Train Man

This week, I discovered Densha Otoko. Originally, I thought it was included interaction on a BBS. Instead, the Internet forum featured in this Japanese Drama is about 2ch.net. A big part of Densha Otoko is the online interaction — people reading and responding to online posts. When I told that the makers did a good job of making this interesting and even entertaining, he said “it’s a hard concept to swallow as interesting.” It could be that this is just a sappy Beauty and the Beast love story and I’m a hopeless romantic, but I really do think this is a well told serial. The dramatic element isn’t overdone and it has maintains a comic feel throughout the series. Because its a serial with 10+ episodes, there is also a fair bit of suspense. Charles Dickens used the serial effectively; why not Takeuchi Hideki and company? (If you’re interested in seeing it, I can help you find it.) Finally, after reading up on 2ch.net a bit, I’m interested in their method of maintaining anonymity on a popular service. (Anyone that has 10 million visitors a day is popular.)

If there is a user ID attached to a user, a discussion tends to become a criticizing game. On the other hand, under the anonymous system, even though your opinion/information is criticized, you don’t know with whom to be upset. Also with a user ID, those who participate in the site for a long time tend to have authority, and it becomes difficult for a user to disagree with them. Under a perfectly anonymous system, you can say, “it’s boring,” if it is actually boring. All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.