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iReplies on anonymity and other topics | |
iJanuary 08th, 2018 | |
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i | |
iOn Anonymity: | |
i | |
iMany folks around gopherspace [0-3] have been talking about | |
ianonymity or pseudoanonymity in their online profiles, phlogs, | |
iblogs, etc. I walked into this one with one opinion and have made | |
ia complete turnaround since. | |
i | |
iI don't use an anonymous handle here on SDF. My username is my | |
ilast name. You can see my first name if you hit my about [4] page. | |
iI prefer to associate my real identity with the activites I do | |
ihere because I feel like it helps add to the public representation | |
iof who I am. It may help me with social networking and potentially | |
ieven employment one day. | |
i | |
iThat being said, I have a lot of activity I do online that isn't | |
iunder this identity. I tools in place for creating easy throw-away | |
iaccounts, and I have invested a great deal of time in building up | |
irobust, persistent identities that are sufficient to provide me | |
ianonymity against all but the strongest state-level actors. I use | |
ithem for... well, if I told you that would weaken them. | |
i | |
iI love the idea of anonymity in principle, but I have seen how | |
ieasy it is for that freedom to become an excuse for disruptive and | |
ipoisonous behavior. The things people will say when there's no | |
iname attached can be downright horrific. Is that worth the cost? | |
iI really don't know how I feel to make a solid decision. | |
i | |
iI do know that pseudo anonymity is helpful in protecting against | |
ithe anonymous actions of others, like SWATing. It can also prevent | |
iprejudice from entering a community dynamic. The work stands for | |
iitself, right? That's the idea at least, and I think that's | |
ia happy medium. | |
i | |
iIf you have an identity, even a false one, and you must act and | |
ishare and communicate with that identity, then it gains value to | |
iyou over time. It also gains peer status as others get to know | |
iyou. If ZeLibertineGamer, or solderpunk, or jynx communicate with | |
ime, I have a basis for understanding where that communication is | |
icoming from. It has context. If they were to do something or say | |
isomething that the community found unfit, there's an identity that | |
iwould suffer the social consequences. It may not be a person with | |
ian address, but there is a community cost nontheless. In that way, | |
iour pseudo-identities gain some of the social value and costs that | |
iour real identities do, but without the personal risk. I think | |
ithat's a really great middle ground. | |
i | |
iWhen I walked into the first of these phlog posts I was on the | |
iside of "just use your real identity". You are all great at making | |
iyou case. | |
i | |
iOn Gophermaps and formatting: | |
i | |
iThis is mostly in reference to pet84rik [5], but it applies to | |
ieveryone. I don't believe there's a right way or a wrong way to | |
igopher. You can put up whatever you like in whatever format. Ulcer | |
ihas a super intricate system of phlogging and tag cross-links. | |
iI make heavy use of gophermaps for linking but otherwise do things | |
ifairly manual. Cat lovingly crafts everything by hand. Some people | |
ijust drop text files in a directory and it's up to us to parse it. | |
i | |
iThat's the crux. If you put something up here, some people will go | |
ithrough the effort to read it and others wont. If you don't use | |
igophermaps that might be a barrier for some people. If you want to | |
icater to them and make it easy, that's cool. Gopher readers are | |
ipretty resourceful. We'll figure it out. | |
i | |
iWelcomes: | |
i | |
iA big welcome to jebug29 and gunnarfrost. Glad to see your stuff. | |
iYou're not shouting into a void; we're reading. | |
i | |
iCookbook: | |
i | |
iFinally, a big shout out to jandal who has put up a really cool | |
iGopherspace Cookbook [6]. My recipes are included and a bunch more | |
ifrom all around the place. It's been helpful in discovering new | |
iphlogs as well. Thanks, jandal. Great work. Maybe more people will | |
ishare their recipes in the future. | |
i | |
i | |
[0] Solderpunk - Pseudonymity woes | |
[1] slugmax - reply to ... | |
[2] psztrnk - Re: Pseudonymity | |
[3] Ze Libertine Gamer - re: anonymity | |
[4] My Gopher About page | |
[5] pet84rik - Gopherspace | |
[6] Gopherpsace Cookbook |