5 expanded posts ยท every known parent and child
yeah, and maybe we need mike's opinion as to whether mail forgery is the same as high treason. mutter. this saga has moved me from sympathy to amusement to boredom. irritation follows close on boredom's heels. i wish lance would just go get some prozac or whatever modern drug cures whatever he's got. barring that, i wish he would just go away. peter
Can't we be a little nicer, and talk about the ISSUES instead of the posters? Let's agree that spoofing/anonymity is no good if (1) you post as William Gibson and you're NOT William Gibson, or (2) you post as LD, TM, AC, EH, or anyone else on this list if you are not that person. (1) and (2) aren't instances of spoofing: they're instances of impersonation and fraud. Anyone got a problem with all that? OK, on to the next issue: Why would you want to build up a pseudonymous reputation? I ask this question not in a contentious manner, but out of a real desire to turn the discussion into a thread where encryption, privacy, alternate identities, etc. can be talked about in a lively, but not angry fashion. (Hmmm, that sounded kinda pompous; but bear with me!) Isn't it tough enough to build up a rep under our real names? What is the point to using a pseudonym? I can think of some bad reasons; but I can't come up with any good ones, except for "fun" and "just to see what it feels like to put out opinions not my own." I'm sure I'm missing the point; so, before you jump on me as a Clueless Newbie, can you run by the reasons why you want to have alternate personas on the NET? A story to lighten up the atmosphere: On MediaMOO, I have a virtual puppet. I've coded the puppet -- named Apprentice Dragon -- to follow me around; and I can speak or emote through him too. Regulars on MediaMOO know he's my puppet; newbies are amazed at first, but soon learn to identify the puppet with its owner. Now, a couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of a heavy Real Time discussion at MediaMOO. I offered an opinion; then, just for the heck of it, I had the Apprentice Dragon contradict me. And danged if everyone didn't agree with the dragon! Maybe this is a lesson I should apply to pseudonymous identities. Or maybe not. So why try for a pseudonymous rep? All replies cheerfully considered.
> From: Arthur Chandler <arthurc@crl.crl.com> > Isn't it tough enough to build up a rep under our real names? What is > the point to using a pseudonym? I can think of some bad reasons; but I > can't come up with any good ones, except for "fun" and "just to see what > it feels like to put out opinions not my own." An obvious reason would be that you don't want what you say to be associated with your truename. You might be discussing past sexual abuse, the nefarious behavior of your employer, your relationship problems, or the finer points of heroin use. You may say, "Well, that's just anonymity". It could work that way, but it may be more valuable to be able to carry on a discussion under a fixed pseudonym. Context and continuity are lost if all messages are totally anonymous. It might be wise to conduct even relatively innocuous behavior under a pseudonym, if you're concerned about personal privacy versus a "dossier society". Archives of Usenet news will make a great marketing database some day. Eli ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu
Arthur Chandler wrote: > Isn't it tough enough to build up a rep under our real names? What is >the point to using a pseudonym? I can think of some bad reasons; but I >can't come up with any good ones, except for "fun" and "just to see what >it feels like to put out opinions not my own." I'm sure I'm missing the >point; so, before you jump on me as a Clueless Newbie, can you run by >the reasons why you want to have alternate personas on the NET? It's not a dumb questions, and it comes up from time to time. In fact, this was the subject of a lengthy war on news.admin.policy a while ago. You could use a pseudonym anytime you don't want to be linked to an opinion. Maybe you don't want to be known as the author of a post to alt.sex about whether you shower with your spouse; maybe you feel less embarrassed asking questions like Wonderer; perhaps you want to engage in a serious debate over touchy political issues; etc. In these examples, you would be putting out opinions that are your own - you just want the freedom of speaking without fearing retribution or ridicule. After all, you may irritate someone who decides to cause you harm. This won't ever happen, you say? Maybe, but here's an example: Salmon Rushdie, author of the "Satanic Verses" is still living in fear of his life. You can whistle-blow. Some months ago a local paper ran a series of articles on people who had the careers and lives destroyed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, because they reported various unsafe practices and violations at their workplace. Small examples of anonymity are in our life already: most radio shows don't broadcast your last name, papers will withhold names from editorial pieces sent them, police departments take anonymous tips. The protection a pseudonym affords is more powerful. -- Karl L. Barrus: klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu keyID: 5AD633 hash: D1 59 9D 48 72 E9 19 D5 3D F3 93 7E 81 B5 CC 32 "One man's mnemonic is another man's cryptography" - my compilers prof discussing file naming in public directories
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 14:46:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Arthur Chandler <arthurc@crl.crl.com>
[...]
Isn't it tough enough to build up a rep under our real names? What is
the point to using a pseudonym? I can think of some bad reasons; but I
can't come up with any good ones, except for "fun" and "just to see what
it feels like to put out opinions not my own." I'm sure I'm missing the
point; so, before you jump on me as a Clueless Newbie, can you run by
the reasons why you want to have alternate personas on the NET?
Here's an example: you're a rock star, but your rock star identity is
a pseudonymous one, so you can function as a normal person in your true
name identity. When you are a celebrity your life becomes limited because
of people's reactions. There will certainly be cyberspatial equivalents
of celebrities.
Another scenario: if you develop some notoriety in a certain field, it
may affect how your work in another field is received. Say, for example
you are a dominatrix and a composer of church music, and you love to do
both. So you have separate identities for each.
It could also be instructive to have a cyberspatial pseudonymous identity
that is of a different gender, race, species, etc.
Andy