Anonymous comments on Finextra

Wonderful!!!!!!!!

:)

I don't think we need to unmask the mystery commentator above...

Excellent.  Worth doing to encourage more debate - we need a few frank responses from time to time and I'm sure this can be achieved without causing offence.  Too much sitting on the fence sometimes ;)

Is this the first step towards eventually opening up Finextra to unregistered comments? Something that many blogs do probably to add SEO juice and gain a few positions on search engine results.  

I love you Finextra. But this is a step backwards.

Whilst I'm pretty much able to express my views and observations as myself I recognise that many are in a position where they may perceive they are unable to do so. This should not necessarily deprive us of their wisdom and I hope wit. So here's to #anonymous whoever you are. Use the power with decorum.

Ketharaman

No, we've no plans to open up to non-members. The community is designed for people in the industry and we're pretty selective.

Robert

As John and Dean point out, this is designed to encourage a more honest debate and give members the freedom to say what they really think.

To be clear, Finextra staff can identify anonymous users and we'll be quick to stamp out any attempts to abuse the system. If people try and talk up their company or talk down a competitor, they'll be kicked out.

@Mark:

Am glad to hear that Finextra intends to stay focused on an industry and be selective about its membership profile. It struck me that, by adding "anonymity" to its intrinsic nature of being a "specialized walled-garden", Finextra may not only end up enriching its blogging platform but also be in a position to germinate a value-added Q&A property for the fintech industry - somewhat akin to Quora for the startup / VC industry.

Having just watched a Gartner+SmartStream Sponsored Video webcast on Finextra about Intraday Liquidity Management, the first question that came to my mind was "Can treasurers in the Finextra community share their experiences of live implementations of intraday liquidity management technology solutions?"

The specialized nature of the Finextra community will guarantee quality of responses, and the new ability to submit them anonymously will ensure that there are enough responses to the make the Q&A thread interesting. 

Who's Mark?

Thank you Mark. It's an interesting experment...turning up the heat and seeking controversial statements... because we all know despite the ability to delete a comment, and even know who is making it, there is a lack of accountability in that process and it unfortunately brings out the worst and arrogant in people.

Anonomous posting is no different today than what prank/harrasing phone calling was before Caller ID.

Now Finextra has to be in a more formidable position to "judge", you'll see. And what is approriate and not, is often in the eye of the beholder depending on political, social, economic, and other filters. You'll even find yourself on one side or the other of an issue and have the ability to influence the dialog.

Respect to the employed and needing anonymity to escape the wrath of a boss, but thats not why the majority go rouge. Most people say awful and stupid things because thats what they are.

Writers put it out there every day, "exposing themselves" to the world and subject to every idiots inner demon cloaked in cowardice anonymity.

How about a plugin where I can click an option where I could stretch my virtual arms into the worlds comment sections and choke the hell out of these trolls?

Should I "post anonymously" ? Then I can really say what I want. What fun that would be.

Just sayin'

@Anonymous of 03/03/2011 12:15:46:

Answer: Sorry, I meant Matt White.

PS: I'll take this as another example of how the newly-turned "anonymous" Finextra "specialized walled garden" community can foster expert and prolific Q&A! 

Robert

Fair points but I should stress that we're simply trying to make it easier for members to post honestly, or as you put it "escape the wrath of the boss". This isn't about "seeking controversial statements".

We trust members to behave responsibly and I hope you trust us to act as honest brokers and not "influence the dialog".

We'll see how it goes; should be interesting.

Wow, the Blog abt Anonymous posting hit the recent record for most comments, and only one was anonymous :)   I think it will work fine.

Matt's right. People should understand that there are people that work at banks who would have to jump through 1,600 Corporate Communication hoops in order to post as themselves. Using 'anonymous' allows them to joing the conversation, without having to worry about 'clearance'.

This from a journo who 'if I had a nickle' for every person I have asked for a video interview from after listening to them speak at a public event, with a publicised Twitter hashtag, in a room full of people, including media, and taken questions from the auidience, only to be told "I'll have to clear this with corporate communications..." Sorry, I should let this go. 

A week or so in, and I think its clear there are many more comments.  Many of them anonymous and many of them constuctive ;)

So far so good then.

This guy's not a fan.

@Matt W:

...with one key difference:

With Slate/TechCrunch and most other blogs, anonymous means anonymous-anonymous in the sense neither readers nor website owners know the identity of the commenter who doesn't have to log on to get inside a walled garden in order to post comments. This is not the case with Finextra, where mandatory login prior to posting comments unmasks commenter's identity at least to the website owner. 

Very true Ketharaman. Remember people, we're watching you...

My point. Read in its entirety. Takes a few paragraphs to get there.

http://scobleizer.com/2011/03/07/the-real-authenticity-killer-and-an-aside-about-how-bad-the-yahoo-brand-has-gotten/

@Robert S: As Scobleizer's example about "Android sales" comment illustrates, the value of a comment to readers does depend upon the commenter's locus-standi. 

@Matt W: In addition to the two options, "Post anonymously" and "Post as me", it might help to add another option "Post anonymously but reveal identity if more than x readers demand it". This might slightly complicate matters but it could strike the ideal middle-ground between the expectations of readers and commenters. 

Ketharaman

We'll give it some thought but my instinct tells me not to overcomplicate and that the demand's not really there.