and eventually the “snob” thing became a self-fulfilling prophecy: I simply hated everyone for a good long while. (and tbh, i see this a fair amount in certain adult…demographics, not so much here, am thinking of other spaces. “residual smart kid syndrome.” guys seem to have it more often, but not exclusively.)

Well for me, “hating everyone” was a defense mechanism. Because I was abused (I won’t say “teased” – I’m going to call it what it is) mercilessly in middle school and the first 2 years of high school (until I transferred to a different school) for being “smart.” For being “the nerd.” Verbal and emotional abuse up the wazoo, with a nice hearty dose of physical abuse thrown in there, too. And I’m supposed to feel bad for the kids who’re beating my ass? Sorry, no thanks.

So I have no patience with people who insist on non anonymity or who threaten to “out” anonymous or pseudonymous posters.

If there’s an issue with sock puppets, the solution is simple. Moderate anonymous comments, and punt the hell out of anything unproductive. I have no compunctions about that, and accept the occasional punt, etc for being anonymous or pseudonymous (I post either way, as the mood strikes me). It fucking beats the hell out of finding some deranged stranger is coming after your real life person.

Frankly, it’s easier to track information about me under the name Tapetum. There’s only one of me on the web, and I post consistently using it. I’m less anonymous using a pseudonym than I would be under “Jane Smith”.

Ann Bartow is seriously creeping me out, though. If you want arguments against using real names on the Web, I would say the self-righteousness of the people who see it as a special virtue would be a good one.

The only justified case of outing I can think of was when “Buckhead” the self-proclaimed typographical expert on the Killian memos was revealed to be a Republican operative with no discernible qualifications in typography but instantaneous access to advanced info on kerning. Knowing that who he was suggested that the Republicans knew about the memos and were feeding prefab talking points to sock puppets. That was newsworthy.

For one private citizen to threaten to out another over personal grievances is cruel, petty, and utterly reprehensible.

Sometimes, inconsistencies (or in this case, perceived inconsistencies) will get pulled up as reason to suspect someone’s honesty in general–although I haven’t actually seen too many of those. I wouldn’t really have a problem with someone attempting to correct/reconcile the record, or with someone attacking a pseudonym for being inconsistent (although I still don’t think it would justify outing). If I went over to, I dunno, Alas, and represented myself as a radical lesbian feminist, I’d expect a few people to bring up the exhaustive series of posts I’ve written under a different identity.

And these are still online-online ethical issues, related to behavior through online personae in online communities, and which can usually be curtailed without resorting to any offline information.

If we operate under the assumption of honesty, then inconsistencies in a writer’s self-proclaimed backstory are potentially problematic. These inconsistencies are especially problematic if they are trotted out in order to bolster the writer’s claims to knowledge or expertise in a particular argument.

I might have misstated my own point, which was just that the blogosphere seems to take dredykin’s Peace Corps reminiscences and lusciouspop’s pregnancy at face value. The response is usually, “Oh, man, uterine rupture sucks!” or, “Hey, can you point me to some good resources on low-cost travel in the balkans?”

Sometimes, inconsistencies (or in this case, perceived inconsistencies) will get pulled up as reason to suspect someone’s honesty in general–although I haven’t actually seen too many of those. I wouldn’t really have a problem with someone attempting to correct/reconcile the record, or with someone attacking a pseudonym for being inconsistent (although I still don’t think it would justify outing). If I went over to, I dunno, Alas, and represented myself as a radical lesbian feminist, I’d expect a few people to bring up the exhaustive series of posts I’ve written under a different identity.

As piny and zuzu have said, the issue is not whether people use real names or pseuds. The issue is whether they prove themselves worthy of trust as members of the community.

Pretty much. I think that we’re still sorting out social etiquette online, particularly on an explicit level, and that some people still carry assumptions over from real life that might not apply.

As piny and zuzu have said, the issue is not whether people use real names or pseuds. The issue is whether they prove themselves worthy of trust as members of the community.