GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader John Buttars, in regards to anonymity when posting comments on GuelphToday articles:
Dear editor:
I am wondering if I am the only one that feels that something is badly amiss. We are living in an ill-tempered time and I am sure there are many reasons for that. However, I am wondering if a policy at GuelphToday is supporting that general irritability in our city.
Consider the recent news that a new CEO for the Guelph Public Library has been named. As a library supporter and user, I am delighted. However, the first comment on the news on your online journal was cynical and ill-tempered. Eventually kinder words were spoken. I am wondering whether the new social media phenomenon of not having to use our given names publicly contributes to that.
Yes, you as letters editor know who all the writers are but we the reader don’t. I suppose the argument is that by being given the option of being able to use made-up names you will get a broader range of views. Frankly, I think it diminishes the virtue of courage. It takes courage to state your opinion in public and for others to know who you are. You become traceable at that point. There is a kind of nakedness to it.
For three decades I was one of the ministers of Harcourt United Church here in Guelph. For all of those years, I dealt with a certain amount of criticism. It comes with the territory although no one spoke about it in my theological training and for the early years of ministry I was thin-skinned and emotionally vulnerable.
However, I soon learned two things. First, it was important to listen to criticism. Significant things could be learned. Second, the only criticism worth paying attention to was that which was not anonymous. It strikes me that those who write in GuelphToday who do not use their given names are being allowed to write anonymously. Such anonymity does not build a society grounded in trust.
Please reconsider your policy. Or at least provide a public forum where the issue can be aired (or maybe it has been aired and I missed it!).
Your sincerely,
John Buttars,
Guelph
