Tony StarkJan 16, 2023

I obviously need to pin a post about this again which is forcing me to create a new one.

Nobody on social media owes anyone else an explanation for how and what they post. Nobody needs to roll up and tell people what and how to post.

Nobody owes anyone else an explanation for how they present themselves online, most especially anyone in a marginalized or threatened group. Nobody should have to share or be forced to share any more information about themselves than they want.

People usually come to a social media platform to meet like-minded people and relieve stress, not make new stress. Give people a break.

We have moderation rules. They’re reasonable. We stick to them.

And if you don’t like it, just don’t follow me or anyone on this instance. We don’t care. We’re fine. You don’t need to tell us.

We’re way past explaining it. We’re just going to block you.

Show threadShoq 🌿
@TonyStark Yes, I'm tired of explaining why I still post to twitter, while still being vocal about wanting more people to realize we have an opportunity to make something better than Twitter ever was. That said, I realize you're probably speaking in broader terms about something I'm unaware of that transcends the Twitter controversies.
Jan 16, 2023 at 11:37pmWeb
Show threadTony StarkJan 16, 2023

@shoq I don’t get into the who posts where drama. People should go where they like.

Yeah, it’s something else that’s been really, really irritating lately. The “real names” thing.

I get really bored with that. Some jackass dragged in my whole list of Patreons today and I’m on last straw hour.

No need for any of that. My first Twitter friends were Captain Kirk, a horse, and HAL 9000. The judgmental crap on that is wearing.

Show threadShoq 🌿Jan 16, 2023
@TonyStark Oh, I haven't seen the "real names" thing yet, but I'm still new compared to you. But anyone that wants to come at me for that, better be wearing a helmet and be armed with 35+ years of history of anonymity online, and the many very good reasons for it.
Show threadSpaceLifeFormJan 17, 2023

@shoq @TonyStark

That is how I roll too.

Show threadSpaceLifeFormJan 17, 2023

@shoq @TonyStark

Of course proving your annonymity is problematic, right? I can say you have only been doing your good opsec for 34 years. How do I know?

Think about it. Traffic analysis.

Show threadJoanna BeeJan 17, 2023
@TonyStark I'm a cat. Obviously not really but I'm a disabled woman with no security and don't need the harassment of having my name out where anyone can take it. I can't believe anyone cares about it.
Show threadScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈Jan 17, 2023
@TonyStark @shoq
Since the internet became a thing, I've considered myself lucky that searching for my name gives something like 100M results, and if any of them are me, they're buried down past page 50. I'm not as interesting as the person I was named after.
But I still don't post my name on public sites.
Show threadJeffJan 17, 2023
@TonyStark @shoq mr ed
Show threadllywrchJan 17, 2023

@TonyStark @shoq Just throwing out my argument why I don’t post with my real name.

Sometimes I have to post stuff under my real name because my employer insists on it. But they don’t own my username. It’s the same one I use all over the Internet. You can Google it & find out my opinion on anything: the good, the bad & the stupid. But it’s my opinion.

And if you really want to know who I am, Goigle will tell you that too. I doxxed myself decades ago.

Show threadllywrchJan 17, 2023
@TonyStark @shoq And I’m not telling anyone they have to do this. It’s what I do. And s fee people have told me it makes sense.
Show threadShoq 🌿Jan 17, 2023
@llywrch @TonyStark I was anonymous for decades. That all changed when I was doxxed by Breitbart News goons and their allies, capitalizing on on a dumb personal drama to relentlessly attack me for 2 years with multiple strategies and tactics, most of them fabricated. Anyone threatened as I and my family have been for purely political reasons, has perfectly valid reasons to minimize, if not conceal their identify footprint online.
Show threadSnowcatJan 17, 2023
@shoq @llywrch @TonyStark Shoq, thanks for sharing - many of us avoided hard truths of social media harassment & willingness of some to act out against opposing opinions. Sadly, from Rush Limbaugh’s rants to Trumps’ divisive rhetoric to threats to Georgia election officials to recent New Mex political shootings - our ability to openly disagree is now more dangerous than ever. Legislation with real consequences is needed to protect against these threats.
Show threadOops3Jan 18, 2023
@Snowcat @shoq @llywrch @TonyStark  I am also a cat. A rather large cat at that. My name. Look at my name. Can you get a name with only 5 letters? Shoq beats me by 1! I have carried this name all over the net since forever. I forget how long, tbh. It’s also very easy to find my real name as I’m so far into the woods. I’m sorry for y’all who have been trampled on by the crazies. I left twitter before the ranks got too thin and my lone voice in Oklahoma got heard. I’m glad to be where it’s safer than the place before. I may just be little old me, but I’m still a feisty ol’ bat! 
Show threadAllen B. SkyeJan 17, 2023
@TonyStark @shoq For me, I started ‘getting on-line’ during the BBS days. Having a handle/anonymity seem normal. Later, when my buddies and I ran a website that could get a bit racy and I worked for a municipality, anonymity was important. Now that I have kids and volunteer with their activities, I don’t need some parent searching for me and causing drama because I called Trump a fucknuts on Twitter.
Show threadTony StarkJan 17, 2023

@shoq @raddude12 Same.

Nobody would want to be exposed to what’s in my DMs from 2016-present.

I have already had to change my phone number and delete other accounts. Not doing it anymore.

Show threadMaria HillJan 17, 2023

@TonyStark

People need to consider who benefits from being expected to use your real name. (It's corporations that want to collect our data, not us.)

Is a conversation on Mastodon any more authentic because people know our real names or not? I don't pretend to have any credentials I don't. Sure, I want to know that my senator is really my senator, but I don't care if someone is using their real name, a character from pop culture, a cartoon animal, or a picture of a plant.

I miss the BBS days when no one expected that you'd use your real name.

@shoq @raddude12

Show threadAllen B. SkyeJan 17, 2023

@MariaHill @TonyStark @shoq

Right. I’m a huge baseball fan. I want to know that the reporter tweeting out some trade rumor is really that reporter. I don’t need to know the real name & identity of the folks in the replies (unless it’s another reporter/player/team management/etc)

Show threadTony StarkJan 17, 2023

@shoq @raddude12 @MariaHill Lots of instances have a “no impersonation” policy including this one so that seems to work.

Considering that we all knew Devin’s Cow and Roy Moore’s Horse on Twitter, or at least most people following politics there did, the ability to carry conversation doesn’t have anything to do with your persona.

Show threadDoreen32128 ready to rumble!Jan 17, 2023
@MariaHill @TonyStark @shoq @raddude12 Now that I think about it, when I was on My Space, I didn’t use my real name. No one did.
Show threadSpaceFoxJan 18, 2023
@MariaHill @TonyStark @shoq @raddude12 Anonymity is so important on the internet because the corporate spyware hegemony out there has malicious intent imho.
Show threadTL JordanMay 24, 2023

@MariaHill @TonyStark @shoq @raddude12

Real names also benefit stalkers, especially if those stalkers are also hackers with a knack for OSINT.