Yes, and for almost[1] all other things on the internet for that matter.
"We should try to be happy, if only to set an example." -Jacques Prévert
I try to be as open and plainly honest as possible, and I think using my real name keeps me from being inflammatory, and I think it also keeps other from doing the same to me (at least a little). Put another way, I think using real names makes an atmosphere of more empathy than otherwise.
So we should try to be sincere, if only to set an example. I think real names help with that.
Further, I try to make all my interactions on the web as public as possible. I set my Facebook privacy settings to 100% public, zero private stuff, because I don't like the state of what seems to be a selective illusion of privacy. I'd rather just be honest with myself: If I put something on the internet, it's there to stay.
[1] For posterity I use a different name for some games, because long ago someone bought a Warcraft 3 account name (Saint) as a gift, and I want to honor him, or find him again if I could, on the dim hopes he'd mention the name if he ever saw it.
An alternative could be to stick to a given nickname in related communities. HN, r/programming, and one's tech blog could form such a cluster. Sure, it's not your "real" name, but it will get a reputation regardless. Pseudonym or real name, people will shun you if you displease them too much. Simply remembering that may be just as effective as keeping one nice.
To make that even more effective, one could even make a point of using that same identity even when physical presence is required. Many video game players actually do this, and it seems to be mostly working.
For some reason I'm extremely hesitant to post things under my real name. I don't really care if people know my name on an individual basis (and it's not like I'm a high profile poster anyway), but I am squeamish about it generally, and feel too self-conscious to post anything if my name is associated directly with it. I've tried blogging under my real name and always went back and deleted everything, it caused me too much anxiety. I'm not like that at all in person. Are there others like me around here? I think it's the permanent nature of what goes online that bothers me about it - there is a freedom to pseudonymity that, when not abused, is quite wonderful.
Ditto. Deciding to use a variant of my name here was something I went back and forth on (partly because I didn't want it associated with me at all, partly because I didn't want it to be gendered [1]). Ultimately I decided that I wanted to be able to take credit for posts where I write about usability/design/anything else I feel qualified to speak to, even at the expense of potential employers reading the rest of what I write here. On the other side of the same coin, I don't put any personal information in my profile.
[1] One of, if not my very first, comment's first comment was someone using my gender to denounce my opinion, which had me trying to figure out if I should start fresh again. For the most part this only happens in gender issues threads (where sockpuppets and new accounts run rampant), but this particular one wasn't. I wasn't sure if that attitude was going to follow me throughout my time here, but I've found most people don't even look at my username (as evidenced by being referred to as "he" in child comments).
I think the future will be one where we're split on this - not as a society, but individually. You will have your public persona and your private persona. I have to be public because I'm in news, but not everything I do has to be associated with my real name, and I take advantage of that when I feel like it. That ability and that habit will only become safer and more accepted over time.
Not too this level, but i use a pseudonym here. I don't generally post inflammatory stuff but I do like a good debate. But I use my real name on twitter and am very careful about what I post. I use my real name on Facebook, but I am not so worried about what I post, it's to a closed audience so i can vent and be negative without being looked down on.
In this day and age of Google, you're just a click away and a whole bunch about you has been discovered about you even before an interview. I'm not a big flying hot shot, just a developer. Who know what will happen in years to come and it's difficult to wipe that public footprint.
I'm very much like this. I create a completely different handle on every site I use. I simply don't use a service if my real name is involved: for instance, I completely stopped reviewing Google Play Store apps ever since the G+ integration. Even having my name publicly associated with some random app that I've used makes me really uncomfortable. It isn't really rational or anything, but it's nevertheless present. I'm just a private person I guess.
Same boat. I don't generally care on a case-by-case basis, but I don't like the idea of someone being able to trivially connect me to years of comment history. Always a chance I'll recant and regret something I said five years ago. Don't particularly want old mistakes or opinions I no longer hold to be on-tap.
That's me, as well. I think it's come from chronic Googling of Craigslist users that naively sent me emails under their real names, or even just searching by their emails, and I easily found information such as: one guy was listed in a court order with drug related gang violence, one guy had blog filled with info about his adventures "mail order bride-ing"...Some of the stuff was more embarrassing and less incriminating, but still. I've Googled people I've met before and been overly turned off by say, a small stupid youtube comment, or something like that.
I understand where the feelings come from, but I'm not that way. On the other hand, there are times that I feel like I have to limit what I say. There are some details that are too personal or that impact people I care deeply about that I don't want to have tied that closely to my real identity.
For those cases, I consider how valuable what I have to say might be and, if it is truly worth it (not very often), I'll create a throw-away. Of course, it isn't going to stop anybody truly determined, but it makes it harder.
I use a pseudonym derived from my first name, or whole name. Considering that even when open about my name I've been slammed for my beliefs, for disagreeing with someone (I was polite, so their response shocked me), and so on. I've done dumb stuff, smart stuff, etc.
I'm a fairly private person in person, but I'm far more open offline than I'll ever be online.
I've tried blogging under my real name and always went back and deleted everything, it caused me too much anxiety.
Same here. Burned already 2-3 blogs that way. Absolutely hate the idea of somebody judging me by my opinion from last year. Much easier to start from scratch and create a new first impression.
I feel much the same way, but go ahead and use my name in order to "force" myself to think a little bit more before posting on things, and I think it really helps the quality of my posts.
Yes. The discussion on HN is always engaging and there's not much temptation or incentive to go off on a dumb trollish tangent as has been the case in other corners of the Internet. It's always nice to talk to people off of HN that I've met here, too.
edit: somewhat ironically, HN is a place where I'm least tempted to look up a user's bio during a discussion. Someone has to say something extremely outrageous/amazing before I click on their username and commit the "argument from authority" fallacy. Otherwise, I like to read the discussion without having any preconception of who the poster is.
I am not going to go so far as to say someday you will regret it, but in the end you can't control how other people use your words. A pseudonym is a defensive mechanism.
I specifically do this as well. And I've done a bit of a test. While I only occasionally post under my real name on reddit, I always post under my real name on HN. And over the last year or more, it's been clear, to me at any rate, that I am much less of a jerk on HN.
After having said something out-of-school ~10 years ago as "patio11" on a forum and having someone track that down via not-so-difficult Googling (since I use "patio11" approximately everywhere), I resolved to eliminate the ambiguity and assume that anything I post under any patio11 account goes on my permanent record. Ironically, while it certainly didn't feel like it at the time, this was probably a net win for everyone, since I'm a much more pleasant person to be around on the Internet these days and my Internet reputation has been frequently useful professionally.
There's lots of value in being personally identifiable online, I was asked about writing a book last year, the person found me through someone that had seen my reddit comments and connected my person to my name, for that reason I always use my real identity when commenting online (unless there's a specific reason I need to be anonymous).
While I post under my real name for all the obvious reasons, namely to minimize how many stupid or mean things I say, I very often wish I did not. There's something lost when speaking for the world to hear: how many things will I say that might make me look less than awesome? (har har, I'm sure you could dig up a few). So I tend to go for the conservative point instead of the crazy idea that might be totally off the mark. It's not about "speaking truth to power" so much as speaking the truth about yourself.
It's hard to put it better than Adam Kirsch, albeit in a different context:
The essayist is concerned, as a fiction writer is not, with what the reader will think of him or her. That is why the new comic essayists are never truly confessional, and never intentionally reveal anything that might jeopardize the reader’s esteem.
That is not just a function of using your name. I used to use my full name online and said whatever I felt like. I was a homemaker at the time. I didn't worry what an employer would think or whatever.
There is more backstory than that, but I became more careful when I worked for BigCo and more free again after I left that job. Lifestyle impacts such choices, not just attaching your name.
Honestly? I have multiple accounts. This one is in my real name, but I also post pseudonymously. I do the same on pretty much every web forum I post on.
This is partly for historical reasons: in almost all cases, I had a pseudonymous account first. However, it’s also partly for flexibility. For example, if I’m giving a personal recommendation or criticism, then I always prefer to put my name to it. On the other hand, I am very conscious of privacy concerns and very careful not to give away anything I shouldn’t about other people or businesses. Posting with a pseudonym means I can still contribute controversial viewpoints or relevant information to some discussions that I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving on the public record.
For the record, I make no secret of having multiple accounts for any affected site admins, who in general could trivially identify any pseudonyms I use with a quick search of private e-mail addresses if they wanted to. Also, my pseudonymous accounts tend to have feedback via votes/moderations as favourable as my “real” accounts or even a little more so, and I never abuse multiple accounts by voting in ways I otherwise couldn’t. I’d stop if anyone running a forum asked me to, but that would be disappointing as I’m careful not to abuse the privilege and I think I can make more interesting/valuable contributions as things are.
On HN, it doesn't really matter, because there is a high degree of respect and "real-world" treatment on here, which is refreshing, when compared to other online communities. I sometimes wish I would've used my real online identity, but then again, I'm just starting out in programming, so I don't have a lot to contribute.
Generally speaking, though, I never use my real identity, because quite a few users on popular sites (Yelp, for example) are into doxxing, humiliating/ridiculing, and generally, trolling people, even when these people do not say anything disrespectful or disingenuous. It is one side of Internet popular culture that really kind of depresses me.
Yes but I somewhat regret it because Paul Graham won't allow us to delete old comments. Your HN identity is permanent. I personally think this is backwards and unfair to the content creators. The words I type I are mine. Let me delete them if I so choose to at a later date. Otherwise I'll stop contributing out of fear that I might say something I regret at a later date.
"Doesn't that prevent uncivil arguments?" NO. Anyone can make a throw away account and post garbage. It's just hurting the people who are contributing to HN as regulars.
Real identity means that you have your real name/contact info in your profile even if you username is generic
Yes, plainly "tokenadult" is not the name on my birth certificate, but after lurking here a while, I saw that there were quite a few other users who use screen names rather than real names as user names, so I decided to recycle the electrons of a screen name I was already using on two other sites. Even when I use a screen name (which is mandatory on some forums I use, as for example the one where my screen name here originated), I usually make my real-world identity discernible in my user profile on all sites, and some friends recognize me just from my on-line behavior and off-hand references to my real-world life experiences, if they first met me under my real name somewhere else.
On Wikipedia, where I use a distinct screen name different from what I use on all other sites, I for a while was harassed by people who even phoned me in the middle of the night because they didn't like my sourced edits. So I'm somewhat aware of why some people would like to be anonymous online. But on the whole, I figure I should have consistency of online identity, and linkage to my real-world identity, and I think that does provide incentive to comment more responsibly and to be cooperative with community guidelines.
No, but you can email me and find out my real name. Though it is a very common name. My handle (orangethirty) is unique. So, its not like I'm being very paranoid or anything. I use an internet handle because I can. It is a freedom that I support, and am including in all of my projects. Privacy is required in the world.
Same for me. lucb1e is unique, I use it for pretty much everything, you can contact me in lots of ways, and you can obtain my static home IP with nslookup lucb1e.com. The only things you, as non-government employee, can't find are my physical home address and full name. And hopefully also not any family.
I try to take physical security seriously. If I ever happen to do anything provocative in a bad mood, I don't need people banging on my door. Authorities can find me, that's not it, I'm preserving privacy against the big public.
As a secondary reason, future employers can only find what I want them to find. My gaming history, private life, political views, etc. are not relevant for them. They can ask me about that in interviews and I have the right to decline comment. With my real name on the web I wouldn't have that choice.
I'm not too careful with my real name or location anyway, many friends and acquaintances know it even though I only know them online. I'm not really hiding it, I'm protecting myself and my right on free speech permitted to the extent of the law.
Same here, I am attached to the romantic notion of pseudonyms in terms of freedom/privacy and the spirit of judging content for what it is and not the name behind it.
With that being said my pseudonym is attached to my real email all over the internet and my email contains my name, so it's not like I am hiding behind it.
I actually find some of the comments in this thread against pseudonyms strangely similar to the reason of why people don't drink because they are bad drunks. If your being a dick under a pseudonym that means you might be and a dick regardless.
I personally believe that an indicator of intelligence is the capacity to change ones mind when presented with new data. I don't want to be judged on past posts or comments, if it's possible that my mind has been changed, my opinion altered, etc. by new data or more thoughtful consideration.
No, I do not and never will. If other people want to, fine, but privacy concerns are entirely reasonable.
Comments posted to the internet are permanent like nothing else in history. It's like having your casual conversations recorded and then stored in an indestructible format accessible to anyone who cares to look for it, forever. Of all the thousands of strangers who see your posts, whether individuals, corporations, or governments, some are actively looking to exploit you. Please be aware of the increased vulnerability when you're in a vastly more public setting. You don't owe the world unfettered access. Boundaries and levels of access are a good thing.
Yeah, I'm the same way. I've been internetting as sophacles forever, it doesn't mean that moniker is any less real than my name. Hell, if I've tried to even switch to my "real" name online a few times, but it gets difficult when you realize there's a decade and a half of accounts, online relationships tied to the one, and who the hell is this Erich guy anyay?
I'm in an endless loop with my self arguing if I should be more open about my identity on the internet. But in the end I value the ability to post and say whatever comes to my mind higher than the ability to promote stuff.
Even though I use my handle "quackerhacker," the secret service already knows my identity, so in the words of Mark Zuckerburg "privacy is dead." -at least mine is
That's awesome. It amazes me that there was no check for the same IP/account number combination over and over.
The FBI site says:
"he would transfer the funds into his own bank accounts or onto prepaid debit cards, without the authorization or knowledge of his victims"
How the hell was that allowed as a valid argument? Of course you can transfer money out of an account - they sent it there. Did they have any sort of "hey, we're just giving this $0.89 temporarily" kind of language? If not, they're the ones that authorized the transfer.
They happily sent thousands of deposits out. Seems like their fault. Might as well go after people that keep swinging by the free samples at Costco.
I am kind of an "other" though I voted "yes." I go by Michele most places on the web and a lot of people know me by the email address in my profile that I have had for years. "Michele" wasn't available here when I signed up so I shortened it (the M stands for Michele). Michele is my actual middle name that I go by socially IRL as well. I have stated that here on more than one occasion. There are people who know my full name. I think my last name is not terribly important to being able to ID me as "oh, it's her!" online. If I ever remarry, it would likely change anyway. (shrug) People online generally have no problem identifying me as someone they knew on some list or other elsewhere/previously. I am pretty distinctive. There is no real point in using a different email address or username and trying to pretend "I am totally not THAT Michele. Really!"
My online and offline lives have been fairly separate for a long time. I imagine at some point those world's will collide. I have been working on trying to arrange for a gentle, anticlimactic collision. I no longer work for BigCo, so I no longer worry that my employer will go "You were quoted in a book saying WHAT?!!" or "You have a website about WHAT?!!"
[+] [-] simonsarris|13 years ago|reply
"We should try to be happy, if only to set an example." -Jacques Prévert
I try to be as open and plainly honest as possible, and I think using my real name keeps me from being inflammatory, and I think it also keeps other from doing the same to me (at least a little). Put another way, I think using real names makes an atmosphere of more empathy than otherwise.
So we should try to be sincere, if only to set an example. I think real names help with that.
Further, I try to make all my interactions on the web as public as possible. I set my Facebook privacy settings to 100% public, zero private stuff, because I don't like the state of what seems to be a selective illusion of privacy. I'd rather just be honest with myself: If I put something on the internet, it's there to stay.
[1] For posterity I use a different name for some games, because long ago someone bought a Warcraft 3 account name (Saint) as a gift, and I want to honor him, or find him again if I could, on the dim hopes he'd mention the name if he ever saw it.
[+] [-] loup-vaillant|13 years ago|reply
To make that even more effective, one could even make a point of using that same identity even when physical presence is required. Many video game players actually do this, and it seems to be mostly working.
[+] [-] flatline|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobsy|13 years ago|reply
I don't want a situation where someone stumbles onto an old post or where I played devil's advocate and I lose out as a result.
[+] [-] mnicole|13 years ago|reply
[1] One of, if not my very first, comment's first comment was someone using my gender to denounce my opinion, which had me trying to figure out if I should start fresh again. For the most part this only happens in gender issues threads (where sockpuppets and new accounts run rampant), but this particular one wasn't. I wasn't sure if that attitude was going to follow me throughout my time here, but I've found most people don't even look at my username (as evidenced by being referred to as "he" in child comments).
[+] [-] LowKarmaAccount|13 years ago|reply
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?GhostOfUsenetPostingsPast
[+] [-] devindotcom|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kamjam|13 years ago|reply
In this day and age of Google, you're just a click away and a whole bunch about you has been discovered about you even before an interview. I'm not a big flying hot shot, just a developer. Who know what will happen in years to come and it's difficult to wipe that public footprint.
[+] [-] ceras|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sliverstorm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cupcake-unicorn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoftwareMaven|13 years ago|reply
For those cases, I consider how valuable what I have to say might be and, if it is truly worth it (not very often), I'll create a throw-away. Of course, it isn't going to stop anybody truly determined, but it makes it harder.
[+] [-] trebor|13 years ago|reply
I'm a fairly private person in person, but I'm far more open offline than I'll ever be online.
[+] [-] stfu|13 years ago|reply
Same here. Burned already 2-3 blogs that way. Absolutely hate the idea of somebody judging me by my opinion from last year. Much easier to start from scratch and create a new first impression.
[+] [-] IanChiles|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dpcan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] echohack|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] plainOldText|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danso|13 years ago|reply
edit: somewhat ironically, HN is a place where I'm least tempted to look up a user's bio during a discussion. Someone has to say something extremely outrageous/amazing before I click on their username and commit the "argument from authority" fallacy. Otherwise, I like to read the discussion without having any preconception of who the poster is.
[+] [-] benjohnson|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Torgo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SeanLuke|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] spitx|13 years ago|reply
If you are inflamed, your speech should be inflammatory.
Anything less will be intellectually dishonest.
[+] [-] patio11|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] citricsquid|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevinalexbrown|13 years ago|reply
It's hard to put it better than Adam Kirsch, albeit in a different context:
The essayist is concerned, as a fiction writer is not, with what the reader will think of him or her. That is why the new comic essayists are never truly confessional, and never intentionally reveal anything that might jeopardize the reader’s esteem.
[+] [-] Mz|13 years ago|reply
There is more backstory than that, but I became more careful when I worked for BigCo and more free again after I left that job. Lifestyle impacts such choices, not just attaching your name.
[+] [-] Chris_Newton|13 years ago|reply
This is partly for historical reasons: in almost all cases, I had a pseudonymous account first. However, it’s also partly for flexibility. For example, if I’m giving a personal recommendation or criticism, then I always prefer to put my name to it. On the other hand, I am very conscious of privacy concerns and very careful not to give away anything I shouldn’t about other people or businesses. Posting with a pseudonym means I can still contribute controversial viewpoints or relevant information to some discussions that I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving on the public record.
For the record, I make no secret of having multiple accounts for any affected site admins, who in general could trivially identify any pseudonyms I use with a quick search of private e-mail addresses if they wanted to. Also, my pseudonymous accounts tend to have feedback via votes/moderations as favourable as my “real” accounts or even a little more so, and I never abuse multiple accounts by voting in ways I otherwise couldn’t. I’d stop if anyone running a forum asked me to, but that would be disappointing as I’m careful not to abuse the privilege and I think I can make more interesting/valuable contributions as things are.
[+] [-] kafkaesque|13 years ago|reply
On HN, it doesn't really matter, because there is a high degree of respect and "real-world" treatment on here, which is refreshing, when compared to other online communities. I sometimes wish I would've used my real online identity, but then again, I'm just starting out in programming, so I don't have a lot to contribute.
Generally speaking, though, I never use my real identity, because quite a few users on popular sites (Yelp, for example) are into doxxing, humiliating/ridiculing, and generally, trolling people, even when these people do not say anything disrespectful or disingenuous. It is one side of Internet popular culture that really kind of depresses me.
[+] [-] ChrisNorstrom|13 years ago|reply
"Doesn't that prevent uncivil arguments?" NO. Anyone can make a throw away account and post garbage. It's just hurting the people who are contributing to HN as regulars.
[+] [-] tokenadult|13 years ago|reply
Yes, plainly "tokenadult" is not the name on my birth certificate, but after lurking here a while, I saw that there were quite a few other users who use screen names rather than real names as user names, so I decided to recycle the electrons of a screen name I was already using on two other sites. Even when I use a screen name (which is mandatory on some forums I use, as for example the one where my screen name here originated), I usually make my real-world identity discernible in my user profile on all sites, and some friends recognize me just from my on-line behavior and off-hand references to my real-world life experiences, if they first met me under my real name somewhere else.
On Wikipedia, where I use a distinct screen name different from what I use on all other sites, I for a while was harassed by people who even phoned me in the middle of the night because they didn't like my sourced edits. So I'm somewhat aware of why some people would like to be anonymous online. But on the whole, I figure I should have consistency of online identity, and linkage to my real-world identity, and I think that does provide incentive to comment more responsibly and to be cooperative with community guidelines.
[+] [-] WalterBright|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orangethirty|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lucb1e|13 years ago|reply
I try to take physical security seriously. If I ever happen to do anything provocative in a bad mood, I don't need people banging on my door. Authorities can find me, that's not it, I'm preserving privacy against the big public.
As a secondary reason, future employers can only find what I want them to find. My gaming history, private life, political views, etc. are not relevant for them. They can ask me about that in interviews and I have the right to decline comment. With my real name on the web I wouldn't have that choice.
I'm not too careful with my real name or location anyway, many friends and acquaintances know it even though I only know them online. I'm not really hiding it, I'm protecting myself and my right on free speech permitted to the extent of the law.
[+] [-] wyck|13 years ago|reply
With that being said my pseudonym is attached to my real email all over the internet and my email contains my name, so it's not like I am hiding behind it.
I actually find some of the comments in this thread against pseudonyms strangely similar to the reason of why people don't drink because they are bad drunks. If your being a dick under a pseudonym that means you might be and a dick regardless.
[+] [-] SkittlesNTwix|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abelardx|13 years ago|reply
Comments posted to the internet are permanent like nothing else in history. It's like having your casual conversations recorded and then stored in an indestructible format accessible to anyone who cares to look for it, forever. Of all the thousands of strangers who see your posts, whether individuals, corporations, or governments, some are actively looking to exploit you. Please be aware of the increased vulnerability when you're in a vastly more public setting. You don't owe the world unfettered access. Boundaries and levels of access are a good thing.
[+] [-] Swizec|13 years ago|reply
If the former, then yes, if the latter, then no.
[+] [-] sophacles|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stfu|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quackerhacker|13 years ago|reply
This is me on Wired.com: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/05/man-allegedly-b/
[+] [-] MichaelGG|13 years ago|reply
The FBI site says: "he would transfer the funds into his own bank accounts or onto prepaid debit cards, without the authorization or knowledge of his victims"
How the hell was that allowed as a valid argument? Of course you can transfer money out of an account - they sent it there. Did they have any sort of "hey, we're just giving this $0.89 temporarily" kind of language? If not, they're the ones that authorized the transfer.
They happily sent thousands of deposits out. Seems like their fault. Might as well go after people that keep swinging by the free samples at Costco.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Mz|13 years ago|reply
My online and offline lives have been fairly separate for a long time. I imagine at some point those world's will collide. I have been working on trying to arrange for a gentle, anticlimactic collision. I no longer work for BigCo, so I no longer worry that my employer will go "You were quoted in a book saying WHAT?!!" or "You have a website about WHAT?!!"
It's all good.