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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
TEXT [0] Solderpunk - Pseudonymity woes
TEXT [1] slugmax - reply to ...
TEXT [2] psztrnk - Re: Pseudonymity
TEXT [3] Ze Libertine Gamer - re: anonymity
DIR [4] My Gopher About page
DIR [5] pet84rik - Gopherspace
DIR [6] Gopherpsace Cookbook