddit. In order to contextualize the position of the Reddit user in terms of the rest of the Internet, lets consider two sites that lie on opposite extremes of what we may consider to be the spectrum of anonymity. First, Facebook, the most popular social networking site in history. As Lovink puts it, Facebook “has turned into a massive self­branding exercise: ‘it’s awesome to be me.’ But who exactly am I?” ​
(Lovink, 2011: 38)​
This has become part of a narrative aimed toward self­realization played out through semi­public platforms. In this instance our accounts are constructed in terms of how we want to be seen by others, along with our full names are, place of employment, birthday, relationship status, places we live or have lived, and so on. It is a violation of Facebook’s terms and conditions to operate under a ‘false identity,’ this is in an effort to protect the user’s privacy. This creates a sort of privacy paradox, one reason being that in an attempt to protect users from the perceived perils of anonymous interaction, many groups can be endangered. A comprehensive study of such groups can be found on geekfeminism.wikia.com in which concerns such as hate crimes, identity theft, employment related (i.e. social workers, therapists), are explored in relation to marginalized and endangered groups online ​
(GeekFeminism)​
. On the opposite end of the anonymity spectrum lies 4chan, probably one of the most controversial sites in existence. 4chan has two very unique qualities, being anonymity and ephemerality. Bernstein et al. ​
(2011) ​
explain that “this lack of identity makes traditional reputation systems unworkable.” Not only are user’s posts accompanied, in over 90% of cases, by no more than the label ‘anonymous,’ but the site also has no archiving system, meaning that as soon as new content is posted on one of the many boards that make up 4chan, old content is removed forever, sometimes this process can take mere minutes. 4chan embodies the fearful predictions of what Lovink calls the ‘old media class,’ he uses Andrew Keen as a representative of this class. “’What happens,’ Keen asks, ‘when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule? The monkeys take over.’ When everyone broadcasts, no one is listening… Web 2.0 ‘decimate[s] the ranks of our cultural gatekeepers.’” ​
(Keen in Lovink, 2011: 7)​
Though this outlook is overly cynical, 4chan is a bit of a free for all, decidedly offensive, however it is one of the only sites left which allows users to exercise complete anonymity, versus what could be comparatively seen as pseudonymity on Reddit. In categorizing 4chan as exhibiting complete anonymity, I am not ignoring what Lovink calls our ‘post 9/11 reality.’ The Internet is no longer a “free­for­all playground where you can say anything you like” ​
(Lovink, 2011: 47), ​
we certainly are watched and traced and tracked, however, as I am not concerned specifically with illicit activity being carried out online, I must restrict my focus to just the interactions between the users themselves. In this sense, Facebook, Reddit, and 4chan all exhibit various degrees of anonymity and, as we will see, Reddit users in particular further complicate this spectrum. Anonymity or Pseudonymity Anonymity is a concept that has been utilized by a variety of groups and theorists in their understanding and conceptualizing of the Internet. Some use it as a warning; see it as a cause for concern and resistance, while others claim it as the most effective social liberator, and a necessary component of egalitarian interaction. Sherry Turkle (1996, TED Talk) ​
has supported both sides of this debate at different points in her career, where she once heralded anonymity as allowing for ‘identity play’, she now fears that it has negative effects on our capacity for face­to­face interaction. Regardless of their position on the subject, most theorists see it as an either­or mode of being, either you are anonymous or you are not. My aim is to use Reddit as a way of exemplifying how anonymity can be used to varying degrees and as a means to a variety of ends on the Internet, and that online interaction is neither a threat to, nor completely separate from, offline life. The most common arguments in favour of anonymity are those that claim that a person can partake in identity exploration and play ​
(Turkle 1996). ​
This identity ‘play’ is facilitated by the removal of the self from the social constraints of the embodied entity, this disembodiment is seen as being paramount to satisfying the fragmented postmodern self ​
(Willson 2007). ​
This view is common among the heralds of online culture and community, who believe that the anonymous nature of these interactions allow for people to express themselves in ways they may never have been able to before. Though this is not entirely false, it does not mean that these interactions are judgement free, rather “all electronic persons are not more ‘equal’ than proximate individuals, we just use different criteria to rate them” ​
(Schmitz, 1997: 85). ​
Different sites have developed different ways of creating accountability among their users. Anonymity on Reddit is negotiated in a very unique way. The structure of the site into different subreddits, and therefore specific topics, allows for the imposition of specific posting guidelines. Michele Willson ​
(2007) ​
points out that online anonymity means that websites must invoke and maintain the commitment of their members through the imposition of rules, order, and participatory rights, or else succumb to chaos. Enforcing these rules are the moderators of that subreddit, who have to power to remove inappropriate posts and comments, as well as redirect conversation to the topic at hand. In addition, each user has the ability to accumulate karma, the amount of karma any given user has is a result of the number of upvotes they have received for a comment or post, therefore conveying their value as a participant. As Baym ​
(2010: 86) ​
suggests, “[o]ffering support to others now may lead to receiving support should you ever go looking for it in the future. Being a skilled provider of resources can also increase people’s status and prestige within online groups.” This is what karma was originally intended for on Reddit, though as the site has developed and increased in popularity, karma has increasingly become a popularity contest with users going to great lengths to gain more and more karma, this phenomenon has become a source for distrust amongst users. Parrish ​
(2002: 267) ​
argues that anonymity functions to “liberate the individual from the social constraints of embodied identity.” However, Willson​
(2007) ​
would argue that this liberation can lead to a lack of accountability and ethical responsibility for others. One could argue that, though identity is no longer embodied in the traditional sense, the user is represented through the retention of all posts and comments in their user profile. “The recording and archiving of interactions also creates the ‘historical trace’ of a character, decreasing the ability for that character to interact unidentified by past behaviours or statements” ​
(Willson 2007 pp. 216). ​
This ‘historical trace’ proves problematic for many users when they wish to post a story or pose a question that is particularly delicate or taboo, many people want to take advantage of their anonymity as an opportunity to open up to others, but do not want their main account, which many have had for years, to become associated with a controversial opinion or experience. Kennedy​
(2006) ​
argues that the concept of anonymity is problematic because it implies a static relationship between being (anonymous) and feeling (anonymous). Reddit users frequently disprove this implication by creating what are referred to as alternate or throwaway accounts. An alternate account may be used for a certain topic that is controversial, but they discuss often, and will be used only for that topic. A throwaway is a one off account used for one post, and to reply to the comments people make on that specific thread. As is argued by Mitra ​
(in Wilken 2011), ​
the Internet offers users a space where the bodied, and embodied identity, can be left behind and identity can be maintained. Because Reddit allows users to create as many accounts as they need or want, identity maintenance is both straightforward, and widely practiced. “Internet communication enables self­disclosure because of its relatively anonymous nature, and it fosters idealization of the other in the absence of information to the contrary” ​
(Bargh et al., 2002: 45). ​
Thus, relations on Reddit are maintained as a sort of honour system in which users are admitted to use varying degrees of anonymity as a tool, not only because of the ‘historical trace’ of their main accounts, but also because they are aware that their online activity is interwoven with real life (abbreviated by many as RL, things that happen in real life referred to as IRL). This phenomenon problematizes the popular assertion by virtual communitarians that, “the most important criterion by which we judge each other in [virtual communities] is one’s mind rather than appearance, race accent, etc” ​
(Ringo quoted in Parrish, 2002: 276). ​
Even though it is one’s mind or experience that is being judged, the user does not necessarily expect the idealized notion of acceptance often assumed by virtual communitarians. Thus, the use of a throwaway serves to both protect the main user account, as well as offline relationships. A few of the users I interviewed demonstrated just how aware they are of this online/offline interrelationship. The use of throwaways seems to me very much like RL tactics, but without an accompanying professional's fee. I tell my Doctor things I'd never tell most of my friends or family. I tell my tax man things that are nobody else's business. I tell my attorney things I'd never want law enforcement or close friends to know. Even my barber is privy to information and thoughts that most people in my social circle may not know about (User 1; see Appendix C). User 1 informed me that another way that her Reddit accounts were effected by, and had affect on, her real life is that many of her friends know her account name, therefore the use of throwaways protects loved ones, including her partner and three daughters, from hurtful confessions and controversial opinions. Another interviewee, User 2, shared similar concerns about the delicate balance between online and offline life, In truth, I act and censor myself just as much anonymously as I do with people I know. So, yes, this persona does represent a part of me as much as the part that people see in the flesh. I suppose there are one or two people I would let read my account that I don't feel would judge me harshly, I just hope I never said something about them that would hurt them (User 2; see Appendix D). This is what Barkardjieva ​
(2007) ​
would call an example of the practice of ‘immobile socialization’ in which public and private life come together in a continuum of ‘virtual togetherness.’ This is, indeed, a practice being carried out by the users as they choose the ways they express themselves, and the degrees to which they are associated with their content. Many in support of the powers of anonymity and online interaction argue that one is able to express a ‘true self’, though it is never made entirely clear what exactly constitutes a true versus a false self, or how one might be able to verify which is being presented. Bargh et al. ​
(2002: 34) ​
argue that, If, as Turkle argued, the Internet constitutes a unique opportunity for self­expression, then we would expect a person to use it first and foremost to express those aspects of self that he or she has the strongest need to express—namely, the ‘true self’: those identity­important and phenomenally real aspects of self not often or easily expressed to others. Bargh and McKenna have formulated a similar argument elsewhere, where they insist that the Internet acts as an accepting framework for those who feel that their identity cannot be fully expressed or satisfied through face­to­face interaction. One study in particular was aimed to prove that introverted, or neurotic, subjects were more open and comfortable with online interaction ​
(Amichai­Hamburger et al., 2002)​
. I found this study very problematic for a number of reasons, for one, it upholds the idea that extroversion is in some way better, or more desirable, than introversion. Secondly, the questions posed to the subjects were limited, in some cases to yes or no answers, i.e., do you reveal more about yourself to people you meet online ​
(Amichai­Hamburger et al., 2002)? The Amichai­Hamburger et al. study offers a very limited and normative view of individual identity, as well as further stigmatizing introverts who are often seen as withdrawn and abnormal in Western society. The possibilities for creating or expressing some kind of identity online are perhaps too complex for such a concept of identity. A useful alternative could be found in Stuart Hall’s ​
(1996: 4) ​
notion of identification. This idea, accepts that identities are never unified and, in late modern times, increasingly fragmented and fractured; never singular but multiply constructed across different, often intersecting and antagonistic, discourses, practices and positions. They are subject to a radical historicization, and are constantly in the process of change and transformation. This ‘late modern’ process of identification fits nicely with the practices of Reddit users, as well as with the structure of the site itself. One can both affect and be affected by the content they consume or produce through the site. You can maintain your interests through your subscribed subreddits, or search for new ones. You can choose whether you want to engage in conversation or debate about any subject imaginable. The users I interviewed see Reddit as a space where they can partake in certain kinds of identification that they might not be able to in their offline lives, they do not see this as something completely separate, but rather as a medium that allows for different levels of disclosure and, therefore, for them to intersect with a wider variety of discourses. As Bakardjieva argues ​
(2007: 238)​
online interactions, “cannot be studied and characterized exclusively by what is produced online as the cultures enacted online have their roots in forms of life existing in the ‘real’ world.”​
​
The actual practice and experience of a life lived through identification, both online and offline was well articulated by an interviewee: So, I don't actually fully repress what I say here. I repress certain things around certain people. There is nothing about me that someone doesn't know. It's just that one person doesn't know everything about me. Unless you want to call Reddit a person. The reason for this is not that I'm ashamed of who I am or feel the need to live out who I really want to be. My internet persona is who I am in real life. I guess you'd say I'm just chopped up in real life. A piece of me expressed here and another piece expressed there. Don't a lot of us do this? I have plenty of friends/acquaintances that would not get along together. I'm faceted and I don't expect one person to ever be cut just like I am. Friends and family each have a separate role in my life as I have a separate role in each of their lives. ​
(User 2; see Appendix D) As we can see, Reddit is not inherently anonymous in the traditional sense of the word. As, I believe, would be the case with many other sites that involve user accounts and names. Lovink ​
(2011) ​
argues that ‘pseudonymity’, in the form of reputations and stable user names,​
​
restrict the possibility for expression of an Other Self. This may be true of some sites that restrict the number of accounts per user, but on Reddit on can benefit from the opportunity to build status under a pseudonym, as well as the freedom to share anything under the veil of anonymity. Anonymity is, then, a spectrum, a tool that can be used strategically in order to allow users to make the most of their experience and their interactions with others. Braidotti ​
(in Kennedy, 2006: 865) ​
developed the idea of the postmodern ‘nomadic subject,’ with these subjects, “Identity is a matter of constant becomings­ the practice of ‘as­if’, ‘the affirmation of fluid boundaries, a practice of the intervals, of the interfaces, and the intersects.’” Reddit seems to be an appropriate site for this process of constant becoming, as one is released from restrictions by anonymity and given the opportunity to explore the many facets of the self. Where anonymity is ideal for the individual, however, it can become the source of distrust and aggression within the group. Group Identity, the ‘Hive’, and the ‘Circle Jerk’ These individuals who use Reddit come from a variety of backgrounds, but have come to develop a sense of group identity. There are some very interesting phenomena that one comes across when analyzing this identity, all of which I would argue come from a very astute self­awareness of the users of what they are, or are meant to be, like as a group. Both the group identity itself and the awareness of the users of their group identity could be seen as being a result of a few particular structural characteristics of the site. Baym ​
(2010: 78) ​
argues that, “ongoing groups develop standards that guide members’ behavior. Violation of these norms are often met with critical response from other users.” On Reddit, these standards are reinforced by regular users, moderators, and administrators as well as having the particular rules of each subreddit posted in plain sight. In addition, the ‘upvote’ ‘downvote’ functions have huge repercussions on a users choice to post. Many users do not see any point in posting something that they know won’t catch the interest of the majority and will be downvoted to where no one will see them, and so many more marginal voices go unheard. The two phenomena I will focus on are those of the ‘hive’ or ‘hive mind’ and ‘circle jerk.’ The activation of the hive, or hive like mentality, is very much linked to a practice I mentioned earlier, ‘karma whoring.’ A group cannot have a self­identity unless there is an Other against which to measure itself; exclusion is required for the self­identity of any group, whether it fits the ideal definition of community or not ​
(Parrish 2002: 273). Perhaps exclusion is even more important for the maintenance of the self­identity of an online group, since other factors and social cues, such as geography or socioeconomic status, are not as directly in play. On Reddit, there is a line that one can cross as a ‘karma whore’, that line lies somewhere between exploiting a personal family moment, perhaps a photograph of a child taking their first steps, and exploiting the work or private moment of someone else for your own gain. Once that line is crossed, the Other against whom the group is measured has been created. I think most people desire to present themselves truthfully. And I think despite the anonymity, they desire order. That's why reddit has mods and a hivemind mentality. You mentioned that a user had to delete his account because he violated the unspoken rule that you don't misattribute credit on reddit and was harassed for it. He learned the hard way, from a flurry of downvotes, that on reddit, artwork, or whatever it might be, must be attributed to the person who made it. And in the bigger picture, he learned how you behave and don't behave on reddit. The upvotes and downvotes are supposed to be used for promoting discussion; but it seems to me that they are more often used to support the dominate viewpoints and silence the dissenters (User 3; see Appendix E). One of the most recent cases was that of the Knettle37 post in which this particular user posted photographs of a few paintings with the title ‘My girlfriend’s artwork amazes me’ ​
(Knettle37 Reddit)​
. It did not take long for active Reddit users and their obsession with truth and honesty to begin flooding the site with proof that Knettle37 had in fact fabricated his post, and stolen the artwork from someone else (not in tangible form of course). It was an angry mob if there ever was one, Knettle37 was flooded with abuse until the account was abandoned and peace was restored. Bargh et al. ​
(2001: 35)​
insists that anonymity on the Internet “enables one to express oneself and behave in ways not available in one’s usual social sphere, both because one is free of the expectations and constraints placed on us by those who know us, and because the costs and risks of social sanctions for what we say of do are greatly reduced.” In some ways, yes, I have mentioned before that people do feel freer to express certain things, or ask difficult questions when protected by a veil of anonymity. However, the expectations of users on Reddit are explicit and specific to each subreddit one visits. The costs and risks of social sanctions may differ in how they are enacted, but are still there. If you post child pornography, the authorities will be notified and the site servers will be able to provide them with enough information, IP address etc., to have you arrested. If you betray the trust of your fellow users, you will be ostracized and abused. The question is why the uproar, why the anger and vicious reaction to such fabrications? After all, these are strangers on the Internet, not a sibling or childhood friend. People don't like suckering in for a lie. They just fucking hate it. It makes them feel stupid and look like idiots. Nobody likes to look like an idiot… Some guy gets greedy and claims someone else's work as his own (or his "girlfriend's" ­­ in an overused reddit ploy), he reaps karma, reddit does its thing and tracks down the original artist and when it is discovered not to be the OP, they feel violated and bad things happen. Suddenly their memories of being stolen from, jilted, or overlooked come to the forefront. They are powerless to fight for their own long­gone rights, but they'll be goddamned if they let it happen to someone else. OP becomes the face of every bully, bad boss, abusive partner and surly dog. Not only that, once a few dozen people show the same response it becomes a "cause" and everyone fighting for it begins polishing each­other's halos (User 1; see Appendix C). User 3 also accounted for online rage as evidence of offline repression, angst, and pain. Like some of the other users I interviewed, User 3 expressed a general understanding of Reddit users as those who feel marginalized in their society, and have turned to this site as a place where they can express themselves in the company of like­minded people. However, she sees the current state of insecurity that is rampant on the site as detrimental to its content, and the quality of the conversation between users. Again, it seems that reddit has become a therapist's office. People seem very offended when people hold views outside their own (see the militant atheists who criticize Christians on this site), but I think this just shows that they feel marginalized and have finally found a place where they can dominate others, thanks to the anonymity of the site. Therefore, reddit doesn't seem to be a place for discussion as much as for marginalized and hurt people to attack others, express the sadness and anger that they bottle up offline, and feel empowered for once in their lives (User 3; see Appendix E). As Lovink ​
(2005: 4) ​
notes, “Net culture does not fall out of the sky, and like other resources needs to be cared for in a sustainable manner.” The people who use reddit have certain expectations for their fellow users and for what they will get out of whichever subreddits they choose, it is one of few opportunities they have to shape and maintain their experiences. Perhaps these volatile reactions are due to what Turkle​
(2011)​
describes as “aspiration to substitute life on the screen for the other kind”, a place where the downtrodden can have another chance, a new audience. Since the early 2000s Sherry Turkle has seriously changed her position about the potential held by online interaction, she has not labeled it entirely dystopic, but does see it as a threat to our ability to communicate face to face, constitute identity, and be alone. Turkle warns against the perils of the ‘life mix’, and identity experimentation. Such online opportunities are particularly seductive when they meet human vulnerability, as “connectivity offers the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship” ​
(Turkle 2011). ​
Perhaps it is not those who allow themselves to be drawn in by these seductive qualities, nor the technologies that provide them, that we should be focusing on as a danger to our way of life. Rather, should we not see the number of people who feel marginalized and victimized by their societies to the extent that they need to escape to these anonymous alternatives as a reflection of deeper issues that exist in society independently of new technology? What is it about our current state that is causing so many people to feel like they have nowhere else to go? Though Reddit is a social news media site and not a social networking site (SNS), Boyd’s ​
(2008: 113) ​
insights still seem relevant. If we accept that technologies mirror and magnify everyday culture, what do social network sites say about society? While we may wish that they shine a positive light on us, the most insidious practices on SNSes highlight how status­obsessed and narcissistic we are as a society. This leads me to the term ‘circle jerk’, I should begin by clarifying the particular understanding of the term ‘circle jerk’ that I am concerned with, as anyone familiar with the term’s literal definition may be quite confused by this section title. In the context of Reddit, this pertains to a heightened self­awareness among users that they tend to share the same interests and opinions and, therefore, constantly reaffirm the same views without allowing for contrary views to be voiced. While Castells ​
(1996: 405) ​
advocates on­line communication for its ability to “embrace and integrate all forms of expressions, as well as the diversity of interests, values, and imaginations,” Reddit users do not seem to be taking advantage of potentiality of the system’s versatility. Lovink ​
(2011) ​
refers to these phenomena online as ‘echo chambers’ without any real social or political agenda. Would this mean, also, that the phenomenon of the ‘circle jerk’ shows that we do not have any true desire for meaningful debate? That this is the current social climate on Reddit is no secret to its users, in fact there is a very popular subreddit called CircleJerk in which users discuss and ridicule this state of affairs. A few of the users I interviewed seemed to be hyper aware of the dominance of the ‘typical’ Reddit user, in that they identified themselves as being in opposition to them. User 4, for example, is a Taiwanese­American graduate student who described his perception of Reddit users not only in relation to himself, but also to users on other sites. I think the typical redditor thinks that the people on 4chan are twisted and effed up in the head while they consider themselves normal. In a similar vein, I think of myself as a fairly normal human being, and I think that most redditors are twisted and effed up in the head (and they should be, considering that the majority of them are of college age males, and most young college guys are twisted and effed up in the head) (User 4; see Appendix F). Another user, User 5, was aware of her status as a minority in more ways than one. As for me, I do identify a bit with other redditors in terms of open mindedness, non­religiousness and love of new things and learning but being a female and non­American I can't fully connect with reddit since it is overwhelmingly male and from the USA (User 5; see Appendix G). Despite User 5’s insistence upon the ‘open mindedness’ of redditors, User 3 had experienced enough backlash from the voicing of unpopular opinions that she seemed to have given up. I find that people on reddit are very reluctant to examine an alternate point of view and subreddits ­­ even those that claim to be accepting ­­ usually fall victim to the hivemind. For example, ​
/r/sex​
is super sex positive to the extent that they are narrow minded and closed off to other points of view. The subreddits each seem to have their own culture and most involve validating popular points of view and not attempting to understand alternative points of view. This annoys me to the point where I mostly keep my opinions to myself (User 3; see Appendix E). A paradox of resistance and marginality is thus created, the typical Reddit user sees himself (as users are typically male) as countercultural, a liberal atheist gamer who spends probably too much time online, by what they deem ‘societal standards’, and is socially awkward. Despite having this view of themselves as a sort of tech savvy left wing minority, these users are generally also white, heterosexual, and from the Western first world. It is difficult to know how overwhelming of a majority this portrait of the typical user actually applies to, because anyone who does not fulfill these categories tends to keep quiet for fear of being marginalized by the more vocal majority. Herein lies the paradox, Reddit as a whole prides itself on being a place where the marginalized can come for support, however its circle jerk nature tends to create a distinct majority/minority mentality. This tension and insecurity between users, as well as the self­awareness of their group identity as a whole, stand as an example to disprove Holmes ​
(1997) ​
who compared communication on the Internet to the random fate of messages in bottles floating through the ocean, and insisted that the lack of connections between these ‘bottles’ was no source of anxiety within virtual communities. I believe that my informants see their anonymity on Reddit as both a blessing and a curse. While they have the opportunity to seek advice or support for certain issues or topics, there is a majority on many larger subreddits who tend to use their anonymity as an excuse for abusing and marginalizing those who express alternative view points. One must question why, then, they would continue to use Reddit, perhaps because the good outweighs the bad, and maybe because they know that this is not a phenomenon particular to the structure of this site, but something that would most likely happen anywhere. These are contradicting identifications, ones which allow the users to understand themselves in terms of what they take away from the site, as well as what the distance themselves from. Traditional versus Virtual Communities ‘Cyberspace is not a geographic entity, and until ‘our sense of place becomes post­geograhical’­ that is, until we begin to comprehend how common understandings of everyday concepts are not necessarily adequate to a universe which is constructed of fundamentally different material­we will continue to naively assume that virtual community must mimic traditional community to achieve those ends which we agree upon as the legitimate focus of the concept. ​
(Parrish, 2002: 260) I agree with Parrish, that our formulations about virtual communities cannot depend on those of ‘traditional’ communities, that it cannot make sense to be so limited. It seems somewhat ironic that the legitimacy of the work of current virtual communitarians should be so concerned with showing the unique nature of what has been called the ‘virtual community’, because the early developers of the Internet chose to utilize the term community in order to legitimate the technology ​
(Bakardjieva 2007). ​
The project, now, is divorcing the virtual from the normative and ideological ‘baggage’ that comes along with the descriptive term, ‘community’ ​
(Bell and Valentine in Wilken 2011). Many virtual communitarians have combated insistence that a community cannot exist if it is not based in geographical proximity by stressing other aspects such as shared interests, values, and experience. The insistence on the importance of geography is likely the product of the fact that, “the familiar will always remain the likely starting point for the rendering of the unfamiliar” ​
(Gombrich 1972: 72). ​
Online interaction and those brought on naturally by geography are no longer two distinct phenomena. The last few decades of technological advancement have been leading us further and further away from where we begin, it has become increasingly commonplace for people to travel and relocate frequently. In my own experience, my face­to­face interactions are more frequently with people who were born and raised thousands of miles where I was, and I spend most of my time online interacting with friends who I grew up moments away from. In this sense, online communication “is an additional tool people use to connect, one which can only be understood as deeply embedded in and influenced by the daily realities of embedded life” ​
(Baym, 2010: 152). ​
It will never be clear whether the way we have come to use technology is a product of the increasingly individualized nature of society, or whether this is a direct result of new technologies. Castells ​
(1996)​
argues that technologies reinforce the movement toward the ‘privitization of sociability’, rather than creating it. He also acknowledges that, “cyberlinks provide the opportunity of social links for people who, otherwise, will live more limited social lives, because their ties are increasingly spatially dispersed” ​
(Castells, 1996: 389). ​
This argument is opposed to those traditional communitarians who insist that online interaction is somehow a threat to an idyllic and natural form of community that has disappeared long ago, most likely since industrialization, and whose disappearance has nothing to do with these new technologies. Wellman ​
(1979) ​
claims that it is of the upmost importance that this dichotomy between the ‘virtual’ and the ‘physical’ community be abandoned. This being because, not only are they too different to be held in contrast to each other, but they also interact in very real and profound ways. I would suggest that the dissolution or fragmentation of the subject and the instantaneous, transient nature of all communication disconnect or abstract the individual from physical action and a sense of social and personal responsibility to others ​
(Willson, 2007). It is this lack of accountability and responsibility that Willson claims make virtual communities unfeasible, or at very least chaotic. Parrish ​
(2002) ​
insists that those traditional communitarians who fear the opportunities available to online users to choose when and the degree to which they interact further promote the ‘Stigma of Non­Immersion’ with which social coercion and anti­social labels force members of traditional communities to partake in a certain amount of interaction or else be labeled abnormal. Parrish ​
(2002) ​
further argues that participants are not so much relieved of their social and political responsibilities as they are given the opportunity to choose which they desire to take on as well as in which community. This choice, or ‘freedom to determine’, can be seen as the most crucial aspect of online interaction that differentiates it from physical interaction. One Reddit user, User 6 ​
(see Appendix H) ​
commented on the nature of accountability on the Internet, That idea that we’re all anonymous to one another but if you betray the community, the privilege of anonymity is going to get stripped from you. I think there are people who don't necessarily see this but I wonder/hypothesize that those may be people who are not viewing this as a 'community' but just a place to look at articles and memes. So I would disagree… [with the idea] that there is no accountability. I think people might believe that at times and there is definitely a ​
different​
type of accountability, but I think the community (Reddit in [p]articular, the internet as a whole in general) has created their own brand of accountability. I find it difficult to imagine a place with no accountability and what might happen because I think we are sort of hardwired to create accountability when we are involved in building any sort of society. Probably because it would ultimately descend into chaos... Kitchin ​
(1998: 87) ​
argues that the virtual realm could be seen as fulfilling what Hobbes claimed to be the project of all modern philosophy, making humanity the ‘master and possessor of nature.’ In this sense, the participants are not subject to the rules of traditional community, but have the chance to manipulate and choose their virtual surroundings, interactions, and experiences. Despite this transient and malleable nature of online interaction, virtual communitarians continue to attempt to prove the deservedness of the term community online. Parrish (2002) ​
outlines these indispensible factors that constitute community as consisting of, persons and their natural human longing for interaction with one another, having goals, fears and interests in common, recognition by individuals of other individuals with these common goals, fears, and interests, and a means of communication. These factors, of course, leave out aspects which would be considered vital by traditional communitarians, including consanguinity and geography. In addition to the lack of these two criteria, traditional communitarians argue that the medium itself is flawed in its ability to facilitate a true community ​
(Parrish, 2002)​
. For example, Fernback and Thompson ​
(1995) ​
argue that the narrow focus of virtual communities on specific interests does not foster the sharing of differing views, thus preventing them from adapting to a changing world. This assertion assumes that physical communities promote these kinds of interactions, an assertion I would not readily agree with. The basis of the arguments of many of these traditional communitarians seem to be that of an idyllic and unachievable close­knit community who share a sense of political and social responsibility for one another while, at the same time, having varying opinions on matters of personal, societal, and political importance. Perhaps one does not have as much of an opportunity to choose the people or situations we must participate in within traditional communities, but this does not mean that we do not choose to avoid those who have particularly adverse opinions to our own. Bell ​
(2007: 255)​
suggests that these critiques are based on nostalgia “for a way of life which has bypassed the actual history of the past in order to critique the symptoms of the present.” Bell (2007) ​
argues that the reality of physical communities today is that they are multi­faceted, mobile, and often mediated, through a variety of mediums, but this has not caused accusations of them being weak or thin. The preoccupation with ideologically constructed standards, such as virtual community versus real/genuine community and public participation versus privatization of experience, blinds commentators to the possibility of new, unexpected, unimaginable and yet humanist and empowering variations of technological practice to emerge ​
(Bakardjieva, 2007: 252). There seems to be nothing redeeming of the limitation of these formulations of online interaction to the established notions and normative understandings of community. What happens online will never be the same as what is experienced in physical interaction, but this does not mean that either is subordinate or less desirable than the other. It is understandable that one should fear what is new, and the ways in which one can interact with others online is certainly a revolutionary experience. Parrish ​
(2002) ​
argues that the fluidity of identity online allows users to act more how they feel than as what they are by birth, and while this may be true, it does not mean that there is a finite distinction between embodied and online life. As Baym ​
(2010: 153)​
asserts, “Digital media aren’t saving us or ruining us. They aren’t reinventing us. But they are changing the ways we relate to others and ourselves in countless, pervasive ways.” These are the changes that should be focused on by virtual communitarians, the project should be about individual lived experience rather than a constant fight to legitimate the terms one can use to describe a social phenomenon. Castells ​
(1996) ​
asks rhetorically whether these are real communities, his answer is ‘Yes and no.’ I would agree. Yes, because to deny a group such a title by virtue of trying to maintain the sanctity of an ideal that is currently unachievable seems almost malicious. If a group recognizes themselves as such, should that not be enough to consider them a community? No, because there are undeniable differences, as Castells ​
(1996: 389)​
says, ‘they work in a different plane of reality,’ but this difference does not demean their status in the lives of their users. I'm a pretty private person in real life, and although I don't admit much on reddit (feel free to browse through my comment history if you'd like), I'm still much more forthcoming online than I usually am with my face to face interactions… With that said, doesn't that make reddit an interesting community? I do consider reddit a community. It gives people an outlet to ask and discuss topics that people would otherwise be considered taboo… And that's because they feel safe because they're just another anonymous user on the Internet. So in short, that anonymity allows for a place where people can safely share their brutally honest curiosities and observations and feedback ​
(User 4; see Appendix F). For this user Reddit, despite its anonymity and lack of Cartesian space, is a source of community support, a place where he can express and discuss things that may be restricted in the physical communities he belongs to. This does not mean that Reddit is the same as a traditional community as such; it is more that these are the terms available to him to express what being a participant on this site means to him. One could argue that for User 4, Reddit works with, and in some ways beyond, traditional communities. This is not to say that one is superior to the other, but rather to point out that both are able to act and be acted upon in ways that the other cannot, they work together to fill the gaps people feel might feel exist in their lives. In Conclusion In this paper I have focused on three main points that are of importance to Internet users and theorists today. I feel that the inclusion of the perspectives of the users is invaluable to such an endeavor, particularly in the context of a site so complex and diverse. The first point was concerned with the restrictive nature of anonymity as a concept in its application to online interaction. Through the testimony of Reddit users, I argued that anonymity should not be considered in dichotomous terms, but rather must be considered as a spectrum and a pragmatic tool, varying degrees of which can be chosen strategically. This use of anonymity is best exemplified through the practice of using throwaway and alternate accounts to express particularly sensitive or taboo subjects. These tactics show how users place a certain value on the status of their main account as well as, in many cases, fear repercussions for their online actions to spread to their offline lives. It is not only this fear that shows the interwoven nature of the online and offline, but also that users turn to a site like Reddit for discussing these topics at all. This proves that online interaction can play a very real and meaningful role in the lives of users. That anonymity is utilized by the users as a tool for engaging in a wider variety of interests makes it a process much like Hall’s ​
(1996) ​
identification. Identifications take place where the ‘I’ is unsettled and contested, the practice of anonymity puts the ‘I’ in a similarly vulnerable position, where, in the absence of embodied identity, one can create a variety of ‘I’s’ each of which function to express different pieces of the fragmented user as it comes into contact with new positions and discourses. The second point problematises what may seem like an idealized notion of anonymity and its possibilities for the individual by discussing how anonymous interaction has shaped group identity on Reddit. This section focused on two phenomena in particular, the ‘hive’ and the ‘circle jerk.’ The ‘hive’ can be summed up as a highly reactionary trend that is sparked when the trust of the group is betrayed; it is Reddit’s way of securing justice and ensuring some level of order. Because the culture, or group identity, on a site like Reddit does not necessarily grow organically, but is rather created, it is something that users are very keen to protect. The term ‘circle jerk’ refers to what Lovink ​
(2011) ​
would call ‘echo chambers’, a phenomenon that occurs when a group is made up of people who share the same interests, opinions, and values. Though this is a source of insecurity on Reddit, something all users are aware of, I would argue that this is not entirely dissimilar to offline groups. It does, however, have a profound effect on users and their willingness to post, particularly when they know that they hold an unpopular opinion. This does not mean that those who feel this way must remain silent forever, the Internet is an expansive place and all users have the right to choose where and when they seek discussion and support. The third section focused on debates concerning traditional versus virtual communities. Many traditional communitarians harbour an idyllic and outdate view of physical communities, one that is meant to prove the inferior nature of what is manifested online. Though I do not agree with this point, I also do not agree with virtual communitarians who would assert that the Internet provides the opportunity for communities that are superior to the traditional ones. Rather, the two are both far too complex and different, as well as intertwined and mutually constitutive. Most users would argue that what they seek from online interaction is not meant to replace traditional community, but to satisfy needs that they cannot. In my opinion, the biggest issue with this debate is the use of the term community to describe online groups and interactions, perhaps the most appropriate step would be to create new categories of classification that would acknowledge the unique nature of these interactions and restrict them from being compared to something that they most definitely are not. In these debates over anonymous interaction and the possibilities for community, we can see that the use of ideologically charged descriptive terms are unhelpful and must be replaced. It is a logical and commonplace practice to rely on old terms in order to understand what is new, but this practice is no longer practical for the Internet. What I have demonstrated here is that the only way to successfully understand how sites like Reddit are negotiated in peoples lives is to talk to the users about their lived experiences in this new and ever changing domain. I look forward to the future of virtual theory, it is important to consider that the field is currently in the hands of a generation who had these new technologies thrust upon them. Once younger generations, those for which living partially online is second nature, mature, their perspective will be entirely different, and a comparison of the two will prove to be the most insightful of all. Bibliography Amichai­Hamburger, Y.​
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