I fail to see how this is an issue. Why would you be hiding your identity, when you are interacting with people? Seems counterproductive.
Lol.. seriously? I might 'slip up' and divulge my real name or pertinent information? I've posted 600 times on this forum and not once has my real name, location or even what MMO's/servers/character names I've used come up. You have it backward. If you just had someone's real name you could attach it to the real person much easier by comparing it to facebook results and other postings.
You realize people have been stabbed, murdered and kidnapped over MMO related stuff right. If they want to prevent trolling just attach the forum name to your battle.net account (which it already is) and just ban the battle.net account entirely (from all battle.net games) if you need to be banned for trolling. Champions Online has a brilliant forum/game interconnectivity while maintaining privacy.
I think the reactions I see are more from people now concerned that what they say online might actually matter and they can't just do what they want.
It's pretty much a give-in that employers are going to do a Google search for good applicants in order to find as much info as possible (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). If you've narrowed it down to two applicants, and one of them posts on the WoW forums, which are you going to choose?
You apparently don't have any issue with the erosion of personal privacy on the internet.
I so, and so do lots of other people.
solution - use a fake name when signing up your bnet account
OK, so would you please post your full name and address here?I fail to see how this is an issue. Why would you be hiding your identity, when you are interacting with people? Seems counterproductive.
Ok, you can dig through my hundreds of posts and piece together vague information that might get it narrowed down to what state I'm in, or you can just use my real name and narrow it down to maybe even my phone number.You don't need to give your real name. I can read what you post on topics and add up the info you do provide. And that info is way more valuable than just a name. For example if you post in a thread about how hot outside it is and give the temperature and state only, then I know what state you live in . If you post in a thread about a game being sold at a specific store chain I can eliminate areas where that store chain doesn't exist. People reveal more information than they realize.
Are you seriously that concerned ? More people are murdered walking on the street , and nobody knew their name, than ever will be from posting their name on the internet. If you are playing a game that had you worried that another player is going to physically attack you then maybe that isn't the best game to be playing.
How did you make it through school ? Did the teachers assign everyone usernames ?
I think the reactions I see are more from people now concerned that what they say online might actually matter and they can't just do what they want.
I don't see any erosion. A persons name and even address isn't private. Anyone working in a post office, UPS , Fedex see thousands of them every day. If people cannot stand behind what they do then they should not do it.
Yes clearly the internet is comparable to a high school of relatively supervised peers with real world checks on their behavior. You already said yourself people do shit on the internet they don't want to own up to. Now give those people your real name so they can find more innovative ways to be dicks?
But the real issue is you losing control of your choice of privacy. I don't know any forum that guarantees your privacy will be broken by signing up. In fact every forum I've signed up guarantees to protect it. And ultimately they just don't *need* my name.
I use my real name for friends, family and business, if you're not one of those you get some stupid handle.
There's a huge difference that you pointed out in your previous posts - the internet is, for all intents and purposes, forever.
I stand behind what I do and say on the internet, but that doesn't mean that I want every ATOT reader, in perpetuity, to be able to investigate me with a minimum of effort.
You pointed out previously that you could e-stalk another poster and gradually add up a profile of a poster. From that profile you might be able to put together their identity and from there it'd be reasonably easy to seriously fuck with them.
Using your real name on forums takes that front end work out of the equation. I'd call that an erosion.
I use aliases in my email addresses, forum handles and logins precisely because I don't want to share my name. There are several better ways to solve for forum spam.
If you're so open and unconcerned about your name and address, why don't you post it here?
There's a simple solution to the people who have a problem with it.
Don't post on the forums. How simple was that?
Their is the root of the complaints. It isn't about stalkers or people stealing their identity, it is about people acting like fools and being held accountable for what they do. It is so funny reading forums and people saying "They aren't going to make this retroactive are they ?" , So scared that someone might find out what they are really like. Reminds me of when someone has a photo of someone when they were drunk. They called someone names and talked trash and now that person might know who they are ? Maybe they shouldn't have said that ? Real world checks on behavior is what the internet needs. It would solve a ton of problems.
I use some forums that require Name, Address, and some even verify it and it is used in posting. I also belong to mailing list that require it.
How many people scared of their name cover their debit/credit cards in stores, better hide it there too, that crazy grocery bagger is going to get your name and hunt you down because you told him paper not plastic. Don't go to college either, your name and face will appear and people will always be able to go back in records and read it.
Stay away from hospitals, emergency rooms, hotels, and anywhere else that has a name and address form, those employees taking the forms could be psychotic.
Their is the root of the complaints. It isn't about stalkers or people stealing their identity, it is about people acting like fools and being held accountable for what they do. It is so funny reading forums and people saying "They aren't going to make this retroactive are they ?" , So scared that someone might find out what they are really like. Reminds me of when someone has a photo of someone when they were drunk. They called someone names and talked trash and now that person might know who they are ? Maybe they shouldn't have said that ? Real world checks on behavior is what the internet needs. It would solve a ton of problems.
I use some forums that require Name, Address, and some even verify it and it is used in posting. I also belong to mailing list that require it.
How many people scared of their name cover their debit/credit cards in stores, better hide it there too, that crazy grocery bagger is going to get your name and hunt you down because you told him paper not plastic. Don't go to college either, your name and face will appear and people will always be able to go back in records and read it.
Stay away from hospitals, emergency rooms, hotels, and anywhere else that has a name and address form, those employees taking the forms could be psychotic.
That's a huge copout. Taking that attitude to it's illogical but conceivable extreme would be that cops shouldn't need warrants to enter homes. If you don't have anything to hide, what's the problem?
I'm not a forum troll. I think I may have posted on the wow forums once, maybe twice. I object to this on the grounds that there is /no good reason/ outside billing me to have my real name and absolutely no good reason for them to display it to the general public if and when I have a tech issue I'd like to ask a question about.
I think you're being purposely obtuse here, unless you truly don't see a difference between showing your ID to a store clerk in order to use your debit card, and your name being recorded publicly for every comment you make.
ripped from another forum :awe:
I don't know why you keep using real world situations. You've removed their anonymity and yours at the same time. The whole point is, the troller's anonymity remains intact while yours is lost. With the shield of anonymity the troller is free to harass you for whatever reason.
I'm against it in principle. Some 15 yo girl shouldn't have to have some guy breathing her name over vent after he found it out on the forums when she couldn't get the patcher to work.