Comment by amiantos | Hacker News Reader

Comment by amiantos | Hacker News Reader

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At this point I wouldn't recommend anyone expose their face or true identity to the internet. There was a time idealistic people thought that removing anonymity from the internet would somehow make it more civilized, but bad actors (e.g. most people using the internet regularly, it seems) have proven the lack of anonymity just makes it easy for people to find new and inventive ways to harass and insult you. For all the non-cis non-white non-males out there, people don't even need an excuse to attack you anymore beyond your non-cis, non-white, non-maleness.

The blog author seems to grasp tentatively toward recognizing their own privilege, but fails to mention that they have 31,000 twitter followers and, having started their own business, significant adoration from the Twitter tech crowd. I can imagine Twitter seems like a great place to be when you've been elevated by the community. Everyone looks up to you, everyone thinks what you have to say is important. Life is a lot different on the internet for people who don't have that same following. I don't think trying to curate an online persona and manage a Twitter account where you reply to everyone is a valuable use of your time when you're still trying to find a way to consistently feed yourself.

At this point I wouldn't recommend anyone expose their face or true identity to the internet.

I don't agree with that. I can't get paid if I don't use my real name and real identity online. I don't make enough money, but the money I do make helps me survive.

Women and other marginalized people are routinely told things like "On the internet, no one knows you are a dog if you don't tell them" as a way of saying "If it is a problem to admit you are a woman, don't admit it" and they fail to see how huge a problem that is.

For many marginalized people, the internet is a godsend. People who are LGBTQ are often vocal in certain online spaces precisely because they can't be so vocal in person.

But we do need to make clear that what works online if you aren't one of the privileged few may be very different from what works online if you are one of the privileged few and it's a bit frustrating that this post -- written by someone who is gay -- does such a poor job of highlighting that fact.

The idea that you can't be equally vocal seems to be a limitation that you put on yourself.

I post using my real identity as a constant reminder of how easy it can be for an anonymous identity to be linked back to me.

As a result, I just don't say much of anything interesting on the internet.

I'm sort of a fool who tries to be genuine and tries to assume good faith and so forth and I pretty frequently feel burned. Being "interesting" on the internet seems to be kind of like that Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.

> people don't even need an excuse to attack you anymore beyond your non-cis, non-white, non-maleness.

I'm a privileged cis white male, but I've also been doxxed and harassed online (got cancelled basically). Can we not make this conversation even more divisive by suggesting it has anything to do with these immutable characteristics, please? The internet can be a shitty place for anyone.

I know this sounds flippant in a world where “SWATing” exists, but as a non-several-categories person my reflex reaction to “people don’t even need an excuse to attack you any more” is increasingly “so what?”.

The overlap between “people who insult women online for fun” and “people whose opinions I value” is pretty small, after all. It’s their loss, not mine :)

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