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Ask HN: Online presence: pseudonym or real name?

7 points by double122 ↗ HN
I'm really interested in building up a decent online presence. Putting my code on github, writing articles on things that interest me (and hopefully others), etc.

Problem is, I've mostly used the web as a read-only media, and am a little cautious of putting my name all over it. I kinda like the idea of having a pseudo name to hide behind online, probably due to the fear of doing something really crap and it forever being attributed to me. But I also have a feeling that it's a bit lame, and alot of the people that I respect online are open about who they are (whether that was a conscious decision or not).

My name is fairly unique, in that if you type it into your favourite search engine, you would get results relating to only me.

I've been trying to decide on this for a few months now, and in the mean time doing neither, so I have given myself one week from today to decide either way, then just stick with it and get some stuff out there.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has thought through this sort of thing for themselves, or has any pointers/thoughts on the pros and cons of either side. Or am I just over-thinking the whole "online privacy" issue?

12 comments

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lsc
a pesudonym is somewhat unprofessional. I mean, certainly, if you are good enough, nobody cares, but for technical stuff? it's probably in your interest to publish cool stuff under your real name.

Now, at least for me, the times I embarrass myself I am talking about personal stuff or about politics. Using a pseudonym for that sort of thing is completely reasonable. I think "would I want this on my long-form resume?" is a good question to ask before posting something under your real name.

Generally, I think, technical mistakes are forgiven, especially if you admit or point out your mistake. There isn't much danger, I think, to coding using your real name.

double122
a pesudonym is somewhat unprofessional

Thanks, I think this is what is swaying me more towards just putting things under my own name.

yuhong
embarrass myself how?
lsc
I mean writing things I'd rather not have on my permanent record. E.g. an overly emotional and poorly thought out political manifesto, or giving personal details that people I work with might consider 'too much information' or "overshare"

Especially for the latter, a pseudonym seems polite. I mean, you need to be aware that if someone /really/ wants to find out, they will. But using a pseudonym, I think, is a polite way to separate your personal life from your professional life.

yuhong
Yea, I know. Here is one article on it: http://www.channelvmedia.com/blog/office-oversharing-social-...
lsc
eh, I dono. I've heard people complaining, e.g. that they didn't really want to know of the sexual proclivities of their co-workers.

I think it's completely reasonable that this isn't the first thing you find out about your co-workers.

yuhong
Sex, yea you have to be careful.
diminium
I like both, it depends what your purpose is. Think about it think way: TRUMP & Apple & Microsoft & George Bush.

I call Microsoft for help. I call Apple for help. I call Bush for help. I call Trump for help. None of these seem out of the ordinary.

The good thing about using a fictional name is you don't have to be the only one behind the name. You can create a brand or a group around it.

Mz
I mostly go by Michele online, which is my legal middle name and the name I use socially ("Michele" was taken when I tried to sign up for HN or that would be my handle here). I used to go by my first name and last name online, both of which are uncommon so I am in the same situation you are in. I stopped doing that in part because no one could ever spell or pronounce my name and I thought my more common middle name would make things easier in that regard. It really hasn't. For now, I persist in part because I currently have a job with BigCo and if you google my first name and last name, you find zilch about me in spite of how much personal info is plastered all over the web about me. So it does provide some separation between my IRL life and my online life. At some point, I imagine that separation will disappear, whether I want it to or not. I'm okay with that.
HedgeMage
I'm somewhere in-between. I use a nickname (HedgeMage) because it is easy for people to remember, and more commonly available than my very common real name (Susan Stewart). Additionally, since some of my work is under my maiden name, and some under my married name, it simplifies things to tell people "just google for 'HedgeMage'".

Anyone who can operate a search engine will quickly link my nickname to at least one of my names (maiden/married). That's a good thing. However, there are situations where it's worked in my favor that it took a few minutes for $random_irc_person to realize that I'm female.

I happen to work in a field where eccentricity seems expected (web development), so it's never been a negative as far as I know.

[dead] HedgeMage
I'm somewhere in-between. I use a nickname (HedgeMage) because it is easy for people to remember, and more commonly available than my very common real name (Susan Stewart). Additionally, since some of my work is under my maiden name, and some under my married name, it simplifies things to tell people "just google for 'HedgeMage'".

Anyone who can operate a search engine will quickly link my nickname to at least one of my names (maiden/married). That's a good thing. However, there are situations where it's worked in my favor that it took a few minutes for $random_irc_person to realize that I'm female.

I happen to work in a field where eccentricity seems expected (web development), so it's never been a negative as far as I know.

frobozz
Two anecdotes in favour of using a nom de plume:

1) Some time ago, I decided to use my real name on the web, to build my professional presence. I wasn't quite unique, but any results that came up for a search on my name were pretty inconsequential. Since I made that decision, two more prominent people with the same name have come to the fore. One of whom operates in a fairly close field to my own, and the other is a film actor. This makes it very difficult to build a personal brand. If you search for my real name online, you get pages and pages of the actor. If you add a bit more context, you get the other guy first, and eventually you might find me, but you'd have to know quite a bit about us to be able to differentiate, and I know I've. If I had a sensible nom de plume, I would not have had this problem. Another mitigation would have been to try to build my personal brand a bit more aggressively at the start.

2) Before I signed up here, I started working for an organisation that requires me to explicitly dissociate my personal web activity from any activity I might undertake in the name of my employer (i.e. my opinions are my own, and do not represent...). If I'd had the account here before then, linked to my profiles elsewhere, then I'd have to add that kind of guff to my profile here. Personally, I think that making it unlikely that anyone would link what I say here to my employer is better than explicitly highlighting that I don't speak for my employer.