Handles and Anonymity

[womzilla]

In the recent discussions of psuedonyms and anonymity, I haven't seen anyone mention what I think of as one of the best reasons for using a handle: distinction.

There are at least a dozen other Kevin Maroneys in the United States; I bet there are a couple dozen more in County Claire (the ancestral home of the Maroney name). As nearly as I can tell, I'm the only Womzilla anywhere in the world. Thus, when I create a user account at one of the many fragmented pools into which online discussion pours, I just grab womzilla and go with it. It makes it easy for people to recognize me-in-particular, and it's very portable.

That might be obvious, but I haven't seen it discussed, so I'm just tossing it in to the discussion. Nothing to see here; move along.

(I'm continuing to recover from the surgery. I no longer come home completely exhausted every night. Yay my nose.)

ETA: Of course, as soon as I hit "post entry", I see a comment by anton_p_nym that makes much the same point. And correcting some editing errors. Sigh. More tired than I thought.

Comments

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

I don't want my students following me home.

Anything I would say in an important discussion, though, I would be willing to say under my own name.

As thin as my pseudonym is--it's practically identical to my email address on a major website--I would be very unhappy if someone were to deliberately blow my cover. The fact that this is considered a fair tactic is reason enough for me to consider abandoning Livejournal, or lock it down MUCH more tightly than it already is.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

There are probably as many good reasons to use handles, pseudonyms, and anoynyms as there are people who use them. I was just pointing out one that I hadn't seen discussed enough.

nellorat also doesn't want her work following her home.

[bugsybanana.livejournal.com]

My handle is unique, as far as I know.

There was a time when I was hampered from posting about work (where I am now, still) when I was profoundly frustrated about it, because the guys at my job knew about Hindsight Aforethought/my LJ. It took a real psychological toll, but they learned about my writings while I was between stints with them, and who knew I would ever return there? I went back expecting it to be a few weeks.

That's the only occasion I wanted to discuss personal stuff online and felt constrained from doing so. Most of the personal stuff I would feel like venting about online is too personal even for my friendslist.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

It isn't considered a fair tactic, as shown by the amount of blowing up over it. It's something that can happen, though I think it's pretty rare.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Yes. It is, in fact, considered a shockingly bad tactic by sane people.