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Abusing Anonymity Online [1]

['Greg Dworkin', 'Crimson Quillfeather', 'Chloris Creator']

Date: 2026-08-01  

Most people on social media use anonymity as a preventative measure, because there have been horror stories of stalking, kidnappings, rapes and murder. But some use anonymity as a weapon.

Anonymity gives certain people a way to express their inner cruelty without consequences for the most part. When even your alias/username is hidden and folks can only see your actions and not who did them, it’s an even greater tool for abuse.

One can report perfectly legitimate entries under the cover of anonymity; we won’t even know if they face any accountability for such actions. They can stalk people they’ve had disagreements with and again without consequences.

Yesterday my entry “Let it go” was reported, first off, I realized, there’s no way for an author to know if their entry has been reported, unless someone else points it out. Shouldn’t authors receive some type of notification? And also some feedback on what happened following said report?

“Your entry “let it go” was reported for “insert invalid reason here” we have found this report to be invalid, the person who reported it has been warned or reprimanded” that’s it, the coward gets to keep their anonymity and face no backlash from the community, but the author also gets some sense of closure, if not of justice.

Going around reporting entries of folks you’ve had disagreements with or dislike is despicable. There’s a mute button, use it, that way you won’t have to see entries and comments made by someone you don’t like.

This behavior is akin to swatting in the offline world, calling the authorities on someone out of spite.

Edited to add: Another thing I resent, is that now i’m suspicious of other people when only one is the culprit.

Okay I admit this infuriated me yesterday and i’m still angry about it.

On the plus side, I stuck to my plan went to bed at 3 am instead of 5, woke up around 10 am… and guess what? No power outage today! lol IYKYK!

#ThePoet

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/1/800078327/community/anonymity-and-abuse/

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