The real irony of these threads on HN: no one has ever run a social network. If they did, they would realize that mixing pseudonyms with real names is a formula for disaster. It’s probably the easiest way to continuously bother someone and troll groups to no end.
Real name policies and ruling the world
51–60 of 153 posts
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#52The real irony of these threads on HN: no one has ever run a social network. If they did, they would realize that mixing pseudonyms with real names is a formula for disaster. It’s probably the easiest way to continuously bother someone and troll groups to no end.
Seriously. Twitter gets crucified for a lack of accountability, now Facebook gets criticized for having too much. You can't embrace online anonymity only when it benefits you.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#53The real irony of these threads on HN: no one has ever run a social network. If they did, they would realize that mixing pseudonyms with real names is a formula for disaster. It’s probably the easiest way to continuously bother someone and troll groups to no end.
How does one prevent the use of real names among pseudonyms, pray tell? Pseudonyms, after all, are fiction by design.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had people ask to see my ID to verify my identity when using a credit card at several stores. When I buy cough medicine or alcohol, the cashier will not only ask to see my ID but will scan it and store it in a database.
Those are exceptions, since for the first you always have the option to pay cash (and not show id), and for the latter it's required for proof-of-age to buy an age-restricted substance.
I have to show ID every time I buy anything at Costco, regardless of whether I pay cash. I'd also note that Facebook is an age-restricted product.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those are exceptions, since for the first you always have the option to pay cash (and not show id), and for the latter it's required for proof-of-age to buy an age-restricted substance.
I have to show ID every time I buy anything at Costco, regardless of whether I pay cash. I'd also note that Facebook is an age-restricted product.
>I'd also note that Facebook is an age-restricted product.
Only by their policy -- whereas for alcohol it's the law.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#56anyone remember Orkut ? One of the reasons why I quit Orkut was because they didn't care about real names. so people started using weird characters and unicodes instead of their real name. This won't be a problem when you're not friends with them but once you're friends with them and your friend changes their name to some weird characters, you don't know who you're talking to. I hated that.
I think the article is looking at an extreme scenario and calling the policy naive. This case wouldn't matter to people in the developed nations (and most developing countries as well).
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#571. You don't have to use Facebook. You really, really don't.
2. Facebook is under no obligation to provide societal benefits for you. It doesn't even have a moral duty to act upon your complaints. Why? See 1. It's not a government program, you are not forced to use it, you are not even buying anything from it. You are just complaining about free stuff. So. Seriously. Just stop using it.
PS. I'm not defending Facebook here. Facebook is objectively abhorrent. I'm just stating facts. They best way to fight Facebook is to stop using it.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#58Quora has among the more civilized discussions due to its real name policy.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm pretty sure I was reported by someone I disagreed with in the comments of a political post. My point was that I bypassed "proving" because I refused to comply to their rule. I've seen no evidence of different treatment based on race. Would you mind citing your source?
I've been told Native Americans often have problem with the "real names" policy because they often sound "fake" to people used to European names.
Yes. For example, Begay is a common Navajo surname. Others use traditional names (such as Standing Bear, for example). Odds are the people at facebook making these decisions have never known anyone with such a name.
Re: Real name policies and ruling the world
#60The real irony of these threads on HN: no one has ever run a social network. If they did, they would realize that mixing pseudonyms with real names is a formula for disaster. It’s probably the easiest way to continuously bother someone and troll groups to no end.
HN mixes the two in the sense that people name themselves what they want. While that certainly causes us no end of headaches, it also has value. The value is subtler while the drawbacks are obvious, but IMO it's well worth it in HN's case.