Despite all the spam, junk mail and annoying pop-up advertisements the net provides us with a truly unique and unequaled gift, the unprecedented ability to share on a global basis. People from all over the world come together and exchange words, information and ideas as never before. This ability to share is utilized in a number of different ways and covers countless topics. News, commerce, art and science represent a fraction of what is being discussed and written about on a moment by moment basis. There are endless varieties of chat programs, message forums and news groups to explore and participate in...

Focusing on the written word, you will find no better example of the diversity of what is being discussed than Usenet. Google alone has a Usenet Archive with over 700 million messages covering the past 20-years. 700 million messages, thats a lot of posting and reading. Very few topics go undiscussed on Usenet. A simple Google search of Usenet will reveal threads (= more than one message on the same topic strung together) on everything from astrophysics to zygodactyls.

Once upon a time posting to news groups and message forums required a lot more effort than it does these days. One had to navigate their way through the often cryptic protocols of posting to or joining a group. Thankfully those days are gone, now posting is pretty much a no brainer, especially with the web based type message areas. Thanks in large part to portals such as Google, Yahoo and the WWW itself joining in on these groups is for the most part a simple matter of registering. More often than not registering is a matter of choosing a user name and password. Occasionally, after registering you will have to wait to be added to the list by the groups moderator.

One of the more interesting aspects of posting to the net is that people do it while assuming different identities. A tremendous amount of this posting is done behind a cloak of anonymity. Why is that? Are we as individuals that easily embarrassed? Are we hiding something? If so, what? This takes us to the next logical question. Are you really that anonymous when you post anonymously on the net? Some experts say yes, you can be if you take the proper steps. Other experts say no, not if you post from a computer at your home or office. Places like (and there are a number of them) MoreNewsGroups say that for $9.00 per month "When you post through our anonymous server, others on usenet will not be able to tell anything about you." Again, one has to ask why this desire for anonymity? Surely it must go beyond anything as simple as a desire to view or share pornography. What then?

Listed here are a few links (accessible through your browser) to news lists and message areas, perhaps you will find the answer to the anonymity question here. I think that a few of the confession type posting areas make it crystal clear, why someone would want to remain anonymous. Judge for yourself. The one thing you will without question find listed below is some tremendously interesting reading! Enjoy.