Let's put paper bags on our heads

[jRuutu 2,468]

 

 

It is Friday evening, and I am sitting somewhere in Finland listening to my neighbor play their flute. I have lived in this building for a few years now, and I cannot say for sure who lives in this building with me. I like it. I like the anonymous vibe this building has. Unfortunately, now I know someone here plays the flute. I don't know that person, I don't know where they live exactly, I don't know their name, but my respect for the person and towards this building has gone down as a result. 

 

Like a recently planted birch, sitting on a fertile ground, just waiting to get bigger and bigger, each minute that goes by my hatred grows. I started to wonder if this forum would be better if we were not able to see the usernames. All we would see is the content and when it was posted. You could comment and react to the content like now. The portal would not show the updating history, just the statistics and attributes. But of course the updaters/staff could see who posted and what. I think the anonymity and not knowing who posted and what could make for some interesting interactions. You would have to invest in the content in front of you as the username would not dictate whether you take the time to engage or not. You could perhaps be more open and honest in commenting on what you see and hear, both good and bad. Sometimes it is harder to be positive and give nice feedback because then you might feel like you need to do so all the time. Sometimes the content you see should be commented on more harshly than your "role" in VHL allows. Many great moments and stories never come alive because we are too busy keeping appearances up. 

 

If I now think about my flute-playing neighbor again, I would hate them even more if I knew who they were and where they lived exactly, because they knew other people lived in this building, and out of all instruments they decided to play the flute. But then again, now that I don't know who they are and where they live exactly I don't feel as bad yelling at them to stop. On some other day, I could even add a swear word or two into the yelling. If I knew who they are and where they live I would have a harder time yelling for them to stop, because I need to keep appearances up. Nobody wants to be known as the person who yelled at a kid practicing or a pensioner trying on a new hobby. Nobody wants to be known as the person who said nice things to a kid or a pensioner playing the flute - that would be weird.

 

Because of the anonymity, this great meeting of souls could take place. The neighbor feels like they can play the flute while surrounded by other people and I get to yell at them. They know that nobody knows who they are or where they live exactly and vice versa, I know that they know that they don't know who I am or where I live exactly. The flute was still being played, loud words were yelled, and feelings were hurt. This would not be possible if we knew each other on any level. 

 

If we knew each other well and where we lived exactly, the only thing that would have happened was the flute was being played. I would more than likely just ignore the noise. I might not even think twice about it. What a sad story that would be.

Edited April 19 by jRuutu

[Frank 5,213]

As if I needed more motivation.

[Gustav 6,434]

I have never said a word beyond "hi" to my next-door neighbor and I don't even remember the last time I did that. I never even saw my other next-door neighbors in person before they moved (though I heard them a lot) and their unit has been empty ever since. I don't know whether I like that or not.

 

I think it would be interesting to go anonymous on the forum for a while, but people would figure it out pretty quickly if everyone kept just writing about their own player. Even things like writing style (I'm aware that mine rambles on in ways that most others don't) would mean something to people who know each other well.

 

But I do think that there's an interesting motivation here and that's the fact that I'm sure username does dictate a lot of how someone's content receives interaction. I like to think that I usually look for things based on first impressions of title and things unrelated to author, but I'm sure some people click on both my stuff and your stuff because we wrote it. I wouldn't mind writing something generic and seeing the kind of feedback I'd get under those circumstances.