It is sometimes difficult -- or impossible -- to identify the author of each item of electronic text. For example,

1. Discussion lists: In electronic discussion lists, MUDS, MOOS, and other similar forums, many different people are contributing to the overall work. Even when the individual items are signed, the identity information is very untrustworthy, since many writers use one of more pseudonyms.
   
   
2. Open hypertext: Some hypertext systems are open, in that any individual can add pages and links to the work. The resulting communal creation may have an initial author, and many contributing authors. In extreme cases, subsequent readers may be unable to distinguish among the many potential authors.

The Interactive Paper Project at the University of Illinois illustrates some of this complexity. They have developed a site where scholars can post papers on-line. Meanwhile, the readers of each paper can insert comments, follow-up remarks, and questions on a line-by-line basis. These comments can then be read by subsequent readers, who are free to comment on both the remarks and the original document. Over time, this type of open commentary leads to a text whose authorship becomes progressively murkier.

Third Voice has released an web browser plug-in that enables users to add the electronic equivalent of "Post-it" notes to any web page. Notes can be kept private or shared publically among all users who use the same plug-in. This transforms the process of reading text into a communal discussion, with much of the content lying outside of the author's control. Many web site developers have already complained about the loss of authorial control that results from this tool (commentary). In April, 2001, Third Voice ceased its consumer operations.

Landow observes that modern electronic texts resemble practices in the pre-Guttenberg era when scholars commonly added marginal notes to old texts. Frequently, these marginal notes were then included in subsequent transcriptions of the book until it becomes very difficult to distinguish between the original author and subsequent revisions or commentaries. Textual authority emerged as a professional concern only after the technology of publishing made possible the notion of a standard or definitive edition of a manuscript. Prior to the printing press, it was commonly accepted that every hand-copied manuscript was slightly different from all other copies.