Okay, let me rephrase, maybe only to me, abusive comments carry little to no weight. If someone said it to me in an online forum, I’ll just consider it as an immature post from an 11 years old kid and move on. However, if it’s a well-written post and REALLY HIT me in the right spot, that’s when I concede the argument and thank that person for slapping me back to reality. I think that’s the way adult do discussion and criticize one another.

But, I don’t expect I can treat all abuse directed to me like that. Every person have different degree of resistance against abuse. Some really well-crafted abuse can hit you “in the right spot” as well, and suddenly you went berserk before you know it. Maybe that happened to Mr Yusril when Dragonwall “tickled” him. For an ex-minister to say “potong kemaluan anda sendiri”…. wow, that must have been a terrible insult. It is. This is the thing that should be avoided.

So my conclusion is: abusive comments should be avoided at all cost. We have to be responsible for our comments, and respect one another. But we can still be responsible and yet anonymous, like we did, and I sincerely think that’s the way to go. If we respond in a civilized way against an abuser, he/she will reciprocate in a civilized way too, at least that’s what I observed in IM. Maybe we can’t prevent others from using abusive language, but we do can steer the discussion to the way we want it, that is, a quality discussion. And for me, a quality post is a quality post, regardless whether the poster is anonymous or not.

Let me quote something from the Bible: “Tetapi, jika seterumu lapar berilah dia makan, jika dia haus berilah dia minum. Dengan berbuat begitu kamu menumpuk bara api di atas kepalanya. Janganlah kamu kalah terhadap kejahatan, tetapi kalahkanlah kejahatan dengan kebaikan. ”
(Roma 12:20-21)

@saiyo sakato: oh, is that so? hahahaha, I’m sorry, but that sounds 100% Japanese. Just repeating what I said above, slandering someone while being anonymous (or not) should be avoided at all cost. But anonymous is not the core problem, slandering is. R-E-S-P-E-C-T is the key.

we were talking about a politician blogger, hes been in minister positions several times, and was a contender for presidency back in 99.
To me, personally, hes unlikeable.
nevertheless, i couldnt agree with people who slandered him using logical fallacies and hid behind anonymity. However, he made things worse when he implied a threat to prosecute a bystander (janma).

thats the summary.

@Pretty: missed me? haha actually kamarul is my real name. honestly im not interested to comment on this issue as i know nothing about this but um let me remind this to all of you…

the matters between this whoever yusril guy and his wife is their matters. we whoever we are dont have any damn right to discuss this rumah tangga issue in public. um unless his wife was being abused or something. anything they wana do, its left to them… i remembered an old malay saying, ” Jangan jaga tepi kain orang”

being anonymous in this blogosphere is one’s privilege, nobody can question that. but um then when making accusation, that person must be responsible for his acts.

another thing that i newly noticed, if those who commented on this thread are mostly indonesians, i have a good advice for uguys. its easy to accuse others especially when that person dont know who u are.

so whether u r muslim onot, an Islam saying, ” the sin of making fitnah is far more than killing” Fitnah is unproven accusation. whether the reality that person really guilty but when we accuse that person based on no proof then even u r considered sinned.

so better watch ur mouth or ur fingers…unproven accusation cause damages more catastrophe than killing somebody…

I did not say “anonynous same as stealing”. What I said is a comparison between “slandering/attacking someone with abusive language” and “stealing” and their impact to the real person, as your opinion. That’s realy two equal categories of ethical norm that we can compare each other. Whenever ethical norm adopted by legislative body and formulated as a law in a country, it become a legal norm. Sorry to tell something about legal philopsophy..

I hope you agree up to this point.

The only reasons to put real name:
1) If you are a known (or even unknown) figure and want to gain good reputation
2) If you are defamed and want to straighten things up
3) If by putting your real name, your comment will be have much more authority

And putting “real name” can be dangerous too, because someone can impersonate another person.

In the virtual world, where truth is something seemingly “unheard of”, anonymity is norm, identity theft is flourishing, and security can be easily compromised, I don’t see the point putting real name. Someone may still detect me if they are doing cross-referencing and IP detection, but at least I’m limiting those who can detect me to just a few experts on the field.

I agree it is not the ideal thing to do, but in my eyes, it is the best thing to do. Echoing what pretty has said, respect is much more important.

@saiyo sakato: Whoa! saiyo-san, did you just putting being anonymous is the same as stealing? being anonymous is like committing SIN? Whoa, that’s too much…. waaay too much.

To end my post, the person who demanded me to put my real name are:
1) someone who rise from the dead?
2) Indonesian-speaking Japanese?
*I hope you understand my joke*