Do you really think that who you are in meatspace is possible to identify from reading a few LW posts?
My username is formed by a shortening (though not one I often go by) of my real first name and my real birth year, and I’ve used it elsewhere, including in my main non-work e-mail address; so anyone who knows my e-mail would at least suspect that this LW account is mine.
(I first picked this username when I was 14 and kept using it everywhere out of habit.)
afaic, 99% of the people you meet in meat space don’t read very much, let alone go through archives of anonymous forums. Internet trolls, on the other hand..
Google searches aren’t ideal for this sort of thing, because your google results are tailored to you personally. Using DuckDuckGo, which shows the same search results to everyone, is probably a bit more reliable for these purposes (although in this case it gets the same results).
There’s more to life than one’s employment—some mobs also go after their target’s relatives.
Also, a fairly high proportion of people get highly distracted and upset by violent threats even if the likelihood of physical attacks has been low so far.
There’s more to life than one’s employment—some mobs also go after their target’s relatives.
I’m not really aware of that happening as a result of internet disputes.
Also, a fairly high proportion of people get highly distracted and upset by violent threats even if the likelihood of physical attacks has been low so far.
A high proportion of people also don’t draw mobs.
I know one person who did and he has no issue dealing with it.
Given that you are a woman I can understand that it’s a more reasonable risk for you. Unfortunately online women get attacked more easily and more nasty than a lot of men.
Unfortunately online women get attacked more easily and more nasty than a lot of men.
What I’ve heard is that men are more likely to get attacked (makes sense given where they hang out), it’s just that women are more likely to make a big deal of it.
Do you really think that who you are in meatspace is possible to identify from reading a few LW posts?
I think if you are worried I would simply remove references to your location.
I would also think that it’s likely that you overrate the cost of people knowing you participate on LW.
My username is formed by a shortening (though not one I often go by) of my real first name and my real birth year, and I’ve used it elsewhere, including in my main non-work e-mail address; so anyone who knows my e-mail would at least suspect that this LW account is mine.
(I first picked this username when I was 14 and kept using it everywhere out of habit.)
afaic, 99% of the people you meet in meat space don’t read very much, let alone go through archives of anonymous forums. Internet trolls, on the other hand..
The percentage of people in meatspace who would throw an email handle into Google is rather large.
A Google search for his username has his LW account as the third hit (after the two Wikipedia hits).
You might perhaps like to edit out the username from this comment now.
Aha, thanks.
Google searches aren’t ideal for this sort of thing, because your google results are tailored to you personally. Using DuckDuckGo, which shows the same search results to everyone, is probably a bit more reliable for these purposes (although in this case it gets the same results).
Not in my case. I take countermeasures to Google tracking.
I only agree for certain values of “meet”.
Suppose that identification through writing habits gets a lot cheaper and easier.
The cost might be fairly low among people who are even vaguely reasonable. The risk of attracting a mob is low, but the cost is non-trivial.
The cost very much depends on whether you are employed in a antifragile way or a fragile way.
There’s more to life than one’s employment—some mobs also go after their target’s relatives.
Also, a fairly high proportion of people get highly distracted and upset by violent threats even if the likelihood of physical attacks has been low so far.
How many of said threats are not bluffs? I mean, I know that some of them aren’t, but I can’t get myself to alieve it.
So far as I know, these threats are quite common, but I haven’t heard of any physical action being taken on them.
If you haven’t been on the receiving end of such threats, you may be underestimating the way you’d react to them.
One thing people report is that they get frightened because there are people putting in a notable amount of effort to make them feel bad.
I’m not really aware of that happening as a result of internet disputes.
A high proportion of people also don’t draw mobs.
I know one person who did and he has no issue dealing with it.
Given that you are a woman I can understand that it’s a more reasonable risk for you. Unfortunately online women get attacked more easily and more nasty than a lot of men.
Still you have chosen to be quite open.
I’ve chosen to be open because it feels like the right thing for me to do. I have no idea whether I’m taking an excessive risk.
What I’ve heard is that men are more likely to get attacked (makes sense given where they hang out), it’s just that women are more likely to make a big deal of it.