Self-declared Throwaway Accounts on Reddit

Abstract

Parents can be subjected to scrutiny and judgment for their parenting choices. Much of this scrutiny is experienced online, especially around stigmatized topics such as divorce, custody, postpartum depression, and miscarriage. Prior theory suggests that parents might be able to access greater support online when anonymous, but other evidence suggests that anonymity may increase bad behavior. Drawing from ten years of Reddit parenting boards, we show that parents are more likely to discuss potentially stigmatizing topics using anonymous ("throwaway") accounts. We find that, on average, throwaway comments are more likely to receive a response, receive more responses that are longer, and receive responses that have higher karma scores than topically similar comments posted by non-throwaway accounts. We argue that self-identified throwaway accounts provide a crucial environment for supporting parents with stigmatizing experiences. They also provide a shared platform signal (the throwaway account) which enables other Reddit users to access shared experiences and support. We propose that a hybrid combination of identified and anonymous platforms could provide more supportive online experiences for parents and other users.