On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Dario Taraborelli < dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org> wrote:
As I told Jared and some of you, I am worried that we're entering a slippery slope where we start designing incentives and functionality around real names and we end up treating pseudonym users as second-class citizens. There are many intermediate options between real names and "cheap" pseudonyms. Paul Resnick and Kaliya Hamlin gave excellent presentations at the Reputation workshop last year [1] on many alternatives that can be explored. I asked them to share a couple of readings on this issue and I'll forward them to the list when I hear back from them.
I think that's a totally legitimate concern. I don't think we should stumble blindly toward real names anywhere without considering the negative impact that might have on pseudonymous users, whether it confuses newbies ("why are some real names and others screen names?"), and more. I think we all know that longstanding pseudonyms can be just as real as a traditional name, and I agree that when it comes to identity, we should treat them as first-class citizens in design solutions.