Opine... and sign?

I don’t need to consult the “Reader Comments” in the online version of the ‘Prince’ to know these things, but perhaps there is something to be said for submitting oneself to regular public reminders of one’s place in the universe. After all, if you choose to write (and sometimes bite), you have to expect people to write (and bite) back.

But is the “Wild West” system of writing and biting that the ‘Prince’ promotes, or at least does not discourage, a good one? In the old days — and by old here, I mean when I started composing these columns, five years ago this coming September — writers learned the thoughts of fans and foes alike through email, the odd piece of snail mail and those short (and no doubt often heavily redacted) letters to the editor that would now and again make it into print. How different things are in 2011! I still receive email, and the ‘Prince’ still very occasionally publishes letters, but the real business of commenting on everything from big news stories down to little opinion pieces has moved to the (seemingly only lightly moderated) online forum.

If you are in the habit of reading the comments, you get to know the characters: Anonymous, of course, but also grover, chief illiniwek and a host of folks with the unimaginative names “12” and “Proud Parent.” Most of these monikers are unhelpful, for one thing because it is evident that more than one member of the Class of 2012 uses the handle “12,” and all are unreliable: No one is stopping me from posing as a member of the Class of 2012 or as Lady Gaga or, for that matter, as grover. (One person did recently pose as Grover, but the capitalization gave the game away. So did the fact that he or she did not write with the breezy self-assurance that is grover’s hallmark.) Only rarely are comments signed in an identifiable fashion by the person who wrote them: by Barry Caro ’09, for example, whose name is followed by the little blue words “Registered User.”

I used to think that posting comments without one’s real name was unacceptable; now, I’m no longer sure. In a utopia — Thomas More’s coinage for “no-place” — you would own your words, as the expression goes. Those bigotries, cantankerous attitudes and (don’t forget) enthusiasms that you wanted to express would be on display for all to read as yours and, if they felt like it, to respond to. In effect, the ‘Prince’ would become an extension of Whig-Clio. You would not need to hide behind a pseudonym to deplore the study of classics as wasteful luxury, to attack (or praise) the style of a fledgling columnist, to complain about the privileges the University accords legacies, varsity athletes and the learning disabled. On the contrary: You could do all these things openly and honestly because you’d be staking your own name and reputation on your (ideally carefully weighed) views and would welcome serious discussion and debate.

The reality, however, is rather different, and not only because the ease with which one can get something — anything — posted online means that careful weighing seldom plays a role. Consider this: There are a few topics that I long to address head-on in my columns but probably never will because friends and colleagues have repeatedly told me that my opinions, though hardly idiosyncratic, would encounter so much resistance from powerful Princetonians that by expressing them openly I would cripple my chances of ever again being taken seriously on this campus. I apologize for the coyness of this last sentence, but the fact is that when a tenured professor with an established outlet is advised to keep silent on matters that pertain directly to the successful operation of a university, the hitherto unappealing idea of trolling — of using a corner of the Internet to make a point and get a rise out of people — begins to have some appeal. And as two fellow faculty members have confided in me that they have written heartfelt but potentially inflammatory online ‘Prince’ comments that they were afraid to sign, I know that I am not the only person in a position of authority to see why even so articulate (if, to my mind, unnecessarily harsh) a critic as grover — much less someone with fewer verbal gifts — might hide his or her sometimes unpopular thoughts behind a false or hard-to-trace name.

Last month, Camille Framroze ’12 wrote a column titled “Don’t whine, opine.” To which I add: “... and sign?” When you next have a comment, think about sealing it with your real name. If you don’t, have the self-awareness to know why you are not doing so and consider carefully whether the possible benefits of the posting really do outweigh the costs — to you, to anyone you may be criticizing and to the wider community. Signed and unsigned, the online comments of the ‘Prince’ provide an interesting, if not always attractive, snapshot of our life and times, and I for one intend to keep reading them.

Joshua Katz is a professor in the Department of Classics. He can be reached at jtkatz@princeton.edu.