Good netizens not just '50 cents'

A recent article from the Anhui provincial publicity department on what a good netizen should and should not do has sparked an intense online debate over the role of Internet users in the country.

To be considered a good netizen, one should love the country and see the achievements it has made instead of looking at its problems with tinted glasses, says the article authored by An Xuanping. It says to be good netizens should consciously work as the transmitters of mainstream values and be bold enough to act as wumaodang, or 50 cents, a negative term referring to the netizens who are paid 50 cents to sing high praise of any government move.

Such standards for good netizens not only violate the true meaning of "passing on positive energy", but also try to give the good netizens a bad name.