Who Are You?

Do you use an alias to hide your identity when posting online? If so, does it make you feel free to be yourself and honest? Or should your words be tied to your physical persona regardless of whether you are seen or unseen?

I'm asking this because I saw a lot of earthquake-related re-Tweets Tuesday stating, "I think Chris Christie just jumped into the race." The information regarding the governor, at least at this point, is not true, but the posts kept appearing anyway.

In addition to comments like those, when contentious issues arise in Parsippany, unkind comments sometimes pop up from posters who don't share their real names. 

What is your thought about that? Do people not use their real names in online forums because they want to say things they wouldn't say IRL (in real life)? Or is it mostly a protective measure, so they don't end up cyber-stalked or experience retribution at work or school?

This is relevant to Moms Talk, because as moms raising kids today, knowing who we can and cannot trust online is something we all face.

My question this week is: Do you believe that your kids should restrict online comments to those they would be proud of saying offline? And how do you feel about the use of online aliases anyway? Do you think anonymity on the Internet offers a degree of freedom of expression that frees people to be themselves?