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I wish people were more public

borretti.me

31–40 of 127 posts

Re: I wish people were more public

#31
post #17

If you're on the internet long enough, I think you learn that openness has plenty of downsides. You indirectly interact with tens of thousands of people and in that set, there will be people who don't wish you well, sometimes for reasons you can't even grasp. In the 1990s, I used to put my phone number in my .signature file. I've come to regret that. In the 2000s, I participated in relatively large online forums unde…

I've been posing online with my real name since the 90's because if forces me to self sensor. I don't say things on the internet that I wouldn't say to people in the real world who know where I live.

I think the internet would be a lot nicer place if people were held accountable for the things they say and do.

Re: I wish people were more public

#33
post #17

If you're on the internet long enough, I think you learn that openness has plenty of downsides. You indirectly interact with tens of thousands of people and in that set, there will be people who don't wish you well, sometimes for reasons you can't even grasp. In the 1990s, I used to put my phone number in my .signature file. I've come to regret that. In the 2000s, I participated in relatively large online forums unde…

I've been posing online with my real name since the 90's because if forces me to self sensor. I don't say things on the internet that I wouldn't say to people in the real world who know where I live. I think the internet would be a lot nicer place if people were held accountable for the things they say and do.

>> I think the internet would be a lot nicer place if people were held accountable for the things they say and do.

I agree. I've often advocated for zero anonymity by default. Everyone traceable by anyone. The thinking is that bad behavior (threats and such) could be reported. There was enough pushback to make me rethink that. People will still make threats when you know who they are - less often but they will. Offline (real world) harassment is still possible too without being identified, though thats getting harder every day.

Verified identity online is not the same thing as being held accountable.

Re: I wish people were more public

#34
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re right that it’s hard. But I think you’re implying that it could be less hard if we just behaved better à la “be the change you want to see”, and I believe you’re wrong about that. The people that send death threats do not read your advice, nor do they care enough to take it to heart. The people that _will_ listen were not sending death threats to begin with. And getting 500 thankyou-messages does not o…

I think it does. Internet death threats are upsetting but you also learn they tend to be toothless 99.9% of the time. Most of it is just internet tough guys hundreds or thousands of miles away. A lifetime of small positive outcomes can easily offset that for many people.

Also 90% of the time when you finally manage to get someone to quote one of these "death threats" it turns out to be something like "I hope you die of cancer" or "You deserve to get shot" which are horrible but are not threats in any sense whatsoever.

This is why when you see yet another article about someone getting "death threats" they don't actually say what the threats are: most of the time they aren't threats at all.

On the other hand, sometimes people really do actually threaten people and if someone actually threatens you, the likelihood that he is 1000s of km away isn't particularly reassuring let me tell you.

Re: I wish people were more public

#36
post #17

If you're on the internet long enough, I think you learn that openness has plenty of downsides. You indirectly interact with tens of thousands of people and in that set, there will be people who don't wish you well, sometimes for reasons you can't even grasp. In the 1990s, I used to put my phone number in my .signature file. I've come to regret that. In the 2000s, I participated in relatively large online forums unde…

I've been posing online with my real name since the 90's because if forces me to self sensor. I don't say things on the internet that I wouldn't say to people in the real world who know where I live. I think the internet would be a lot nicer place if people were held accountable for the things they say and do.

this was the idea being sold in like 2011 or wherever the real names policy was implemented in social media. we can now confidently say it doesn’t work and also deprives people of privacy unfortunately

Re: I wish people were more public

#37
It's all very well being more public, until a government decides to make 5 years of social media history an entry condition[0], and moreover imprisons those people who are denied entry instead of simply sending them home on the next flight[1].

I have no problem with this per se, as I have no plans to go to the US this decade, but I do worry about contagion. Perhaps being a public person on the internet is an idea whose time has come and gone.

[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dz0g2ykpeo.amp

[1] https://amp.dw.com/en/german-nationals-us-immigration-detain...

Re: I wish people were more public

#38
Most of the people disagreeing seem to be forgetting that public doesn't necessarily mean using your real name. We used to have vibrant communities full of people with names like "claxxon" and "zerg". claxxon knows about cisco networking and zerg knows about the best punk bands in the chicago area. Their real names? Not needed, wanted, or relevant, and we're offended you even asked, noob!

Re: I wish people were more public

#39
I write for myself so I don’t forget things and so I can have a record of my thought processes as empirical proof of my processing and understanding

I publish so that I get feedback grounded in alternative interpretations which helps sharpen the ideas and processes and understanding

You can’t actually understand anything in any real way if it’s not subject to intense and widespread scrutiny

Doubly so if you think you’re onto some new idea.

Re: I wish people were more public

#40
post #29

I am. I know it’s not free but I think it’s important for humanity to move forward. E.g. my genome variant report https://viz.roshangeorge.dev/roshan-genvue/ My wife’s pregnancy as logged by me https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy I think it's important to have real-world actual experiences written down because a lot of online information is just people repeating what other people say and it's not true. I'm hopi…

I love this for you :)
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