HumanRights&BusinessAug 6, 2023
Forcing your computer to rat you out. ‘Zuckerberg insists that anyone who wanted to use a pseudonym online is "two-faced," engaged in dishonest social behavior. …Zuckerberg…claims that forcing people to use their own names is a way to ensure civility… From the very beginning, social scientists…told Zuckerberg that he was wrong. …a Real Names Policy affects different people differently.’ | Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/ @pluralistic
Pluralistic: Forcing your computer to rat you out (02 August 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Show threadINIT_6Aug 6, 2023

@HRandbusiness @pluralistic

Slightly related, Google+ had a requirement for using your real name. I of course didn't want to, I was using 'Jason Gutentug' and they banned me, but after getting about 40-60 people to say it was my real name, they accepted it.

Point being, even if they require real names, trust me, people will always find a way to trick the system.

Show threadZorin =^o.o^=Aug 6, 2023

@INIT6 @HRandbusiness @pluralistic Google Plus had so much potential. I remember starting to use it immediately because it was finally a place that did what Facebook did, without the real name requirement. I like being Zorin the Lynx on the Internet. I don't want to be my real life identity there socially.

Then of course they ruined it by demanding people use "real names”, which caused near everyone to leave after their friends started getting banned. The bans were badly implemented, disabling your entire Google account instead of just Plus. Even I left myself.

They must have realize they f-ed up, because they removed the policy, but by then the damage was done, it never came back to what it was and they killed it.

Bad decisions are part of Google culture I suppose.

Show threadChloé RaccoonAug 7, 2023
@zorinlynx @INIT6 @HRandbusiness @pluralistic @patterfloof I remember one sysadmin/coder saying on a.s.r about how Google tried to force her to use her real name on accounts/Google+ when she was working at Google. And how it pretty much led to lots of "who you fsck are you" conversations, as no one knew who she was suddenly. Everyone knew her as <nick> not <real name>.
Show threadJoeAug 7, 2023
@INIT6 @HRandbusiness @zorinlynx @pluralistic @patterfloof @chloeraccoon neo was real, Mr Andersen was not. It’s really that simple.
Show threadChloé Raccoon
@AproposJoe @INIT6 @HRandbusiness @zorinlynx @pluralistic @patterfloof It's slightly more scary in that that reference is roughly around the right time frame too! ;)
Aug 7, 2023 at 9:34amWeb