real names and secret identities

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I went to a talk yesterday at NY Comic Con about 'secret identities' (privacy). He talked about 5 reasons for having two identities.

Facebook - zuckerburg said no interity if dual identnties

The pirate/thief

2) The ninja (ex: secretly browse the web such as buying gift for spouse)

3) Time traveler - protect from past - abuse/witness/family issues. And amnesty from present - not getting job due to posting on Facebook. Fake name so future self not accountable for what do in school now

4) Stage name - LGBT, pen names (stephen king), political activists

5) Robot - browse without seeing ads from things viewed.

CodeRanch's policy is that your display name needs to look real, not that it has to be real. I was thinking about which of these secret identities that helps with. Here's my analysis. Agree?
1) The pirate/thief - no - we do not publish things that look like piracy of theft
2) The ninja - no - CodeRanch isn't collecting information on your interests so whether your display name is real or not doesn't affect that. Although there is a good bet you are interested in technology
3) Time traveler - yes - using a different name than yours makes it so you can't can't be Googled. However, it also can hurt as you lose the benefit of showing you are interested in learning/what you do know.
4) Stage name - yes. One of our moderators, Bear Bibeault, uses a name different than his legal name. However, this is the name he uses to write books, at work, etc. The name he is using is real from any logical sense even though the government would disagree that is his name.
5) Robot - no - again we aren't tracking people's marketing preferences


He talked about how incognito mode doesn't prevent server side tracking. Your browser footprint (screens resolution, etc) can identify you pretty well. Good quote on "thi sis like remembering what your face looks like rather than needing a name tag"

He also talked about associations. For example, browsing felt pads implies you are decently well off because you have hardwood floors and care about their condition. Which could be a problem if it changes the credit card offer you get. This reminded me of the website (forgot which) that charged more for Mac users than Windows users. Since you can't control what is done with the information, all you can control is the input.

I liked the quote "If the product is free, you are the product." This site is free. It's also not a profit making entity. But yes, humans viewing ads to keep the site going. Making humans the product.

[Jan de Boer]

Number 3 makes me moderate my thoughts about managers, employers somewhat. Even if not that negative, people can cut it out of context and damage your reputation. Number 3 also makes me avoid political issues in forums. (All forums, not just here.) If you touch the third rail there, HR personal could think you are trouble. I don't have a mainstream opinion on a few things there, but never or hardly ever discuss them on line.

[Guillermo Ishi]

This sounds like the person I saw in a short interview on youtube which I'd never be able to find again. Same exact word choices. He had a new book out. He said he was a fan of "pseudoanonymity" by which he meant a false name that could pass for a real name. Nothing but a traditional pseudonym.

I once joined a website which "required" member's real names. The only one of those I've ever seen. Like any sane person would I used a pseudonym. The 90% of the members who used a real name will live to regret it I'm sure, if it's persistent enough. It was a music website and most of the members were either teenage students or teachers or professionals. More than one adult probably damaged or destroyed their careers there. Other people will have to face silly things they said as teenager later in their career. Adults who get into some argument and are not as articulate as they need to be, or who reveal some serious but irrelevant shortcoming without realizing it. Whoever thought up the pseudonym was a genius. You do not want everything you say freely in passing carved in stone. But if you can't speak freely, then what's the point. It's not a business meeting, but if you use a real name you'd better think of it as one. The website owners' idea was that if everybody used their real name it would be easier to moderate. As for Facebook users...god help them...