In my opinion, the spectrum of identity as it relates to the Internet is one of the most vexing and fascinating subjects confronting us without us really internalizing it. Sherry Turkle wrote a couple books about it; Jaron Lanier wrote a couple essays. The big problem is that throughout history, the anonymous don't mix with the pseudonymous don't mix with the noteworthy. On the Internet, anonymous people can tweet at Kanye West all day. Combine that with Reddit, where you can go from anonymous to pseudonymous under the exact same conditions; there's no benefit to everyone knowing your handle but the more you participate, the more likely it is to happen. Unfortunately none of us really know how to act and it hurts a lot of people. I'm a weird corner case: my pseudonym became an identity worth defending because I put a lot of me in it. That made it easy to attack, unfortunately. I've always written as if my real world identity would eventually be discovered and I try to be enough myself that I have nothing to be ashamed of. Anything I've said, I'd be comfortable saying in real life. That's not the way a lot of the Internet works, however, and when you have different groups of people operating under different ground rules, someone is going to get caught in the collision. One of the things I like best about Hubski is that it functions on pseudonymity rather than anonymity. We have to know each other somewhat in order to have the conversations we have, and the site dynamics lend themselves to pseudonymous relationships. This is a place that encourages disclosure more than Reddit, 4chan, anywhere like that. It also makes the disagreements cut deeper. I'm pretty good at locking down my identity and I've been doxed successfully at least three times. The stakes are much higher than they've ever been before; I no longer moderate a default because I wasn't 100% certain that my identity wouldn't be threatened. I also know that as a male I have an infinitely easier time on the Internet. Greater Creep Theory is fuckin' rough on the fair sex. I think it's a choice we all have to make as carefully and in as well-considered a fashion as we can: how much of "you" can you risk? Not just here; Hubski is searchable so anything you're saying here, you're saying everywhere. That's the double-edged sword of Hubski - it encourages real social connections on an Internet designed to burn humanity to the ground.
>I'm a weird corner case: my pseudonym became an identity worth defending because I put a lot of me in it Why do you think that this is unique to you?
"Are you that guy from the Warlizard gaming forum?" That guy could just make a new username and move on. So could you. I don't really understand your point here. (Also, you said you modded a default, but I don't know about whatever drama happened to make you reddit famous, if that is important to this discussion)
I still don't understand. There is nothing that would link a new username to the one you have now, if you didn't want it to. Does having a name on reddit give your posts more weight in discussions? Are you too proud of your post history to "give up on it" (not meant to sound snarky)?
This happened. Literally. For eight weeks. Reddit was much smaller then, but it still happened. I know you want to think I don't know what I'm talking about, but I do. And you don't have to listen to me, but I also don't have to talk to you. Yet I am. I walked away from Reddit. Deliberately and with forethought. I came here instead. By then, I'd been nominated for commenter of the year four years running. I'd been bestof'd more than a hundred times. That and a couple bucks will buy you a cup of coffee but the fact of the matter is, my writing style and subject matter is such that even when I wasn't busy being "kleinbl00" I got called out for being "kleinbl00." Believe it or don't. I can't explain it any clearer.Because most people aren't asked "are you kleinbl00?" within 3 days of assuming a new pseudonym.
Well it's a bit clearer now. I've never been part of a small online community where people would be able to identify each other through their writing styles. This subject is quite interesting, though, I appreciate the insight.
I never asked you to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure I caught you on an alt account making a top level comment in an r/askreddit thread. I recognized you by both writing style and story. All I said was, "Hi." (Because reddit is the only other place i use this username.) The user said hi back. So if that was you, we can confirm a little example-in-action right now for the gallery.