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Anonymous Members Banned From Google+, Announce AnonPlus

by Eric Limer | 1:29 pm, July 18th, 2011

After reportedly being banned from Google+, a number of Anonymous members and affiliates have banded together to introduce Anonplus.com, a social network with a decidedly Anonymous spin. The site, inactive for the time being, consists of a splash page describing the site’s intended purpose with that famous Anonymous flavored fanfare.

It appears that the site, while presumably including more recent social networking features and technology, will also hearkenback to Anonymous’ roots in the unregulated, largely anonymous 4chan image-board /b/. The site’s tagline, “Social Networking Anonymously” certainly raises some questions we probably won’t see answered until the site’s actual launch, which is currently unscheduled. Take that as you will.

The idea of anonymous social networking seems to fly in the face of what social networking is generally accepted to be. That being the case, this project has the potential to transcend Anonymous’ hacking exploits and political aspirations to alter what we think of as social networking. Assuming the network actually does go live at some point and providing that it doesn’t wind up as a 4chan clone, Anonplus could provide an interesting study in anonymity in social networking. On the other hand, it might just feel like Myspace.

Considering that social networking can be loosely defined by the persistent links that exist between members (friendship connections, etc.) as opposed to fleeting connections (a post on a thread, etc.), in order for AnonPlus to work as I think it is intended it has the interesting task of engineering persistent anonymity that is somehow fundamentally different from simply using a social network with fake information. Facebook and its ilk revolutionized social networking by requiring evidence of identity, although those requirements eroded over time. Anonplus, it seems, would just be a jump back in time to the days where everyone used a screen name, and you could never really be sure who was who. Whether or not it brings anything new to the table, or whether it comes to the table at all remains to be seen. In the meantime, I’m sure you’ll be busy enough juggling all the social networks you’re already a part of.

(TechSpot via Slashdot)

  • lolGuest

    From the sound of it, AnonPlus already exists — it’s called ‘YouTube comments”

  • lolGuest

    From the sound of it, AnonPlus already exists — it’s called ‘YouTube comments”

  • http://www.facebook.com/kannbrown65 Karen Brown

    Honestly, it always SOUNDS promising, the idea of no holds barred, no censorship or moderation. But from the places I’ve been that tried that, it ends up gossip mongering, flame wars, like 10 year olds who are all excited when they find out they can cuss all they want. Not shocking (well, doesn’t shock me, just ends up boring and repetitive.  Have to wait and see if it ends up with real content and creativity, or sounding like a bunch of teens thinking they’re going to shock their parents.

  • welly

    Google Plus: “u mad, Anon?”

  • welly

    Google Plus: “u mad, Anon?”

  • Citizen

    4chan? Anon is just getting more ridiculous every day.

  • Jesse Van Atta

    i’d be a little sketched out signing up for a social networking site run by the internet’s most notorious and ingenious hackers.

  • http://twitter.com/enkiv2 John Ohno

    This is ridiculous primarily because anonymous is not a group. There are no members of anonymous: there is only anonymous. As such, you cannot ‘ban’ anonymous. However, G+ *is* pulling a facebook and requiring real names, which is tantamount to banning pseudonymity. I would venture a guess that any social networking site would have to settle for pseudonymity rather than anonymity, but the hive mind is intensely creative and I’ll have to see what grows out of the petri dish.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ender-Wiggin/100000885624281 Ender Wiggin

    i had no problem getting onto g+ with a fake name. who the hell uses their real name anywhere on line?

  • Valerie Bronte

    glorious incipience! lengthy sentences! serif font! 

  • http://twitter.com/grufficus Gareth Prentice

    Appears to be all these newbies making 4chan threads everyday to send out Google+ invites. I’m sure the search giant will get what’s coming to them.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    I have a friend who uses his real, full name (first, middle, last), for EVERYTHING.  I have always admired him for it.

    I tried to emulate him once, but about a week later got called into my boss’s office for some comments on a website a coworker hadn’t liked and reported me for.  The comments had nothing to do with my job or the coworker, but I still got reamed.

    So, yeah, back to pseudonyms for me. My friend? Using his real name for 15 years strong.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1371608167 Brian Beacom

    ingenious? are you sure?

  • The Friend

    Real name or not, just a simple identity! Whats beyond it is a different tale.


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