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Ask HN: Should I Remove an Online Pseudonym?

1 points by valkorhe ↗ HN
I've gone by a pseudonym online for around 8 years, but now that I'm older (over 18) I've considered replacing it with my actual name so online work I do can be easily attributed to me. This includes social media, GitHub, forums, and normal conversation. This is not a nickname, per se, but rather an actual name different from my own (like John Doe).

My primary consideration is GitHub - I would like to have projects I create hosted by my real account used in these online communities. Any form of migration I do would involve changing package name (com.mypsuedonym -> com.myactualname), so there is also a bit of a development aspect to this.

Has anyone gone through something like this before, or is able to offer resources on the process? Is this something that is a good idea, or should I prefer to keep using the pseudonym for as long as I'm involved in things online? My opinion is that if a change is to be made the sooner the better.

Thanks!

Note: I don't have anything online that's sketchy, illegal, inappropriate, or anything to hide from a potential employer or grandmother.

2 comments

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[dead] sadris
Society expectations change rapidly. Makes it even worse now that you are judged for past actions based on today's standards.

This is a bad idea. Just six years ago opposing gay marriage was a policy disagreement. Now it's a sign of genocidal intent. You should be changing your psuedonym every other year as well.

valkorhe
I appreciate the response, but this doesn't seem relevant to my situation - I don't have any form of controversial content on anything. My primary concern is migrating online development work to personal accounts so I can reference them professionally and the resulting impact on communities I'm involved in that know me by a different name.