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Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

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Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#81

Post by ghaff »

JohnFen wrote: post #60
ghaff wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that a lot of what I post online is either directly or indirectly related to my day job. So I've always figured if I was going to have a moderately high profile public presence anyway, it wasn't worth maintaining a separate identity.

That makes a lot of sense. My case is different. When I've run my own companies, I'd post stuff online related to that. But even then, it's under a persona -- I feel it's even more important then, actually (I also use personas in real life in that circumstance. It's very useful to be able to identify as the secretary, the sales guy, whoever, in order to dodge time-wasters such as salesmen.) But if I'm working for som…

>But if I'm working for someone else, I'm not posting anything directly related to my work.

Obviously depends on the company and role. I was hired in part because I had a pretty big online presence on tech topics. (In part, I was writing for CNET at the time when they still had some enterprise computing coverage.)

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#83

Post by Waterluvian »

> If you defiantly refuse to say who you are, it can make people angry that you’re upsetting social reciprocity.

Citation needed.

This entire post/idea seems to be based on "you can't just make up an obviously anonymous avatar/username anymore (like BakedPotato138)" and I frankly don't see why not. It's been working fine for decades. The only people who are upset over this are authorities and corporations. And in those cases, making up a fake person is quite possibly criminal fraud.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#84

Post by minsc_and_boo »

mikece wrote: post #3

Anonymity is impossible, especially online. About the best one can do is to engage in clever obfuscation though there's a benefit to creating multiple personas for online activity: it makes it easier to keep your silos of interest separated. It's not for everyone but it can be handy.

The fact that you take any action to obfuscate your identity only makes you stand out more from the herd, not blend in.

It's like wearing a ski mask in a store. Your profile(s) are more noticeable even if you're not immediately identifiable.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#85

Post by rco8786 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #83

> If you defiantly refuse to say who you are, it can make people angry that you’re upsetting social reciprocity. Citation needed. This entire post/idea seems to be based on "you can't just make up an obviously anonymous avatar/username anymore (like BakedPotato138)" and I frankly don't see why not. It's been working fine for decades. The only people who are upset over this are authorities and corporations. And in tho…

Wait what, the entire post is literally "just go make up an avatar/username".

> If you don’t want any attention, just pick a very common name like Mary Kim or Adam Johnson.

> Use an AI face generator to create a completely believable face to match your new name. Download it once and use it everywhere. Run it through face aging software to use this same persona for the rest of your life.

> Pick a city and say it’s your location, to avoid that question too.

> For email, Mailbox.org is great, and doesn’t care who you are.

> Create social media profiles with your new name, email, city, and face.

> Nobody will wonder who you are if you answer that question. Instead of block and battle, deflect and settle. That’s better anonymity.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#86

Post by j0hnyl »

zem wrote: post #65
rlt wrote: post #31

Satoshi is the only very high profile person I’m aware of to remain completely (pseud)onymous. Many others have tried and failed (though they often broke the law, so that might be the main distinguishing factor)

Banksy is way more famous than Satoshi and has remained pseudonymous

From what I understand art world folks very well know who Banksy is, but I don't think such is the case for the tech world and Satoshi.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#87

Post by JohnFen »

ghaff wrote: post #81
JohnFen wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes a lot of sense. My case is different. When I've run my own companies, I'd post stuff online related to that. But even then, it's under a persona -- I feel it's even more important then, actually (I also use personas in real life in that circumstance. It's very useful to be able to identify as the secretary, the sales guy, whoever, in order to dodge time-wasters such as salesmen.) But if I'm working for som…

>But if I'm working for someone else, I'm not posting anything directly related to my work. Obviously depends on the company and role. I was hired in part because I had a pretty big online presence on tech topics. (In part, I was writing for CNET at the time when they still had some enterprise computing coverage.)

Indeed. In your sort of job, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#88

Post by Waterluvian »

rco8786 wrote: post #85
Waterluvian wrote: post #83

> If you defiantly refuse to say who you are, it can make people angry that you’re upsetting social reciprocity. Citation needed. This entire post/idea seems to be based on "you can't just make up an obviously anonymous avatar/username anymore (like BakedPotato138)" and I frankly don't see why not. It's been working fine for decades. The only people who are upset over this are authorities and corporations. And in tho…

Wait what, the entire post is literally "just go make up an avatar/username". > If you don’t want any attention, just pick a very common name like Mary Kim or Adam Johnson. > Use an AI face generator to create a completely believable face to match your new name. Download it once and use it everywhere. Run it through face aging software to use this same persona for the rest of your life. > Pick a city and say it’s you…

The entire post is about making up a deceptive human username and AI generated human photo. What I'm talking about is making a name like rco8786 and using the avatar of whatever... a delicious ham sandwich.

There is nothing novel about making up an avatar. The point of the article is "trick people by making it a believable one so they'll think that's you, and not just an avatar." Ie. there's an incredibly important social signal in having a name that's obviously not your actual name.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#89

Post by geph2021 »

splitstud wrote: post #79
geph2021 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

made its fortune in philanthropy Already sounds dubious to me. Don't you need a fortune before you go into philanthropy? Making a fortune in philanthropy sounds like embezzlement.

Hence the name Skimmington

Haha! I actually missed that... well done.
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