Why you are using an alias?

Most people who post commentaries on this and numerous other blogs do not reveal their true identity; instead they are using various aliases. Much of this seems simply a force of habit and convention. “This is the way it is done.” However it seems to me this habit deserves some deliberation. Dialogues are enriched when we know something about those with whom we exchange ideas. When I wrote some articles about sex offenders and received mail from people in federal penitentiaries, I paid special mind to these messages. When I read a posting by someone whose work I read before, it helps me to understand where they are coming from. Even such small details, say the gender of the person, are telling: is the person arguing for the rights and well being of his or her group, or for social justice for the members of another?

Please spare me the obvious. I realize of course that people should have the right to post anonymous messages. But this does not mean that always drawing on the right make sense, any more than because we have a right to privacy—we would refuse to go out in public. The right for anonymous posting is very valuable for those who fear retribution. But do most people feel that Big Brother will go after them if they are disagreeable on these blogs? And if they do fear retribution, are they so naïve that an imagined police state could not break their alias? 

Most importantly, we are keen to form communities online.

Real communities foster intimacy as well as trust, as people get to know one another and form close, warm bonds. It is often argued that such closeness cannot be forged in cyberspace because people cherish their anonymity and hide their true selves behind handles and false presentations about who they are.

Much greater intimacy can be engendered if members of an e-community voluntarily surrender their anonymity and the community verifies identities. Some time ago, I joined one of the 80 little-known H-nets run by a group of scholars and teachers. These consist of groups of professors specializing in, say, French history and culture or, in my case, communitarian thinking. Participants must subscribe to be included, and many list their real names on the screen. Several H-nets – the one for people studying the Hapsburg Empire, for example – vet these identities.

Should we have more of those? Who are you anyhow?

Response to comments:

I asked why practically all who post commentaries on this and other such blogs (no, it was no criticism of any blog in particular) use aliases. I am delighted that the issue has been joined and that we are getting a lively dialogue on the matter. Here is my response to so of what I learned so far:

Some are concerned that if they divulge their true identity this will endanger them (e.g. women will be stalked) or endanger their job (e.g. if they do not have tenure). I learned from these messages that there are indeed circumstances in which the use of aliases might well be necessary. I wonder though if these circumstances are being used as an excuse to justify a much wider concealments of identity. Why would some one choose to stalk a person who argues for universal health care, voting rights for immigrants, or most other issues? They may as well throw a dart at the phone book and stalk whomever’s number comes up. These are not personal chat rooms, in which people divulge their sexual fantasies or other stuff that can entice someone who is inclined to look for victims.

In the same vein I can see why some job holders will not wish their bosses to know about their political views. But are truly most who post—and hide behind alias—in such jobs?

To suggest that the author’s identity does not matter, I beg to differ. If someone argues, say, vehemently in favor of smokers’ rights and we find out that they are hired hands, paid for by the cigarette companies, we surely treat their arguments differently than those who are not so encumbered. When someone reports what the situation in Iraq is, and the person served there for a year and just returned, we are likely to give it more weight than if the same points are made by some couch potato.

I grant that pseudonymous are not the same as anonymous postings; that over time we can come to associate with a given pseudonym certain attributes (say XYZ is always impassioned) and even develop a measure of familiarity. Still this is a case in which the glass is 1/16 full and 15/16 empty compared to true disclosure of one’s true identity.

Also note, and this is of special import, that people who use aliases are on average much more abusive, unfair, and intemperate than those who disclose their true identity.

A special thanks to those who disclosed their identity in comments and email. Maybe we together can start a new trend right here.

Comments

[benny05]

Dear Professor,

I can see as a sociologist/economist why you would be interested in this phenomena, which goes back to days of usenet groups, bulletin boards, and the first days of chat rooms.

I remember you when you were a visiting scholar at HBS, so it's nice to see you around in the blogosphere.

I use an alias for two good reasons. One is that my real name is extremely common. I have a blog that has a catchy title and it attracts a few more readers with an alias. But I also chose my alias with some care but with humor as well.

I do not pretend to be a journalist, however. I am a blogger. Period.

That being said, death threats have happened to folks who use their real names or folks find out their real names. Just ask Melissa McEwan at Shakespeare's Sister, who received death threats when the Edwards campaign hired her as a technical advisor and her ardent feminist writing was sought out by the right wing noise machines.

Perhaps another question is why people choose the names they do for their aliases.

[Joe S.]

There is an easy answer to your question, which I think only professors don't get. Most of us have jobs. Most jobs are not protected by academic tenure, the First Amendment, or peace/love/ecology. Many of us wage slaves have something to say; the Internet finally lets us say it.

Also, let me draw a distinction going to the basic premise of your post. Most commenters don't want anonymity; they want pseudonymity. Their commenting handles are stable.

[Harold]

If you can't take the heat ...

[dataguy]

Two comments:

I used to use my real email address, although my name was a nom de internet. Some insane person took a lot of my posts, used my email address to determine my office, found the addresses of co-workers, and sent my posts to all my co-workers. This act was fortuitously not a problem, since my real name was omitted. However, had I used my real name, the insane act of this wack-job might have had some consequences.

Until there are no insane persons on the internet, I will use a nom de internet.

Second point:

Why, Mr. Etzioni, do you never engage in dialogue? As a lecturer, I know that you are used to dispensing knowledge. That is not the internet model, however, which is a mode of dialogue.

I invite you to respond to some of the responses to your posts.

[anonymous]

Dr Etzioni,

I believe there are a number of points you overlook.

Security:
1)The proper security infrastructure does not exist on the internet to validate a users identity.Even if a name is used when signing a blog entry, it is still just a handle.

2)Information disclosure:Related to identity theft, disclosed personal information and disclosed email addresses are open to a myriad of abuses.Email addresses can be spoofed by anyone with an smtp server and used in spam attacks, distribution of email borne malware and social engineering attacks etc. so disclosing one's email address and personal information is not a good idea.

Context:
2)Although context can lend weight to an argument, one can disclose context such as life and employment experiences etc. inline in a comment thread without divulging personal information.

Your idea is laudable but unfortunately it requires one to trust the whole internet and not just the subset of people in your online community and that is not practical.

[Antti T]

I belive that people needs to have unique ID:s for their Internet use becourse there might be same named people. :)

Let's see how many spams will I get when I start using my personal email address. Nice blog btw.

[David Cohen]

Amitai,
Thanks for reposting your piece co-authored with Shibley Telhami. It's insightful. The challenge is how to move off if functional political paralysis.
On practical maters thought has to be given on how to provide practical Congressional oversight as a pressure point. This requires careful strategy and can be further discussed.
David Cohen

[harold]

Werner Falk, why are YOU using an alias?

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I love your take on this. This is insightful and something refreshing.

Aliases are used aI guess because people feel the need to hide their true identity sometimes. The motives may not be the same for each one but the certainly this has been practiced for a long time now and we will certainly see more of this in the years to come.

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Right to privacy is I think the first and foremost reason why people use aliases. Second is the degree of trust or knowledge on how the online world works. If I would be asked why I am using an alias, my response would be because I don't have that much trust on the security in the internet. And I have the experience of "dataguy' as evidence for such choice.

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