Permission to Behave Badly – The Risk of Anonymity Online

I have worked for many years as a marketer in the online world.  However, I have never had the time to fully explore the variety of online forums and message boards that exist in cyberspace.  I have "lurked" when searching for specific information but never spent a significant amount of time in one place, that was until I created urbanmoms.ca.  I really enjoy our forum as well as the comments and email suggestions I get from the members and visitors to the site, so I thought I would venture out and explore what the rest of the web had to offer. 

I was shocked by some of what I saw and happened upon some extremely hostile environments. Without going into the gory details, I was ignorant to certain netiquette and my ignorance was quickly misinterpreted.  Before I knew it, I was banned from a forum.  What really amazed me was how quickly an innocent comment could turn the "community" goal of the forum inside out.  Often contributors use anonymity to give themselves permission to behave in a way that nobody would ever do in a face-to-face situation.  Instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt I was publicly shamed and then blocked from being able to defend myself. My quest for connection online had failed miserably.  This was not a place I wanted to have anything to do with.

I believe that the value of the internet is the variety and vastness of all it has to offer.  This is also its greatest challenge.  When urbanmoms.ca was created it was intended to be a community, in the true sense of the word.  It is a collective effort, a representation of all of its members and users and a voice created by urban moms, for urban moms.  Not only do we share stories and information but we recommend and partner with other resources that may be useful to our members.

At urbanmoms.ca the community works together to create a truly valuable resource and encourages and celebrates our individuality.  We do require that everyone communicate in a non-judgmental and respectful way.  I want a community that accepts me, warts and all.  A place where my choices are respected, my opinion valued, and my mistakes forgiven. 

After this experience I am more committed than ever to developing and maintaining an environment of trust and respect at urbanmoms.ca.  A place where urban moms (dads, grandmas, grandpas, etc.) can come and relax and feel accepted.  The choices we make are our own.  Most of the time they are well thought out and based on our personal values and circumstances.  My commitment to you is that we, at urbanmoms.ca, will do whatever we can to make you feel welcome in our community, to empower our members, and to consider the impact our words have on the people who exist on the other side of the screen.

Jen