Online Anonymity

[koganbot]

Strange post by hilzoy at Obsidian Wings where she says she'd always imagined that by posting under "hilzoy" she was indicating to her readers that that's how she'd like to be known on blogs, as opposed to being referred to by her real name. She gets a bit pissy at Slate for publishing her actual identity.*

Anyway, the strangeness isn't that she wants her blog identity to remain disconnected from her identity offline (though I wonder what right she thinks she has to anonymity if she's going to blog about stuff that's related to what she gets paid to teach and write about), but rather her assuming that her readers would take her use of a screen name as a signal that she's suppressing her real name and wants everyone to go along. That seems pretty naive, and also misunderstands Web practice - unless it's my corner of the Web that's strange. Nearly all the people I run into online post under screen names when they're on message boards or blogs, and I doubt that more than a few of them are doing so to conceal their offline identities. Rather, they're expressing themselves, just as they would by having more than one icon or by wearing different-colored socks on different days. Actually, using one's full name seems a bit odd, like referring to oneself as "Mister" while everyone else is using nicknames: the reasons I used my real name on ilX from the get-go are that I wanted to be better known and that there'd be a conflict of interest in my posting about music and rock criticism and other rock critics while concealing who I am. But as I said, most people who use screen names in my online worlds aren't doing so to suppress their identities. I often know their real names, and where I don't I could probably find out easily enough.

Yesterday I read Andrew Rosenthal in the NY Times saying "When I'm scanning comments (and I scan the comments on every Opinion section article that offers comment), I tend to read the ones with names attached and ignore the ones with screen names. I have a lot of interest in what John Krouskoff of New City has to say, and really none in what spatula187 (to make up one printable screen name) has to say." I realize there's a difference in posting at a high-profile place like the Times or YouTube or People etc. and posting on poptimists, but my guess is still that most of the people who use screen names at those places are doing so out of the expressive habit, not for the anonymity (though no doubt some probably feel freer to act like douchebags than they would if they were using their real names).

*Of course, if you become better-known under your blog name, perhaps you're suppressing your actual identity when you use your given name.

Comments

[koganbot]

I don't know enough about Obsidian Wings or hilzoy to answer your questions (and would like to know more, since they seem well worth my while), but if there's any fanfic connection it isn't apparent from the little I've seen. Appears to be mostly social issues and politics. If they're writing lots about the s3Xor, I've not managed to see it.

But the thing is, in regard to hilzoy, if I'm a professor at a prestigious university and I've got a book published in my field AND I'm a blogger on political and social issues that aren't far from my field AND you've written something on a social issue AND I've chosen to post a lengthy response and critique of what you've written, why should I expect you to honor my pseudonym when replying back? Why shouldn't you accurately identify - for the reader - the profession and prominence of the person you're having the back-and-forth with? There may be more to this particular situation than I know, but it doesn't seem as if hilzoy's private life is being invaded or a secret life is being revealed. Also, the moniker "hilzoy" is close enough to her real name that a casual reader might well assume that she's not trying to keep her identities separate.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, as per your thread with dubdobdee above, it may be precisely her position/prominence/history she's trying to get away from, for whatever reason. And according to the internet mores I was taught (those of SFF/media/anime fandom), this is precisely why anyone goes to post on the Internet under a pseudonym - it's not like changing the colour of your socks, it really is to create an alternate identity that will have stability through time and its own alternate history and social circle that don't relate to your "real life". You can change your handle, but what you would then tie the new handle back to is your old handle. Not to say I don't know the real name of people I've met online - I do, and have met many of them. But I would have to be very certain before referring to them on LJ by the name I address them with offline.

I do agree that hilzoy was absolutely naive in expecting that a journalist from a mainstream publication would honour this, but cultural mores aren't logical, so it doesn't surprise me that she would have gotten PO'd at it either. (I haven't really gone into the backstory, so I'm just assuming she learnt this set of assumptions/rules from somewhere, even if it's not SFF.)

Anyway, as dubdobdee points out this is something that journalism has to contend with now. There are all sorts of issues... the last time I saw negative fan backlash from an "outing" was when NME Online quoted a bunch of (fairly personal) posts Graham Coxon had made to the official Blur BBS. Problem is, dude posts under a pseud, had never outright identified himself, and despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence there's really no hard proof it was him and not someone pretending to be him.