I'm wondering the value of presenting one's identity vs. using a pseudonym. Sites such as meatball advocate the use of true names, but Essjay did have a point in one of his observations that using a real name can leave an editor more vulnerable. Does anyone believe wikipedia should lean more towards one of the two sides?
It has been shown in the past that vandals and trolls have no problem with harrassing users in the real world. I think the choice should be left to the account owner, but I would lean towards using pseudonyms to avoid real world harrasment. In a position of trust the foundation can ask for a real name, but there's no real need for them to be known to the public. We tell people to not post their email address on-wiki to avoid spam. Not using your real name is basically part of safe internet use.
Mgm
On 3/30/07, ikiroid ikiroid@gmail.com wrote:
I'm wondering the value of presenting one's identity vs. using a pseudonym. Sites such as meatball advocate the use of true names, but Essjay did have a point in one of his observations that using a real name can leave an editor more vulnerable. Does anyone believe wikipedia should lean more towards one of the two sides? _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
On 3/30/07, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
It has been shown in the past that vandals and trolls have no problem with harrassing users in the real world.
And it's a shame too as there is very little that can happen to you on a website[1] that would warrant going after someone in meatspace. Yet we have friutcakes who will make trouble for someone in real life because they can't get their POV into [[Article]]
I think the choice should be left to the account owner, but I would lean towards using pseudonyms to avoid real world harrasment. In a position of trust the foundation can ask for a real name, but there's no real need for them to be known to the public.
But if said fruitcake knew that the foundation had the real names, it wouldn't be difficult to use a bullshit John Doe lawsuit for the sole reason of getting this information in discovery. I believe that's how the RIAA initially turns IP addresses into names for later lawsuits.
1. A possible exception to this in WP would be a BLP issue.
--- ikiroid ikiroid@gmail.com wrote:
I'm wondering the value of presenting one's identity vs. using a pseudonym. Sites such as meatball advocate the use of true names, but Essjay did have a point in one of his observations that using a real name can leave an editor more vulnerable. Does anyone believe wikipedia should lean more towards one of the two sides?
Requring people to use their real names, as Citizendium is trying to do, would be a terrible idea, and a monumental failure as a policy, as Citizendium is about to find out.
A huge percentage of editors would leave, or would never sign up in the first place, and of those who do give their name, a sizable percentage would be fake.
Our policy should be that people who want to give their real name should be free to do so.
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