(Photo Credit: Huffington Post)

One of the Internet’s greatest assets has been the ability to give everybody the proverbial soap box to speak from. Some feel not everybody deserves a voice, but I would respectively disagree. I can see some having an unintelligent point of view throughout the masses, but aside from that (a lack of) credentials shouldn’t be the focal point of somebody who offers their opinion or insight. Inevitably, any issue can be broken down from an infinite amount of angles. Nobody can see it from all angles and life experiences and this unique nature is in themselves worth hearing.

But take a quick look around at forums and comment sections of any website, let alone Hypebeast. Much of the hatred and senseless commentary is absolutely unnecessary. I don’t need to bring to light an issue everybody knows, anonymity breeds keyboard warriors.

However only until recently, the issue of accountability was hard to enforce. There is yet to be an official, globally recognized form of identification. Nevertheless, the dominance of social networks may have proved to be the next best thing towards creating accountability.

We’ve constantly battled with comments on Hypebeast since their inception and with good reason. The popularity and relatively wide spread appeal of the site has brought together an eclectic mix of people, who through hidden identities have engaged in full fledged keyboard combat.

I am not saying expressing a different opinion is bad or undesirable. But the tact and delivery of comments as well as needless discriminatory comments are an issue. It doesn’t represent what I personally want Hypebeast to be and that’s a platform for discourse, knowledge and creative progress. Going deeper into the issue, despite the comments coming from 3rd parties who are unrelated to Hypebeast, inevitably the comments do create some sort of association with the site as well I’m sure brands shown on Hypebeast don’t want to see their brand associated with the comments either.

Yet, with the widespread use of Facebook and Facebook Connect (which allows you to sign into non-Facebook sites under your Facebook account), accountability is on the horizon. While it isn’t necessarily best to have the interests of one placed in the hands of a business such as Facebook rather than a governmental entity, we’ll take it for now. In a recent article, TechCrunch posted this article, Would Chatroulette Have Worked With Facebook Connect Because the Penises Would Have Names? which is exactly what has been discussed ever since forums went popular. It further enforces the need to have people stand behind their comments with real-life identites. If you can’t say it with your own name with your own picture attached to the square beside the comment, than you probably don’t feel strongly enough about it to say it period.

-Eugene