Kathryn Cramer

"Getting Known Through Anonymity"

Via Teresa Nielsen Hayden, I have come across a fascinating meditation on pseudonymity, originally from Suler, J.R. and Phillips, W. (1998). The Bad Boys of Cyberspace: Deviant Behavior in Multimedia Chat Communities. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 1, 275-294, presented here in what I gather is condensed form.

Getting Known Through Anonymity
Much has been said lately about how anonymity on the internet "disinhibits" people. Feeling relatively safe with their real-world identity hidden, they say and do things they otherwise wouldn't normally say or do in "real life." In some cases, that seems to be a good thing. People may be more honest, open, generous, and helpful. In other cases, however, the nasty side of a person gets unleashed. Hence the snert.

I'd like to give a slightly different spin to this "disinhibition through anonymity" concept. My basic premise is this: NO ONE WANTS TO BE COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS. No one wants to be totally invisible, with no name or identity or presence or interpersonal impact at all. Everyone wants and needs to express some aspect of who they are, to have others acknowledge and react to some aspect of their identity. In some cases, it's a benign feature of who you are. In some cases, not. Anonymity on the internet allows people to set aside some aspects of their identity in order to safely express others. Snerts need someone to react to and affirm their offensive behavior. This need is a bit different than simply catharting their frustrated drives, as the "eros-ridden" idea suggests. Snerts are trying to express some unresolved and warded-off feature of their troubled identity in an (often desperate) attempt to have it acknowledged. Unfortunately, they do it in a way that abuses other people. Under ideal conditions, they may be able to accept and work through those inner feelings and self-concepts that torture them. If not, they will continue to vent that ooze through their online snert identities, while safely dissociating it from their "real world" identity.

Does greater anonymity result in greater deviance? It's an interesting question. Because greater anonymity usually is associated with less accountability for one's actions, the answer would seem to be "yes." In the world of Palace, new users must register (pay) for the software before they can permanently acquire the ability to give themselves names and create custom avatars. Until then, their name is a number ("Guest 232") and their avatar a generic smiley face. The greater anonymity for guests does seem to result in their misbehaving more often than members. But members misbehave too. So there are other factors at work.

The higher prevalence of misbehavior among anonymous users may be more than just a "disinhibiting" effect. Rather than the anonymity simply "releasing" the nasty side of a person, the person may experience the anonymity - the lack of an identity - as toxic. Feeling frustrated about not being known or having a place in the group, the new user acts out that frustration in an antisocial manner. They need to feel that they have SOME kind of impact on others. It's not unlike the ignored child who starts acting "bad" in order to acquire attention from the parent, even if it's scolding and punishment. The squeakiest wheel. Humans, being humans, will almost always choose a connection to others over no connection at all, even if that connection is a negative one. Some snert guests may think (perhaps unconsciously) that their misbehavior is a justified retaliation against a community that they feel has stripped away their identity and alienated them. They reject because they feel rejected.

Woman Ordered Arrested Over Blog Exposing Ex-Husband's Military Fraud

I've been meaning to pass along this press release from Donna Andersen of Lovefraud.com:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  – Jan. 27, 2007

WOMAN ORDERED ARRESTED OVER BLOG EXPOSING EX-HUSBAND’S MILITARY FRAUD

A California woman who posted information on her blog exposing crimes and military fraud by her ex-husband was charged with contempt of court by a Florida judge on January 25, 2007 for refusing to take it down. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

Kristen Rhoad, of Chula Vista, California, had previously been accused of domestic violence and cyberstalking because of her blog, The Rhoad Warrior (http://rhoadwarrior.blogspot.com/), by Phil Haberman, her ex. On September 7, 2006, Judge Robert B. Bennett Jr., of the 12th Judicial Circuit for Sarasota County, ordered Rhoad to “remove or cause to be removed all blogs, e-mails or other web-based communications” about Haberman. Rhoad, believing her First Amendment rights were violated, has not complied with the order.

Haberman was first profiled in the media by the Dallas Observer on September 1, 2005. An article entitled “G.I. Jerk–Haberman claims he fought with Special Forces in Iraq, but he’s about as real as Rambo,” cast doubt on Haberman’s story of military accomplishments and Iraq war injuries.

Haberman was next profiled on Lovefraud.com, a website based in Atlantic City, NJ, that teaches people how to recognize and avoid sociopaths.  In a story posted in November, 2005, Lovefraud published Rhoads’s contention that Haberman married her simply to collect more money from the military. (http://www.lovefraud.com/03_trueLovefraudStories/Phil_Haberman_military_fraud.html)

Articles disputing Haberman’s military claims were also posted by the P.O.W. Network, which has been unmasking false military credentials since 1998, and by Greensickle.com and the Irritated Vet blog, both written by military veterans.

Judge Bennett refused to admit Rhoad’s evidence that her allegations were true in the Sept. 7 hearing. His order, issued in Sarasota family court, demanded that all these websites take down their information about Haberman. “I don’t know how you go about doing that, but that’s going to be required,” Bennett said during the hearing. Lovefraud.com published an extensive story about Bennett’s initial ruling.   (http://www.lovefraud.com/03_trueLovefraudStories/Phil_Haberman_cons_legal_system.html)

Creative Loafing, an alternative weekly newspaper in Sarasota, published a story about the controversy on January 24, 2007. Legal experts cited in the Creative Loafing article said that Bennett’s ruling probably violated the First Amendment.
(http://sarasota.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A112941 )

For more information, contact:
Donna Andersen
donna@lovefraud.com

Internet Predator Dupes Internet Predators: The Biters Bit

This is a scary story, given what could have happened if this guy, Neil H. Rodreick II, had managed to get himself enrolled in school as a twelve-year-old (and may have happened previously). But the details -- Internet predator dupes Internet predators -- are rich in black humor. This really should be a movie:

A charter school alerted authorities to a 29-year-old sex offender who tried to enroll there, pretending he was just 12, in what sheriff's officials said Friday may have been an attempt to lure children into sexual abuse.

The Yavapai County sheriff's office also said Neil Havens Rodreick II conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy. . . .

Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a pre-teen boy," Quayle said. . . .

She said detectives learned in interviews with the men that Rodreick convinced Stiffler and Snow that he was a boy after they met him two years ago over the Internet. Rodreick apparently shaved his body hair and used makeup to keep up the guise.

These guys are the very definition of the British term poor sods. I wonder how much money Rodreick took these two idiots for under the pretext that he was jailbait. Why do stories like this always have their beginnings in a relationship that starts on the Internet? And is there anything more contemptible than a pair of failed child molesters?

Joseph A. Cafasso: A Call for Information

Cafasso in Outfoxed (2004) about 34 minutes in.

I am interested in receiving information concerning the life and activities of former Fox News Military & Counterterrorism Editor Joseph A. Cafasso aka Joe Cafasso, Jay Cafasso, Gerry Blackwood, Gerard Pal Blackwood, Jay Mosca, J. Mosca, James Mosca, Joseph Mosca, Jay Anthony, Tom Adams, and Jake Adams.

He stole my computer and owes me about twenty grand.

Of particular interest are:

• other known aliases
• information concerning debts & unpaid financial obligations
• incidents involving computer equipment or credit cards
• medical conditions
• employment history
• documentation such as photographs, videotapes, audiotapes
• transcripts or other documentation concerning public events he attended
• documents he presented

Information can be provided to me via the comment section below, or via email to kathryn.cramer@gmail.com.

UPDATE: Many thanks to those of you who have written to me already. Your help is much appreciated.

FURTHER UPDATE: For the record, I have no connection with the various Jack Idema-connected disingenuous new attack blogs devoted to the subject of Cafasso. They display an alarming lack of empathy for both Cafasso's targets and his family.