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Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
31–40 of 307 posts
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#32Using a pseudonym may be great, but there's always the temptation to be more abrasive, offensive or obnoxious when using one. The longer you keep an identity online in public forums the more information you tend to leak through side channels and should your identity end up compromised you risk having a lot more exposed than if you never covered at all and thought (mostly) before posting. I've chosen to use my real name here because of the level of conversation when I joined and because I've associated HN initially more with the traditional hacker world than the blackhat type. Those of you using pseudonyms could do worse than learn from the Grugq[1].
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#33I didn't before. I do now.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#34For 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 to…
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.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#35yes, and strangely this is one of the few forums where I feel totally fine using my real identity and saying my thoughts.
perhaps because hn's topics of conversation keep me on the civil and cerebral side
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#36Yes, my username is my full name and I'm reasonably confident saying there is only 1 person with my name in the world.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#37I'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.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#38I voted no.
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.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#39No, 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.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#40For 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 to…
My opinions change regularly, I am sometimes enlightened, I sometimes have a change of heart. I don't post with my actual identity because of this.
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.