The original Internet troll
But Lord Khronos was, not to put too fine a point on it, a jerk. He was combative, rude, and generally unpleasant to deal with. To make matters worse, no one knew who he was. He might very well have been the first Internet troll.
And of course, he could get away with behaving badly because of his anonymity. Being anonymous let him feel free to be a jerk. People already tend to say things online that they would never say in person. Adding the layer of anonymity only makes that problem worse. If I use my real name and say something rude to a colleague online, I will have to deal with the consequences, maybe even face-to-face. But if I’m anonymous, I can say what I want without fear of any social reprisal. Hence, we get the ubiquitous Internet trolls.
Now, a person certainly has the right to be anonymous. Many people have good reason to protect their identities online. Being anonymous does give one a certain freedom to say what might otherwise be very difficult to say.
But mostly, being anonymous just allows someone to be a rank jackass.
