I haven't used my Facebook account in years, ever since they recommended I connected with a person I'd known for 20+ years but with whom I shared no connections or commonalities apart from our nationality. As I remember it, neither of us had listed schools, jobs or interests in our profiles. Maybe it was a coincidence but it made me very anxious so I left the platform.
Maybe it was a coincidence but it made me very anxious so I left the platform. What were you anxious about happening as a result?
"In practice, the forced revelation of information makes individual privilege and power more important. When everyone has to play with their cards on the table, so to speak, then people who feel like they can be themselves without consequence do so freely -- these generally being people with support groups of like-minded people, and who are neither economically nor physically vulnerable. People who are more vulnerable to consequences use concealment as a method of protection: it makes it possible to speak freely about controversial subjects, or even about any subjects, without fear of harassment."
-- Yonatan Zunger, former chief architect, Google+
https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq
There are further historical lines of reasoning. Hacker News and its editors don't care to see them discussed: