pseudonymity
Aug. 23rd, 2013 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird1...and, once again, someone out there in the blogosphere is declaring that using a pseudonym is "cowardly" and means you have issues.
*rolls eyes to infinity*
Dear Universe,
Should I behave like an arse in internetville, you may want to publish my name far and wide to shame me into submission. If this happens, you'll basically have one of three options, depending on which name you've got hold of.
1) My professional name.
Googling my professional name will uncover my Linked In account, and very little else. At which point, you may be able to track down my past employers (good luck: I can't manage to track down most of them), and informed them in horrified tones that I have been misbehaving on the internet. To which they will respond: "...so?"
2) My legal name.
If you google my legal name, you will be directed to a franchise of beauty specialists in the USA. I won't come up at all.
If you happen to know a whole bunch of extra details about my life, you may be able to track down the real me. However:
a) the only way you could find out those details is by knowing my screenname and checking out this blog;
b) the only people you could contact after this detective work would be my family - who read my blog, and already know most of the ways I'm likely to misbehave on the internet.
3) My screenname.
This would be Deird, deird1, St Deird, or other variations thereof.
I use this name at: LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, Slacktivist, Love Joy Feminism, Rachel Held Evans, Ship of Fools, Snark Squad, Making Light, Tumblr, Ravelry, AO3, Whedonesque, Hoyden About Town, Vimeo, and everywhere Disqus is in operation. If you know my screenname, you have the power to ruin my life.
Cowardly? Cowardly would be hiding behind one of my RL names. Using my pseudonym puts my entire online reputation at risk – and that's the gutsy option.
*rolls eyes to infinity*
Dear Universe,
Should I behave like an arse in internetville, you may want to publish my name far and wide to shame me into submission. If this happens, you'll basically have one of three options, depending on which name you've got hold of.
1) My professional name.
Googling my professional name will uncover my Linked In account, and very little else. At which point, you may be able to track down my past employers (good luck: I can't manage to track down most of them), and informed them in horrified tones that I have been misbehaving on the internet. To which they will respond: "...so?"
2) My legal name.
If you google my legal name, you will be directed to a franchise of beauty specialists in the USA. I won't come up at all.
If you happen to know a whole bunch of extra details about my life, you may be able to track down the real me. However:
a) the only way you could find out those details is by knowing my screenname and checking out this blog;
b) the only people you could contact after this detective work would be my family - who read my blog, and already know most of the ways I'm likely to misbehave on the internet.
3) My screenname.
This would be Deird, deird1, St Deird, or other variations thereof.
I use this name at: LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, Slacktivist, Love Joy Feminism, Rachel Held Evans, Ship of Fools, Snark Squad, Making Light, Tumblr, Ravelry, AO3, Whedonesque, Hoyden About Town, Vimeo, and everywhere Disqus is in operation. If you know my screenname, you have the power to ruin my life.
Cowardly? Cowardly would be hiding behind one of my RL names. Using my pseudonym puts my entire online reputation at risk – and that's the gutsy option.