I had this debate with my dad over Christmas. His opinion going into the argument was that no one should be anonymous online. That being said, he rarely goes online.
Much like Curious Runner says above, he reads comments under articles in the newspaper and gives them the same authority as the article. He is like, "Why are people allowed to make statements like this! This is all so biased!"
I say to him, "Dad, you are reading the comment section, relax. I can go on there and claim I have a baby unicorn at home. You can write anything, take it with a grain of salt!"
He didn't understand that you have to look at the various platforms differently. Authority has everything to do with influence. If you are not used to the Social Media platforms, it is hard to follow authority b/c it all looks the same.
People prefer certain places to be anonymous b/c it affects the attitude of the community. Some of you bemoan the anonymous nature of LetsRun, but it has a MAJOR impact on how we communicate with one another.
If you were logged into Linked In and someone began making sexual comments to you, you might get a little disturbed and look into it.
If you are arguing on LetsRun and someone tells you to choke on a cock, you roll your eyes or laugh it off and move on. It affects you differently.