How Many Online Aliases Do You Use?
Displaying poll results.26400 total votes.
Most Votes
- What's the highest dollar price will Bitcoin reach in 2024? Posted on February 28th, 2024 | 8480 votes
- Will ByteDance be forced to divest TikTok Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 7601 votes
Most Comments
- What's the highest dollar price will Bitcoin reach in 2024? Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 68 comments
- Will ByteDance be forced to divest TikTok Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 20 comments
I use "AC" always (Score:4, Insightful)
I find reputation a horrible notion. I haven't posted under my real name on the 'net since 2001, and I regret every posting I made with my name before that - not because they're negative but because they create some impression of me which may then be used to judge later posts. I see a newpaper article republished about some achievement from 2003, and it still annoys me that my name is out there.
As the charitable man who announces his generosity is merely engaging in a PR exercise, anyone who puts their name on their work - no matter how "free" or "open" - is merely selling himself. Anyway, I'd like the ideas/work to be judged - not the person.
Pseudonymous Coward (Score:5, Insightful)
While I don't lie about my personal positions when I'm directly asked, sometimes, especially in the US, it's advantageous to have googling your name not result in your potential partner/investor/exec thinking "Oh, so he's an atheist communist who likes to trash the Web2.0 VC fund my brother has a stake in.".
Re:I use "AC" always (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I use "AC" always (Score:5, Insightful)
It creates a competitive dynamic where each person is driven to outshine their peers with greater and greater levels of braggadocio. Once someone starts, other observers will assign greater importance (subconsciously) to the braggart based simply upon his claims, rather than actual deeds or the merit of what they are saying. In order to keep up, others must trot out equal or superior claims.
The workplace is already a competitive environment, so of course you need to learn to sell yourself to keep up and call attention to your merits. There are times when simply being good at your job may not be enough. However, this is a public forum for discussion, and bragging about personal exploits only serves to derail the topic to be about how authoritative each person claims to be, rather than logical arguments backed up with sources. That's why it's not particularly welcome to see someone start bragging. With that said, I don't think keeping a username is equivalent to bragging or even selling yourself. If someone cares enough to track back through a user's past to note their achievements that's fine. I always respect someone more when I find out good things about them without them pointing it out.
Uhm, why are people disclosing this? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I hide. (Score:2, Insightful)
Well come on, that's a misrepresentation. Clearly he'd only be ok with his own murder if was at the hands of one of his parents.
Assuming he's being serious, I don't agree with his position at all (I'm the opposite, against all murder, in which category I include abortion), but it is totally logically consistent.
Re:I use "AC" always (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not so much about selling yourself or reputation pumping. The reason to post with a consistent name, either real or fake, is to allow for a conversation, instead of just an anonymous post. Having a conversation with an anonymous poster always raises the question about whether it is the same anonymous poster with each reply.
My approach (Score:2, Insightful)
- sites where login is required, but i don't want it, used once: throwaway alias generated on the spot
- sites where login is required, I rather not have it, but need to access it regularly: alias generated on the spot, linked to me & service
- desktop logins: real name
- server logins:
+ for work: whatever they give me or close to real name - I probably want others to know it's me)
+ for others: close to real name or a dedicated alias (e.g. wow-login would be like that (except I don't play)) - I probably want others to know
it's the same person as before (i.e., there I care somewhat about perception of my alias)
- posting online:
+ general forums: preferably anonymous
+ friends, my own stuff: close to real name.
Reason for being an AC in public posting: it prevents me from attaching too much value to my posts. ... bad. Not attaching my name to posts helps me to avoid this scenario [xkcd.com].
I learned that from observing Slashdot: plenty of great posts here, plenty of posts that (in my view) are
(so yes: unless this post is modded up, I probably won't even be able to find it back :)
Re:I use "AC" always (Score:3, Insightful)