Oddbean

Interesting perspective on anonymity on #nostr - I started out anonymous on the forums back in 2014 but realised I needed to put my name to my work so ceded the comfort and started posting under my real name. @Chris Liss mentions that some of it could be a throw back to traditional social media where people needed to be more careful, and that could be true for some. However I think privacy is the main driver behind anonymous posting on here. Am I right? The other think I like about anonymity is that it forces a person to confront an argument, not a person. If you don't like someone's view you can't insult their character or person of you don't know anything about them...and let's be honest, we've all seen it happen, or done it. nostr:nevent1qqsqd98n0wx99rpcar97ahz5nux8q50jfjewtzh2vrwsq6d34su66scpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyp4d8c4rfqvtz57grayvtr6yu5veu760erd7x7qs5qqdec7fpdm5qqcyqqqqqqgx9pk5r

Good point! Especially the part about the confrontation of arguments instead of people! This happens all the time... People are ready to attack an idea before they even read it, based on who posted it!

I think people do that to anon handles too because once their views get known, it’s the same. People like Catturd on Twitter, people will call him a fascist or whatever. For smaller anon accounts you can look at their posting history or bio too. I think basically people just want to hate on someone or something will attack the poster, and having an anon handle won’t change that much. As for the privacy argument, why do you need privacy for your social media post? I mean you are broadcasting it to the world. You need privacy for your texts and emails, but social media is the *public* square. To me, the desire for privacy in the public square — unless you’re breaking top secret information — is just desire to hide. And it validates the views of those from whom you are hiding that you would want to do so.

They do it to anonymous handles too but at least the people behind those handles have a sense of protection against all those bots & trolls. My twitter account has my name on it but I feel more and more afraid to post my ideas or views because of the toxicity out there. I mean even the most common sense idea gets attacked. It's beyond comprehension. Even if I post something like: "All people should have access to air" can cause a furious debate. People on the left will call me a conservative or fascist, people on the right will characterize me an anarchist or terrorist and people on the center will invent something else. And all I would have said is that people need air to breathe. Sometimes I am cautious even to the content I press like. Right now small kids are dying in some parts of the world and if you express sympathy you are either a terrorist or a fascist (one side or the other); But actually I am just a parent who cannot imagine the unbearable pain of losing a child. That's all! As for the argument about broadcasting to the world, I wouldn't mind exposing my identity to people that we could exchange ideas or debate on some kind of rational terms. I am not here to fight with anyone. Attacking people just because you don't see eye to eye, and easily characterizing / being characterized this or that is not my thing...

You are right about this. But the solution IMO isn’t everyone going into hiding, but standing up and affirming the truth so that the trolls and haters realize they are outnumbered and rational people aren’t buying the narrative. That’s actually happened to some extent even on Twitter now where no one says shit when I point out the vaccine killed thousands of people. Before they were calling me an anti vaxxer just for being against mandates.

Let's start with the question. What is a “real" identity? First impression: You seem to live in a country where you never encountered the power of the state yourself. Heretic views will always be edgy until they slowly enter the sphere of collective consciousness and only then get accepted as obvious. For ideas it really doesn't matter where they originate and eminate as long as they can freely propagate and resonate. I guess there is room for both. Even at the same time. No one is hindering you in entertaining multiple identities that serve different purposes.

There are deep philosophical questions around the concept of identity, but in this case everyone knows what we’re talking about. I was attacked pretty hard in my industry and job for my views during covid. But I also had a lot of people tell me what I posted was helpful to them. Not just the ideas which were out there, but someone credible they knew standing behind them and taking heat for them. So I agree ideas are the most important things, but ideas with someone willing to stand up for them are more likely to propagate. And if you really care about growing NOSTR, I think more people will need to ID themselves as being there.

I guess both approaches can be powerful in their own ways. If I would encourage one thing it is awareness of the upsides and downsides to each approach. Combine the upsides of both in a healthy way without linking those identities. Don't hide your real life identity out of fear, but also recognise the benefits of a focussed discussion and exploration of a topic that becomes possible when we detach ourselves from any identity. Also I am really glad that most Monero devs are anonymous. It reduces the attack vector as code is the only thing that remains to discuss.

Yeah, as I wrote in the article, there are people for whom and situations for which anonymity is necessary. But it should not be the default for sharing your views in the public square. It’s like everyone went to the public square in masks because no one could deal with disagreements.