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Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

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Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#151

Post by 09F911029D74E35 »

potatolicious wrote: post #5

I dislike using my real name online - though in some cases (like HN) it's pretty trivial to discover my identity. My real fear isn't having my more rant-y posts associated with my IRL life, but more extreme possibilities like 4chan/Reddit doxxings and abuse. I also no longer use the same handle as when I was a kid, so I've got that going for me.

>more extreme possibilities like 4chan/Reddit doxxings

I've actually had that happen to me. I was generally respected but had rather strong opinions on (relatively uncontroversial) subjects, so one day someone who didn't like me that much decided to go all internet detective on me and dug up various data about me, like my name, address, phone number, names of relatives, Facebook pictures... Up to that point I had been generally pseudonymous (though I had been a bit careless with my info - some domain whois data was my undoing, and while my Facebook account is shut up tight for strangers, this isn't the case for some of my less technical relatives).

Luckily enough it didn't turn into any abuse in real life, as most people thought the doxxing was a stupid move. Now I just get some idiots occasionally spamming my name and picture and insulting my family in front of me. It's easy enough to ignore, but it's also kind of sad that my pseudonymity is basically dead by this point. The genie is out of the bottle, and I can't really put it back unless I start completely over - which I just can't do. As a result, I tend to avoid talking about some controversial issues altogether, as I don't want to "taint" my name by saying something that could be perceived negatively in the future. There's also some things that I just feel rather uncomfortable to talk about with my name and info out there, like the doxxing itself, which is why I'm using a throwaway account for this post.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#152

Post by MatthiasP »

tw8888 wrote: post #53
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #37

I use my real name everywhere online. The reasons why are pretty straightforward: 1. It reminds me to be civil and think before I post. 2. It makes it easier for other people reach out to me based on things I've posted (I have a fairly unique name). Pseudonyms are relatively easy to 'decode'. If I wrote something particularly dumb, offensive, or stupid, and someone wanted to pin that on me, I'm sure they could given…

Use of real name isn't problematic as long as you don't have unpopular opinions. I'm not foolish enough into thinking that the work world is like college when it comes to free expression. My employer wants to be popular in the market place, therefore they don't want to be associated with unpopular opinions. If Gawker writes a hit piece on me because I held down an unpopular opinion in a discussion on feminism in tech…

Out of most jobs in the Valley? Is it really that bad? I still have the illusion that being an IT professional gives you more freedom of having an 'unpopular' opinion than any other industry. As long as your work is in high demand, that is.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#153

Post by aaronbrethorst »

goggles99 wrote: post #150
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #37

I use my real name everywhere online. The reasons why are pretty straightforward: 1. It reminds me to be civil and think before I post. 2. It makes it easier for other people reach out to me based on things I've posted (I have a fairly unique name). Pseudonyms are relatively easy to 'decode'. If I wrote something particularly dumb, offensive, or stupid, and someone wanted to pin that on me, I'm sure they could given…

> 1. It reminds me to be civil and think before I post. This may be true but it inevitably makes you dishonest. There are things that you believe or feel about certain things that you will never post. These omissions equate to a lack of honesty (you are not voicing your full opinions) The internet is one of the last places where people can say what they feel. Sure some are jerks about things but these people are just…

> This may be true but it inevitably makes you dishonest. There are things that you believe or feel about certain things that you will never post. These omissions equate to a lack of honesty (you are not voicing your full opinions)

Disagree. I wouldn't post them anyway given that I assume a sufficiently dedicated person could link them back to me one way or another...And we're always dishonest somehow or another. Only a person dishonest to themselves would ever claim they're entirely honest online.

> This simply is not true. What forum or internet based messaging means today does not have email, twitter, Facebook ETC. where anyone who just read your info can contact you?

Hacker News.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#154

Post by paraiuspau »

I found that my particularly malicious ex-gf (restraining order was eventually required) was using my online realname-based content to "haunt" me somewhat. I am also from the 90s internet where nicknames were more the norm, but I actually felt somehow "mature" (for lack of a better word, and no offense intended to anyone) when I decided to switch to my real name back in ~04 or so. Since then though, social networks have become ubiquitous to the point where some services only allow you to login with social network credentials.. It's all gone mad; pre-interviewing and therefore pre-judgement based on your Google hits, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.

I say head back to the 90s and obfuscate/omit your ID where possible.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#155

Post by robin_reala »

rprospero wrote: post #112
danso wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, you must be very young, i.e. 10-12, or have very perceptive teachers. I feel that teachers and other authority figures still don't get it , especially those above 40 who aren't in a Internet/computer-heavy field. And even young folks in the tech field still don't realize it (basically everyone who uses something like SnapChat too enthusiastically)

I'm thirty and have been getting on the internet since the first Bush administration. Even at the time, the first rule of the internet is that everything you put online is public. This wasn't just about things that you posted on forums, either. The assumption was that the sysadmin would read your e-mails when she was bored and that anything interesting would be passed around.

Not just an assumption, I’ve had sysadmins that did that.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#156

Post by Tomte »

badclient wrote: post #142
pilif wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I joined the internet, there was Usenet. And Usenet etiquette (at least for de.* which is what I had to restrain myself to due to the general lack of English) required you to provide a real name, so that's what I've done. This made me much less reluctant to use my real name later on. However, just as my real name, my pseudonym also stuck and I try to get it whenever I sign up for a service. That way I'm twitter.…

I think the trend until mid 90s was to use your real name. Then it kind of changed at some point in 90s to nicknames. Now we seem to be going back to the early 90s when it was common to use your name.

German Usenet was and still is (in)famous for demanding real names.

In the late nineties and early 00s there ware huge wars between those who campaigned for pseudonyms (usually labelled "net terrorists", although honestly most of them really were trolls) and those who insisted on real names (labelled as "Blockwart": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockleiter).

Of course it's immaterial now. Most of the "net terrorists" left, many of the "blockwarts" mellowed, and in the end Usenet is dead and both sides tolerate much more than they used to, just happy to see a few more postings.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#157

Post by jasonkester »

For what it's worth, take a quick spin through the top voted commenters here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders

Notice that the entire top 10 are using their real name or a trivial abbreviation thereof (apart from 3 accounts that got there through story submission and have essentially no comment history).

Notice the top 30 or so, where real names clearly dominate, with a few well-known strong pseudonyms in there.

Smart, interesting people with nothing to hide, offering good advice and participating in good discussions. That's what this site is best at. And that's the sort of thing one doesn't generally need to hide behind a fake screen name to participate in.

At least, that's why I only have this one real-name account here.

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#158

Post by Tomte »

robin_reala wrote: post #155
rprospero wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thirty and have been getting on the internet since the first Bush administration. Even at the time, the first rule of the internet is that everything you put online is public. This wasn't just about things that you posted on forums, either. The assumption was that the sysadmin would read your e-mails when she was bored and that anything interesting would be passed around.

Not just an assumption, I’ve had sysadmins that did that.

Meeting a sysadmin of your mail provider at some real-life net gathering, wearing the "I read your mail" shirt really was a bit unsettling...

Re: Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

#160

Post by XorNot »

tomphoolery wrote: post #127
mrspeaker wrote: post #2

When I got on the intertubes, oh-so-many years ago - the rules were simple: the ONLY piece of information you could freely give on public forums, or IRC, was your nick. Now, the only piece of information you are supposed to withhold is your credit card number. I'll say this about the new ways: I'm extremely glad that I didn't have my teenage years documented and archived. Dodged that bullet!

I think part of the flight from Facebook and Google+ into smaller social networks which don't require such identifying details is due to this desire for pseudo-anonymity. That said, it's no IRC. And many forums I frequented years ago have long since been destroyed. Perhaps that's why teens are also digging Snapchat, and services like it. A way to communicate without being tracked.

I use my real name on IRC. 100% of my IRC is dev related or similar on things I want people to know I'm involved in in some way. Just use a simple letter.surname handle.
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