Quick RE: solderpunk (Mastodon, pseudonymity)
=============================================
Foreword: if you haven't followed the two ongoing threads in the phlogosphere
about Mastodon/Co.so and about
anonymity/pseudonymity I'd suggest you to feel
free to skip this phost. If you are not familiar with those threads but would
like to catch up on them, I'd suggest you to first check the references at the
bottom.
---
To the Mastodon/Co.so thread.
solderpunk and I had a rather long discussion[0-3] about the above subject which
kind of concluded in his (or probably her) latest phost, which was a reply to my
post, which was the reply to... you get the idea.
These words are just to ensure you, solderpunk, that there's no harm done nor
any offense taken and I absolutely appreciate that you in deed went back to your
initial phost and removed the word "attack" and changed it to "criticism" --
although, as I said, I would've been totally fine with a pair of quotation marks
around. But this is even better.
I am glad it turned out that - despite the probable initial mis-representations
on both sides - we more or less agree on most of the things about Mastodon and
Co.so. I am also greatful that we actually spent the time creating and
concluding this thread, since - hopefully - it reveals the caveats of these
tools to a broader audience, also it may start a discussion about something that
we generally don't really talk about: namely the ethical/moral aspects of
software creation and usage. As previously said, I am quite interested in this
particular topic and yes, it is on my "to-phlog list" to write about the
"possible -- permitted -- ethical", also about some weird (at least weird to
some) licensing topics like "not stated but implied".
Also, questions like "what is good?", "what is bad?", "what is evil?", "when
can violence and such be justified?" are really interesting ones, but also they
are strongly subjective to the person speaking -- and sadly they are best to be
discussed by a beer, as they'd probably create forever-ongoing threads if we'd
try to phlog about them.
Anyway. Don't know if I missed something important. Let me know if any of you
have further thoughts (objections etc.) about the above. Please ping me if you
do.
---
To pseudonymity.
I'd just quickly reflect to solderpunk's thoughts[4] addressed directly to me.
The fact that "I feel that none that I write can/will have a negative impact on
my life" doesn't necessarily mean that I expect (or even desire) a positive
outcome. Simply put: these thoughts, feelings etc. I express are part of me -- I
am not proud of them nor am I ashamed because of them, they are simply the
results of me being me, of my personality. And I consider my personality as
something I don't want to hide behind a handle or a fake identity. There are no
expected outcomes here whatsoever.
Any positive outcome is an unexpected gift -- even the strange internet friends.
Also, I am happy to inform anyone who reads this that I've already found the
love of my life (quite interestingly I've found her online, using a handle, not
my real name -- admit it guys, you didn't see that coming), therefore the
toddler (who is also the reason why I am super-tired despite the fact that in my
timezone it's only 9PM) I already wrote about in my phlog.
A sidenote here: I am much more cautious about my kid's online presence that I
am on mine. We have an agreement with my partner: we post no pictures, videos
etc. of the kid online. We want it to be his decision in the future if he wants
to participate in social media madness. I mention him from time to time on my
b/phlog (mostly my deep love and admiration towards the little guy), but that's
it.
One more thing: solderpunk has a hard time imagining any positive outcomes of
participating in the internet using my real name. Well, I had plenty. Another
interesting fact about me (again, not positive or negative, just a fact): I used
to be a librarian. Really. I have a college diploma saying I am a LIS specialist
and I was working as one for 7-or-so years. During me being a librarian I was
writing a professional blog about library science in general, the challenges
that libraries are facing in the information (and post-information) era, the
best practices from around the world and so on.
And I have plenty of positive feedback. I was awarded as the "young librarian of
the year". I gave speeches all around my country in front of librarians and
information specialists about the future of libraries, about online services,
about user experience and so on. I was invited to be a tutor, to write articles
for LIS papers. I was under 30 that time.
And it all started with a blog, published under my real name. It was fun (and
also a bit awkward, as I really considered myself "just a LIS blogger"). Writing
stuff under my real name not only helped me to achive career goals but also to
meet fantastic people both home and abroad, to keep on learning and educating
myself. I clearly consider this a "positive outcome" -- an unexpected gift.
---
[0]
gopher://http://psztrnk.ddns.net:70/log/20180103.txt
[1]
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/solderpunk/phlog/thoughts-on-mastodon-and-decentralisation.txt
[2]
gopher://http://psztrnk.ddns.net:70/log/20180108.txt
[3]
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/solderpunk/phlog/response-to-psztrnk-re-mastodon.txt
[4]
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/solderpunk/phlog/responses-on-pseudonymity.txt
