Do you use your real name or an anonymous username when signing up for and using various online platforms—such as Hacker News, Twitter, Discord, and others?
If I’m networking with other mostly-realname people for professional purposes or writing something to support my professional identity, it’s real name and what I post is carefully curated.
If I’m working on a hobby, it’s a pseudonym that someone who was really determined might be able to trace back to my real identity.
For any other expression of opinions in public forums, it’s pseudonyms all the way.
My employer’s legal team threatened action after they found my personal site that contained free informational courses about the industry. The site specifically called out where information was sourced from, and linked to those publicly available places (from google/fb/etc - not my employer).
No kidding, what an absolutely stupid thing to do as an employer. I (badly) want people who are so interested in the industry that they will research external information and write about it. The correct response for the employer should have been at minimum gratitude and encouragement. Threatening legal action falls under the old adage that "no good deed goes unpunished."
I had thought the same. My company is not US based and from a more authoritarian culture that does not promote critical thinking as much though. Unfortunately the hours, pay, and benefits are so good that I’ve simply learned to keep my head down and focus energy on things not work related.
What these companies worry about is not free information. Their concerns are usually around company IPs, copyrights, reputation/branding...etc.
Do those risks exist? Sure. But it's silly to blindly forbid your employee's outside-business activities like this. However, in this job market, employers probably can easily find candidates that don't have problem with this silly restriction so they don't have incentives to allocate resources to deal with the headache.
A personal website may sound too "professional" to a legal person. I bet OP could post the same information on facebook/twitter without getting into any trouble.
In certain places like Bluesky I use my real name.
Here, I'd only ever be anonymous because I'm not in control of my content, I can't edit or delete comments. I could only post throwaway comments in a place like this.
When I was on Reddit I was anonymous because it's not a serious place.
Pretty much always fake. While the “risk” of using my real name is probably small, there’s also very little benefit to me personally if people knew who I really was, so why bother.
Exceptions: Github, maybe Stackoverflow, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted there.
I grew up on the internet in the 90s and early 2000s and the general rule then was not to give out your name and info. So I just keep following that.
Real name for LinkedIn, GitHub, and my website. Everything else is a nonsense name, often varying. Varying mostly because it's fun to have a goofy name on a platform (like mine here on HN).
Years and years ago, I used my real name on Reddit. I've since deleted that account, but I'd absolutely never use my real name on something like Reddit.
The official HN policy[1] tries to maintain balance between managing content and privacy. But when it is trivial to access archived HN content [2] [3], it is not worth the risk.
My concern is stuff that can get you in trouble can change. Jews in 1920’s Germany probably(?) didn’t think there was any reason to hide that they were Jews.
Valid, but, as I have learned, if someone really wants to find me, they probably can, unless I am willing to go to extraordinary lengths to remain anonymous, and I just don't have enough time, left on Earth, to warrant that.
Also, I kind of enjoy being the type of person that chooses not to go dark.
Anyonmous name, cycling accounts every once in a while. It's getting annoying on reddit with subs having karma based rules, each new account is harder to start contributing with. Might just stop with the next one, I'd go without but you can't see the fun nsfw stuff without one.
My real name is too long to comfortably use (well, at least I'm not Kamehameha III), but my usual username is loosely based on my real name and it's probably really easy to link me to my username.
I don't mind people being able to find out about all the stupid stuff that I said when I was younger because I wouldn't have much interest in those who don't understand that people can change over time.
I, perhaps unwisely, use the same username absolutely everywhere. Basically the only exceptions are places which don't use usernames, like Linkedin, or which predate inventing the username.
I'd like to point out that "defend my privacy" is only one aspect. For me there's also a kind of 90s-internet-idealism about how forums should work, ex:
1. Good ideas or truths shouldn't rely on the credentials of the person talking.
2. Less information can allow more freedom of expression in a community. (For good or for ill.)
So on one hand credentials shouldn't matter but I've found for large online spaces the energy of wading through bad takes turns me away from communities which could otherwise be interesting. Like I wish I could filter comments for things like "has a degree in biology" or "is above 25" since while good ideas can come from anyone practically some people are much more likely to have useful insights than others.
I think Quora has features like you want. At least I've seen more people posting there with their real names and profiles than elsewhere. I think it makes the most sense in that context. I expect that in a normal forum with reply chains, people with verified credentials would be insufferable and appeal to authority a LOT.
IMO there's a system-design question on the difference between:
1. Verified to be X (e.g. degree in biology or over 25)
2. Claims in their user-profile to be X
In practice, #1 would be expensive and hard to enforce, while #2 will get you most of the way even though it's on the honor system. Especially if it isn't used as a hard-limit on participation but instead as a convenience to others, and if you can see history to identify people who inconsistently change their own profile.
That said, for some discussions what you want it something people are unlikely to have needed to codify before, like "actually owns the same MacGuffin 4000 that I do."
I started BBSing in the 1990s where everyone used an alias. I like the name GWBasic so I use it everywhere I can. You don't need to look to hard to figure out who I am.
One of the things that I like about the internet is that you create your own persona, and that starts with using a name you make up.
That being said, I use a real name on Facebook and LinkedIn; and where it's "generally preferred" to use real names.
The Mad family has a long and storied lineage, and I'm proud to have inherited the both my grandfather's and great grandfather's names, Washa and Djeff.
I luckily came up with a unique username in the ‘90s. I use it everywhere online . Nobody has tried to impersonate me, at least not yet. It makes me easy to find. It makes it so people who see me on one site know it’s almost definitely the same person they saw on other sites using the same name. It makes it easy for people to contact me if they want to.
If I were to use my real name, it would actually be more confusing because other people share the same real name. It’s not super common, but by no means is it unique.
Of course it takes hardly any effort at all to link my username to my real identity. I understand fully the risks of not being entirely anonymous online. Thankfully it has yet to be a problem. And if there were to be a danger, I wouldn’t rely on something as fragile as digital anonymity to protect me anyway.
76 comments
[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 149 ms ] threadIf I’m networking with other mostly-realname people for professional purposes or writing something to support my professional identity, it’s real name and what I post is carefully curated.
If I’m working on a hobby, it’s a pseudonym that someone who was really determined might be able to trace back to my real identity.
For any other expression of opinions in public forums, it’s pseudonyms all the way.
I no longer post with the real name anywhere.
Do those risks exist? Sure. But it's silly to blindly forbid your employee's outside-business activities like this. However, in this job market, employers probably can easily find candidates that don't have problem with this silly restriction so they don't have incentives to allocate resources to deal with the headache.
A personal website may sound too "professional" to a legal person. I bet OP could post the same information on facebook/twitter without getting into any trouble.
Here, I'd only ever be anonymous because I'm not in control of my content, I can't edit or delete comments. I could only post throwaway comments in a place like this.
When I was on Reddit I was anonymous because it's not a serious place.
Exceptions: Github, maybe Stackoverflow, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted there.
I grew up on the internet in the 90s and early 2000s and the general rule then was not to give out your name and info. So I just keep following that.
Years and years ago, I used my real name on Reddit. I've since deleted that account, but I'd absolutely never use my real name on something like Reddit.
The official HN policy[1] tries to maintain balance between managing content and privacy. But when it is trivial to access archived HN content [2] [3], it is not worth the risk.
1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23623799
2. https://huggingface.co/datasets/nixiesearch/hackernews-comme...
3. https://github.com/gpanther/hn-archive
Long story, get your hanky.
I just find it's better to use my real name, and post stuff I won't regret. It won't hurt me, and can benefit me.
Also, I kind of enjoy being the type of person that chooses not to go dark.
I don't mind people being able to find out about all the stupid stuff that I said when I was younger because I wouldn't have much interest in those who don't understand that people can change over time.
1. Good ideas or truths shouldn't rely on the credentials of the person talking.
2. Less information can allow more freedom of expression in a community. (For good or for ill.)
1. Verified to be X (e.g. degree in biology or over 25)
2. Claims in their user-profile to be X
In practice, #1 would be expensive and hard to enforce, while #2 will get you most of the way even though it's on the honor system. Especially if it isn't used as a hard-limit on participation but instead as a convenience to others, and if you can see history to identify people who inconsistently change their own profile.
That said, for some discussions what you want it something people are unlikely to have needed to codify before, like "actually owns the same MacGuffin 4000 that I do."
Anywhere where I think my opinions might affect my income I stay anonymous. My name combo is very unique, so anything I post would be related to me.
Honestly it's a small world and anything could be sourced, just making it less casual.
One of the things that I like about the internet is that you create your own persona, and that starts with using a name you make up.
That being said, I use a real name on Facebook and LinkedIn; and where it's "generally preferred" to use real names.
If I were to use my real name, it would actually be more confusing because other people share the same real name. It’s not super common, but by no means is it unique.
Of course it takes hardly any effort at all to link my username to my real identity. I understand fully the risks of not being entirely anonymous online. Thankfully it has yet to be a problem. And if there were to be a danger, I wouldn’t rely on something as fragile as digital anonymity to protect me anyway.