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Aug. 8th, 2011 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonIn a stroke of irony, I found the link to My Name Is Me on my Google+ stream - the very same folks who went on an account purge of anything not perceived to be a "real name". I'm a vigorous advocate of online aliases and I'll tell you why:
Google+ and Facebook are the only online places that I use my full, real name, and I dithered long and hard before giving in. Ultimately I caved because 1) some old rave buddies I wanted to keep were all using FB, and 2) social media is part of my job. Because of their very public natures I've resigned these to being my work safe, "Mom safe" online presences. I only added the minimum personal info required for an account, and set most of it to private (I frequently check my FB privacy settings as the site has a nasty habit of changing their policy without warning). I don't post much that's controversial, rude, work or private life related - in short, mostly boring fluff.
Both services require real names in the IMHO erroneous beliefs that it reduces bad behavior and sets a positive tone, but anyone who spends time on either network soon realizes that having your real name out there doesn't do much to reduce flaming, trolling, and other idiotic/nefarious stunts. Add to this that no content is ever permanently deleted means that it's possible for a single poorly-thought out post to come back and haunt you FOREVER if you're using your real name. (tangentially, many of the stories about "teens don't care about privacy" are urban myths - teens are actually very aware of and carefully manage their social media privacy).
The contributors to My Name Is Me illustrate a huge number of reasons why people might use pseudonyms to protect their persons or their work, and Danah Boyd has a dozen more. I've been stalked online and in person so the idea of having my real name linked to any photos of myself or location information scares me. But protection isn't the only reason I'm in favor of pseudonyms.
Just as people hide behind aliases to behave badly, some use them to be more themselves: sharing personal stories, trying on new personas, talking about taboo subject matter or general "letting their freak flag fly": all things that many people want and need to do but would prefer not be traced back to the public/professional lives they live under their real name. My aliases create safe(r) spaces for me to vent, lech, geek out and use the icon on this post :P
I'm not knocking FB and G+ - both have their place in my online life, but they're more like opening the window to wave hello. LJ is more like letting people in the front door, and even then I have better control over which rooms they go into.
Google+ and Facebook are the only online places that I use my full, real name, and I dithered long and hard before giving in. Ultimately I caved because 1) some old rave buddies I wanted to keep were all using FB, and 2) social media is part of my job. Because of their very public natures I've resigned these to being my work safe, "Mom safe" online presences. I only added the minimum personal info required for an account, and set most of it to private (I frequently check my FB privacy settings as the site has a nasty habit of changing their policy without warning). I don't post much that's controversial, rude, work or private life related - in short, mostly boring fluff.
Both services require real names in the IMHO erroneous beliefs that it reduces bad behavior and sets a positive tone, but anyone who spends time on either network soon realizes that having your real name out there doesn't do much to reduce flaming, trolling, and other idiotic/nefarious stunts. Add to this that no content is ever permanently deleted means that it's possible for a single poorly-thought out post to come back and haunt you FOREVER if you're using your real name. (tangentially, many of the stories about "teens don't care about privacy" are urban myths - teens are actually very aware of and carefully manage their social media privacy).
The contributors to My Name Is Me illustrate a huge number of reasons why people might use pseudonyms to protect their persons or their work, and Danah Boyd has a dozen more. I've been stalked online and in person so the idea of having my real name linked to any photos of myself or location information scares me. But protection isn't the only reason I'm in favor of pseudonyms.
Just as people hide behind aliases to behave badly, some use them to be more themselves: sharing personal stories, trying on new personas, talking about taboo subject matter or general "letting their freak flag fly": all things that many people want and need to do but would prefer not be traced back to the public/professional lives they live under their real name. My aliases create safe(r) spaces for me to vent, lech, geek out and use the icon on this post :P
I'm not knocking FB and G+ - both have their place in my online life, but they're more like opening the window to wave hello. LJ is more like letting people in the front door, and even then I have better control over which rooms they go into.
