Ask HN: Are you getting more hesitant to share and being open online? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are you getting more hesitant to share and being open online?

4 points_xivi5 comments

People used to avoid certain corporations due to concerns about their data policy but it seems we're past that. With advancement in fields like data mining, the rise of LLMs and computing power, any data you share online is now being scrapped, hoarded and abused by everyone, it's a free-for-all. No regard to privacy, ethical concerns, or even the license it was published under.

Do you feel less open about participating on public forums, publishing personal blog posts, or even contributing to open source? (I'm aware of the irony of asking the question here)

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I wonder if you're posting about our "real" identities, as they're understood by our immediate family, in-person friends, colleagues, banks, and governments; or online interactions in general, even when some form of anonymity provides some distance?

I'm definitely more hesitant these days to associate my "real" identity with my online identity. Easy example is I only access HN through a VPN and a pseudonym. I'm mentally prepared for the day that this account will be de-anonymised, and I don't post anything too crazy under this name against that day. Still, I'd prefer to keep a separation, and I'd probably start a new account if that's what it takes to retain anonymity.

None of this should come as a surprise. McLuhan predicted from the mid-20th century that we would end up with a global small-town mentality. The "global village" wasn't a platitude, it was a warning.

I meant online interactions in general even with a pseudonym.

You mentioned using a VPN and a pseudonym but my point about data mining and computing power is that it seems quite easy and more accessible than ever to use techniques like Stylometry to link data points together and track your activity across platforms. And this is just using publicly accessible data.

I'm not concerned about my profile per say but it seems many parties are weaponizing the data shared on internet to their advantage, and I don't want to feed the beast(s).

Tbh, I'm not sure how to piece my thoughts together yet but the idea of being more of a lurker online sounds more appealing as time passes.

I'm interested to see what it looks like once you do piece your thoughts together. Then again, by that point, you may have decided to stop sharing your thoughts altogether, so maybe I'm in the goldilocks zone of everything you will ever post :D

Yes I do but for a mixture of reasons, as in not just the ones you outlined but some of these, and also others: taking a position online invites critique which can be unwelcome, and due to the difficulties amending the record if e.g. you change your mind, irretrievably remain bound to your online persona.

Almost a decade ago I made comments to political players I now regret. They were unkind. Their politics are shit and riddled with religious overtones but the comments I made were personal and objectifying.

I don't want to be associated with those remarks, and in a pre internet world people got to be forgotten for their mistakes and mispeaks. Now it's far harder.

> your online persona

Having a unique online persona makes sense for any given forum; across a number of fora it could easily be more trouble than it's worth. (I was chuffed to see how my children, after far less online experience than it had taken me, independently came to this conclusion)

As for the original Q: I try my best to speak truth (or at least edification), so if some other entity ever makes use of one of my online utterances ... Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.

see https://xkcd.com/810/

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