User talk:Zappus 1

Trolling is an old problem

"Even in the fourth century B.C., Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges. That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught. Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly."

and is getting worse today

"After Alexis Pilkington, a 17-year-old Long Island girl, committed suicide earlier this year, trolls descended on her online tribute page to post pictures of nooses, references to hangings and other hateful comments. A better-known example involves Nicole Catsouras, an 18-year-old who died in a car crash in California in 2006. Photographs of her badly disfigured body were posted on the Internet, where anonymous trolls set up fake tribute pages and in some cases e-mailed the photos to her parents with subject lines like “Hey, Daddy, I’m still alive.”"

As a result, many web sites (Reuters, Facebook, Gizmodo, etc.) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses to "curb 'uncivil behavior'". .

''' on this page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. DocteurCosmos (talk) 10:54, 6 December 2009 (UTC)