Online Anonymity
Apr. 16th, 2009 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotStrange 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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
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.
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.
The Rise Of The Hink
Date: 2009-04-16 11:01 pm (UTC)Number of times I'd previously read, seen, or heard the word "hinky" = 0