The privelege of posting anonymously doesn’t mean the right to abuse

I recently began making more of an effort to read a newspaper every day.

The Daily Athenaeum is the paper I usually read, as a student and employee at West Virginia University.

Most times, I access it online because it is quick and convenient.

Since beginning this effort, I have realized the commenting feature on most newspapers, including the DA, is nothing more than a forum for people to criticize and disrespect the work of writers and to bash the opinions of their peers.

I find it comical that the most uneducated, venomous and libelous comments are always those made by "Anonymous" readers or those writing under pseudonyms.

As a student, I understand that everyone has a right to their opinions and a right to voice them.

But as a writer, I do not understand why people feel it necessary to write abusive comments and then withhold their names.

Some comments are honest and insightful, while others are tasteless, mean-spirited and many times inaccurate.

You can tell when a person reads a story with an open mind and when they are reading with preconceived notions and opinions. Closed-mindedness acts as a preventative barrier, keeping new information and ideas from being received.

Reading with an open mind does not mean that you must agree with what the writer is saying. In fact, you might be in complete disagreement with the writer.

However, possessing the ability to see where others are coming from and identifying other points of view is a worthwhile skill. From personal experience, the comments that are most helpful to a writer are those which provide insight on areas where the writer may be weak or those that bring new information forward.

This can help a writer broaden their perspective and advance their writing, which may let them reach different audiences.

Hate-filled comments made out of ignorance do nothing but disrespect the time and efforts of the writer and their opinion.

A few weeks back, I was reading a column on the Daily Kent Stater online, the student newspaper at Kent State University in Ohio.

The column was regarding the definition of a "real woman." The writer made comparisons between what the definition of a real woman was in the past and what it is today.

Though it was not the best column I have ever read, and there were some things I did not agree with, I respected her opinions and was able to look at the topic from a new perspective.

After finishing the column, I read the online comments. The first thing I saw was an anonymous comment reading something to the effect of "this article sucks (insert profanity here) and so do you."

It is easy to disrespect someone and throw profanities around when hiding behind the name "Anonymous."

Anyone who possesses strong opinions and voices them publicly should be confident enough to provide their name; just like the writers of the original article or column.

What is the point of having an opinion if you are not willing or capable of standing behind it?

It is not easy to put your opinions out for the world to see and criticize, but when you believe in what you are writing, that is just a chance you take.

Writing articles or columns in a newspaper can result in severe backlash from the community because – regardless of the topic – there's always going to be people with dissenting views.

For every positive comment an article gets, there is probably twice as many negative ones.

When I first started writing for the DA, I knew that some people would not like what I had to write. That was, and is, fine with me.

The point of writing is not only to bring forth knowledge and information to help enlighten others, but also to create dialogue.

When the only thing a person contributes to a conversation is negativity and stubbornness, that dialogue and the progression of ideas comes to a halt.

Pseudonyms provide people the courage to slander the names and reputations of others, but they are also damaging to the reputation of the University.

Some student papers, like The Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech, are facing the reality that an abundance of defamatory anonymous comments on their Web sites could result in a loss of funding.

I would hate to see something like that happen here at WVU, but based on the influx of negative and hateful comments on DA articles, it could potentially become an issue.

Before you go to a paper's comment section and anonymously bash the writers and their work, remember that you do not have to agree with someone in order to respect them.

There are ways to voice even the strongest opinions without using profane, defamatory comments. It needs to be understood that there is a difference between heated and productive dialogue and a bashing session.

The First Amendment grants American citizens freedom of speech and expression.

As students and citizens, we should do our best not to abuse those rights and those of our peers.