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Ask HN: Starting under a "nom de guerre"

7 points by vbtemp ↗ HN
Not quite ready to associate my real identity with my evolving side project on the tubes (for several reasons at this point), I've decided to use a pseudonym. So, for example, my e-mail is <pseudonym>@example.com, and I will be signing all e-mails under that name. Has anyone ever done anything like this on any of their projects and have any lessons learned to share? Thanks!

10 comments

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wmf
Maybe you could ask Thomas Hawk.
pavel_lishin
> Not quite ready to associate my real identity with my evolving side project on the tubes (for several reasons at this point)

It would help if you listed the reasons.

Would you be willing to reveal your secret identity at some point? Why or why not?

vbtemp
I suppose I should also clarify: I'm not starting the business under a false name -- i.e,. I'm using my real name, credit card, address for my google apps account, web hosting, etc... It's just that for signing the blog posts and things like that I'm using the "nom de guerre" of Bob (actually it's not bob, but you get the point). Let's say my name is Chuck Norris - I'm not ready yet for someone googling "Chuck Norris" to see my project appear - yet.
pavel_lishin
But why? Why are you so hesitant? Are you starting a website for battered women, a support group ex-Christian-fundamentalists, or a web-app to help Yakuza members leave their organizations?

And if your name is on everything, including DNS records, won't it be fairly trivial for someone to find out who you are?

dholowiski
+1 Why? There are very few good reasons for being secretive. It would really help if you mentioned them so that we could discuss it. Secrecy, in general is not good for a startup (of course there are exceptions)
philwelch
Why are you doing this? It seems vaguely suspicious.
mhd
I'd double-check if this is legal for the project and/or country.

If I'd be paying something for it, I'd be thinking twice, though. Pseudonyms often have the air of either immaturity, legal protection or disavowing the product (Alan Smithee says hi).

vbtemp
That's a good point about legality. Thanks.
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pluies
_why the lucky stiff has done exactly this all along, and became a legend in the Ruby community. As long as your pseudonym is on par with the image you want to give (e.g. not "RockDeath3000" if you plan to do half-serious work) and your virtual identity is consistent across websites/blog/GitHub so that people can recognize you, I can't see why it would be a problem. :)