[WikiEN-l] Delete Daniel Brandt

[George Herbert]

On 6/12/06, BJörn Lindqvist <bjourne at gmail.com> wrote:
> Such is life. IMHO, Wikipedia could still do a better job in helping
> its contributors protect their identities. Publishing "anonymous"
> contributors IP numbers should have been fixed a long time ago.
> Reminding users of the carelessness of putting personal information on
> Wikipedia pages is another no-brainer. Encouraging users *not* to
> reveal their real identity by using their real name as their Wikipedia
> account name. Actually punish contributors who, without permission,
> publishes personal details about another contributor. I don't know,
> people are responsible for their own actions. But things could still
> be improved.

I know that people being pseudonymous is currently the rage, but this
set of ideas seems a bit insane.

My first active online postings are now old enough to drink in the US.
 During that entire time, I've had my real name up attached to my
handles from the first discussions, and been using my real name as my
handle for the last 18 years except in one chat program which has been
running for 20 years and everyone knows everyone else in real life
anyways.  I have had exactly four significant negative encounters in
that time; in none of those cases was my identity being public a
significant problem.

Brandt has power over people because they're afraid of being "outed".
If you're never "in the closet" as it were, that threat has no power.

If your relationship with your workplace is negative enough that your
hobby activities being disclosed might cause you grief, then that's a
problem with your workplace.  Though I don't discuss WP in detail with
my employers, I have fought for PR and online community activities to
be part of my job description, and won.

You may not all be in the same position, but you should be.

If you chose to remain behind a pseudonym, I won't think less of you
for it.  I think WP would benefit if more people used their real
names, because I think it makes people think in a more personally
accountable manner and helps reassure critics that WP's editors are
responsible.  And help render Brandt irrelevant.


-- 
-george william herbert
gherbert at retro.com / george.herbert at gmail.com