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Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

security.stackexchange.com

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

#71

Post by stfu »

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…

Absolutely! OP comment sounds a lot like the "I use my real name, because I have nothing to hide" argument.

As long as your viewpoints are completely aligned with the mainstream opinions held in your extended peer group, you have nothing to loose using your real name.

But in all other cases you never know when some HR minion thinks he became a data mining genius because he dug up some comment you made 10 years ago on a random message board,

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

#72

Post by aaronbrethorst »

stfu wrote: post #71
tw8888 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Absolutely! OP comment sounds a lot like the "I use my real name, because I have nothing to hide" argument. As long as your viewpoints are completely aligned with the mainstream opinions held in your extended peer group, you have nothing to loose using your real name. But in all other cases you never know when some HR minion thinks he became a data mining genius because he dug up some comment you made 10 years ago on…

> "I use my real name, because I have nothing to hide"

Of course I do, everyone does. I'm just very thoughtful about never posting it online ;)

Also, pet peeve: it's "lose", not "loose".

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

#73

Post by robbrown451 »

The advantages of using your name can often outweigh the disadvantages.

Reputation is a valuable thing. You don't gain a good reputation by hiding away. You build a good reputation by making a positive impression on lots of people over a long period of time. You can't do that if you are always anonymous.

If I was hiring someone, I'd google them. And if nothing turned up, that would give a somewhat negative impression. Better than seeing them being a jerk or idiot or criminal, of course, but still.

On the other hand, if I saw a long history of them behaving intelligently and diplomatically, going back a long time, that would make a very good impression.

I say use your real name, but don't be a dick, and don't be stupid.

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

#74

Post by danso »

lelandbatey wrote: post #55
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 felt the same way about nicknames, but at some point I realized that I had a digital trail attached to my online-name that was a mile wide. I figured I might as well just start using my real name (which is rather unique already). Also, I find your story of rules interesting. When I was first introduced to the internet (when I was about 7 years old, in school), the one "rule" I remember being told to us over and ove…

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)

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

#75

Post by pbhjpbhj »

anaphor wrote: post #63
tokenadult wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use my real name [Accessing anaphor's HN user profile, which is basically blank] Your real name is anaphor? I have disclosed on my HN user profile what my birth-certificate name is, and I have put up links to a bare-bones explanation of where my screen name (which did not originate on this forum) came from. Eventually, I think, all roads from my various screen names, some of which were mandatory, and others customa…

I haven't gotten around to writing much here, but this is my SO profile which has my real name and the school I attend: http://stackoverflow.com/users/903589/wes

You don't use your real name then. You use a nick here and your first name only, as far as I can tell, on SO. Whilst the information there makes you traceable it's still not 'using your real name'; unless your full legal name is only 3 letters?

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

#76

Post by pbhjpbhj »

return0 wrote: post #19

I am prejudiced against people who use their real names when the website allows them to use a nickname: I automatically assume they will be uninteresting, their opinions sheepish and will always avoid confrontation or controversial ideas. I feel like they are always talking in the presence of their mother.

How do you know they're using their real name? Do you research it or do you assume that people using what looks like a real sounding name are using their own real [legal] name?

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

#77

Post by anaphor »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #75
anaphor wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't gotten around to writing much here, but this is my SO profile which has my real name and the school I attend: http://stackoverflow.com/users/903589/wes

You don't use your real name then. You use a nick here and your first name only, as far as I can tell, on SO. Whilst the information there makes you traceable it's still not 'using your real name'; unless your full legal name is only 3 letters?

Any idea whether I can make SE show the "real name" field to anyone? I didn't realize that wasn't visible, and I don't see a setting anywhere to change that.

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

#78

Post by ruricolist »

There is one very strong practical justification for pseudonyms: some people have very common names. There are thousands of people named Paul Rodriguez, probably hundreds named Paul M. Rodriguez, but there is only one person who goes by "ruricolist". To the extent that I have one, my nickname is my reputation.

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

#79

Post by wtetzner »

city41 wrote: post #54

My main concern with this is account security questions like "what was your first car?". With how much information people put online these days, these questions are often pretty easy to crack. Some websites allow you to change your password after simply answering a couple of these. I personally avoid this problem by generating "answers" as passwords in 1Password. But the vast majority of people don't do this.

I agree. I think security questions are a broken idea. Sites will validate that you have a strong password, and then have you fill in the security questions, which are often either easy to guess or easy to google.

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

#80

Post by betterunix »

gaius wrote: post #26
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a n=1 for you: I just forcefully argued against male circumcision on Reddit. Check it out if you like.

That is not a particularly controversial point; I think pretty much everyone agrees now that genital mutilation of babies is wrong.

Speak for yourself; here in America only a minority of people are really concerned about male circumcision and it is widely performed for religious and non-religious reasons. You are also ignoring the very large population of Muslims in the world, who are generally not opposed to circumcision.

One of the great things about the Internet, though, is that you are free to express a minority point of view without having to wait for some editor to approve of it. This is true regardless of whether or not you choose to post under your real name.

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