Pseudonyms, and Why They Matter

[ravan]

From coffeeandink in this post:
* Reasons people may prefer pseudonyms or limited personal disclosure on the Internet:

* Because it is a standard identity- and privacy-protection precaution
* Because they have experienced online or offline stalking, harassment, or political or domestic violence
* Because they wish to discuss sexual abuse, sexuality, domestic abuse, assault, politics, health, or mental illness, and do not wish some subset of family, friends, strangers, acquaintances, employers, or potential employers to know about it
* Because they wish to keep their private lives, activities, and tastes separate from their professional lives, employers, or potential employers
* Because they fear threats to their employment or the custody of their children
* Because it's the custom among their Internet cohort
* Because it's no one else's business

Even if you know someone's "real name", Do Not Disclose It On The Net!!. It is a serious breach of privacy, can actually endanger a person's life and/or livelihood, and can also endanger their friends, relatives or people who have similar names!!

I really don't care if you "don't approve of" or "don't agree with" pseudonymity, it's not your choice, not your life, and not your place to reveal someone else's legal identity, period.

Got it? Good.

Comments

[raindrops.livejournal.com]

I wish more people understood this. One of the things I don't like about FaceBook is that you can be suspended from it if someone complains that you're not using your real name.

Fuck that noize.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you for providing the last nail in the coffin into which I was already working on interring my curiosity about Facebook. It's not hard to find how to link this pseud to my RL name. But I have my limits.

[ravan.livejournal.com]

I have a FB under my real name - and it's mostly work contacts. I only post stuff there, or on anywhere else that has my real name, that I'd be willing for my boss or any future employer to see - no photos or any other nonsense. As a net pro, I have to have FB and LinkedIn stuff, but that all has to be vanilla and scrubbed clean of any controversy - except maybe a little business practice and politics stuff.

It never references LJ, and LJ never links to it.

[odanu.livejournal.com]

I only post stuff *anywhere* on line that I'd be willing to let an employer to see. No nekkid pics, no booze or drugs, no admissions of illegal or immoral (by the "harm none" standard) acts, and no talkin' treason. Now, I let my temper show, and I'm perfectly willing to mess with trolls and use "adult" language, but I don't teach kindergarten for a living, so I don't see that as a problem.

I assume that anything technology can do, it can undo. Thank goodness I realized that long before it actually happened to me.