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Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
251–260 of 307 posts
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#252Yes, and for almost[1] all other things on the internet for that matter. "We should try to be happy, if only to set an example." -Jacques Prévert I try to be as open and plainly honest as possible, and I think using my real name keeps me from being inflammatory, and I think it also keeps other from doing the same to me (at least a little). Put another way, I think using real names makes an atmosphere of more empathy…
So basically you are putting up an act when you post under your real name?
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#253Yes, and for almost[1] all other things on the internet for that matter. "We should try to be happy, if only to set an example." -Jacques Prévert I try to be as open and plainly honest as possible, and I think using my real name keeps me from being inflammatory, and I think it also keeps other from doing the same to me (at least a little). Put another way, I think using real names makes an atmosphere of more empathy…
I do the the opposite with user names. I randomize all the accounts on every site I go so there would be no link between those (except the fact that all of them look random), But I don't hide anything and always assume that even the passwords to these accounts are public. As a matter of fact I literally have them all in a file as plain text username/password. So, it keeps me from doing anything I would not like anyone to see me doing, but when somebody enters my name in a search bar they don't automatically get to see everything I like to do on my free time.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#254My name on the internet comes from my time playing Quake 3. It is my real name, at least as far as I'm concerned.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#255Yes but I somewhat regret it because Paul Graham won't allow us to delete old comments. Your HN identity is permanent. I personally think this is backwards and unfair to the content creators. The words I type I are mine. Let me delete them if I so choose to at a later date. Otherwise I'll stop contributing out of fear that I might say something I regret at a later date. "Doesn't that prevent uncivil arguments?" NO. A…
Once you have submitted the words they become part of the thread and not purely your own. However it might be good to allow them to be anonymised later.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I kinda miss the old days of usenet, where I'd often post sarcasm or devil's advocate type comments with an x-planation: Yes, this is sarcasm type header. Web forums generally don't have a way to attach metadata like that in a way that's not _normally_ seen, but is easily discoverable or demonstratable on a per-post basis. The "Ha ha! I was only joking" defense is much more credible if you explicitly (but initially i…
You can do this with cryptographic hash functions. Here's how:
1. Write whatever "meta" comment you want to attach to your post and add some random characters at the end.
2. Calculate the MD5 or SHA-1 hash of that comment + random characters [1] and add it to the text of your post.
3. Save the comment + random characters to a text file somewhere for future use.
Should questions arise as to whether or not you were, e.g., being sarcastic you will be able to prove your intent by presenting the original comment and letting everyone verify its hash valve. As a downside you would also have to add random hashes to every non-sarcastic post of yours to prevent sarcastic posts from being quickly detected by the presence of hash values. However, if you do so consistently and post a lot I'd wager that people would soon stop noticing them.
This may or may not be an overkill for signalling sarcasm but I have seen a few users here on HN with MD5 (or was it SHA-1?) sums in their "about" fields. I can only assume those contain their real identity should they want to prove it.
[1] You can use, e.g., http://www.md5.cz/ for convenience.
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Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#257Yes, and for almost[1] all other things on the internet for that matter. "We should try to be happy, if only to set an example." -Jacques Prévert I try to be as open and plainly honest as possible, and I think using my real name keeps me from being inflammatory, and I think it also keeps other from doing the same to me (at least a little). Put another way, I think using real names makes an atmosphere of more empathy…
An alternative could be to stick to a given nickname in related communities. HN, r/programming, and one's tech blog could form such a cluster. Sure, it's not your "real" name, but it will get a reputation regardless. Pseudonym or real name, people will shun you if you displease them too much. Simply remembering that may be just as effective as keeping one nice. To make that even more effective, one could even make a…
I generally stick with certain handles, having 3-4 at all times, some going back over 10 years. My HN one is unique to HN, though. I just wanted to check out the site so I picked any ol' handle, then once comments were upvoted it gained value to me.
Anyways, one of my long-term handles I wanted to erase from the internet and I succeeded with three exceptions, one due to my own laziness (edit: which I'm dealing with this morning), another because no one answered company email (but I eventually got through when the site was revamped), and the other because the company went out of business but the site remains online. It'd be nice to get my profile there expunged because it's slightly embarrassing but there's no valid way to contact them (not even via WHOis).
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#258No way. If I had fuck-you money I might, but for now I have to negotiate with nosy, judgmental primates for food and shelter, so I don't post anything even slightly controversial or critical under my True Name. My Facebook and G+ feeds are cheerful pablum.
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#259My answer is: sort of. I use the same username across several services - it's unique, it's short and it's mine, and in the internet scheme of things it's unequivocally associated with my real name.
That said, do I bother filling in my real name on every site to which I sign up? No. Because I don't use Facebook signle sign-in and nobody implements OpenID these days.
Re: Poll: Do you use your real identity on HN?
#260Honestly? I have multiple accounts. This one is in my real name, but I also post pseudonymously. I do the same on pretty much every web forum I post on. This is partly for historical reasons: in almost all cases, I had a pseudonymous account first. However, it’s also partly for flexibility. For example, if I’m giving a personal recommendation or criticism, then I always prefer to put my name to it. On the other hand,…
I have alternate accounts on several sites for these reasons, but I also have pseudonymous accounts in some places just because I like to poison the accuracy of large databases. With these, I do keep my identity secret.