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I've always adapted a policy of using my real name as a moniker on social sites.

It prevents me from writing harsh things. I figure that anonymity is temporary, that real identities can always be determined if someone digs hard enough. I don't want something I say in the heat of the moment to come back to haunt me years later.

It's not for everybody. I've probably made some secret enemies that know my name. But for me, it seems to be the best way.

3 comments

I think this is super healthy and a really sensible approach - but it does seem unorthodox in today's internet.

People see it as a right to say whatever they want to whomever they want, but really should we be able to do that without consequence?

Anyway, I love this idea - it just sucks that I can tend to have what some would consider politically extreme ideas that some employers may or may not find off putting. I inevitably create "alt" accounts on sites like Reddit to voice these views.

As someone who uses their real name, I have faith that in the future no one will care what you wrote on the internet because virtually everyone has said something dumb or incendiary.

Also, as a rule I only use this name on sites that are clean and professional, ie: github, where I know I will only post sophisticated things that could benefit my career, unlike reddit where i just want to fuck around.

That's part of the problem with sites like reddit and exactly what I'm getting at - is it healthy to have forums Where we can air our craziest ideas anonymously? Or maybe should we have to think critically and be kind before doing so?

> I've always adapted a policy of using my real name as a moniker on social sites.

That's a terrible policy. Anyone can create a username as you then and post offensive things and you'd be screwed.

If this was as big of a problem as you say, political figures and public personalities would be screwed. Spoiler: it's not, because people tend to understand that a username is not always a person.

Also some names are super common and therefore cannot be proven to be just one person. Just google Rick J Wagner and tell me if you only find one of them.

My biggest worry would not be about today or even next year, but rather ten years from now.

In 2010, I could have said "women do not have a penis" and faced zero criticism. But if I say the same thing today in the ultra SJW woke society of 2018, it's grounds for instant allegations of transphobia, sexism, and a whole bunch of accusations that result in social and professional ostracizing without any sort of verification or context. All it takes for this is one person who dislikes me enough to dig through $age years of online history and finds that one statement that does not hold to this instant's ultra progressive intersectional social justice standards.

Put simply: I do not trust society at large to remain rational enough to want to attach my real name to anything but the most mundane of statements.

But 'to be able to talk (and write) about everything - is just the beginning'... Some years ago, before the polarization-outrolling started countrywide (in Real Life -and of cos in my personal view of what happen ^^) this seems to be the 'Motto'. Jet one takeaway seems that censoring added the need for even censoring more, and for the country's digital-agenda (away from industry-production for environment protection to the production of more virtual 'goods') there seem to be shiny low-hanging-money in, while the disturbed people seem to reject regulation with much impulsive behavior as a result. And so the saga of action reaction effect continues...

Plugins please, maybe tor-browser run out of the text-based-web-speeder 'request policy'-plugin -and no, 'ublock' is not an option (-;