Been reviewing account applications and noticed that a lot of them just have the person’s actual name in the username, complete with them saying that it’s their real name in the registration questions.
I just want to comment that I don’t think it’s good to be doing that, especially if you have certain political affiliations that Western governments might not like (communism, socialism, not going to dance around it). I have still approved your accounts if you did this as it doesn’t break the rules, but frankly I recommend you make a new account with a more anonymous username and don’t post under your real name. Keep the account with your real name if you want but don’t make it your main. Lemmy, just like Reddit, is meant to be pseudoanonymous, and especially considering all the controversy and friction that the influx of new users are causing and the presence of people who seem to be here just to pick a fight, I just think it’s a bad idea to put any sort of personal information on here that other people, trolls and assholes included, can exploit. I certainly haven’t put my personal information on here and I’m an admin.
This goes double for profile pictures of your face or anyone you know. Though I haven’t seen much of that.
This is my real name you’re seeing. And yet I totally agree with this advice. I’ll try and explain.
Basically, I was an early contributor to IndyMedia during the anti-war movement of the early 2000s, back before IndyMedia collapsed under the weight of conspiracy theories and antisemitism. I also did a lot of guerrilla video work and interviewed fairly high-profile people, and ended up holding screenings and speaking at events as a guest speaker and such, and I kept various blogs online too.
There was a fascist doxxing website here in the UK called Redwatch which listed me, and there were other incidents that were unpleasant. But the genie was essentially out of the bottle, and I’ve carried on being active online, as myself, all through the years in a way where folks could find my latest work or projects via my usual handle that is associated with me and my name.
However, I’d advise anyone to be active online under a pseudonym because it’s just safer that way, and more proactive from the perspective of protection from authorities, especially as Late Capitalism predictably embraces and promotes fascism in order to protect itself, and therefore even “democracies” become more authoritarian.
That’s not to say I haven’t at times been active online under pseudonyms as well, but mostly I try and restrict my energies into the causes that I also happen to be associated with and known for, which means still being the same person who got into media activism twenty years ago and became known for it online.
I envy folks who are now starting from scratch, signing up for sites using pseudonyms, and retaining their anonymity. For most of us, there is absolutely nothing to gain from using real names online. Mask up on protests, and protect your privacy and security online!
While this is true, I would assume that any forum such as this, which is created and run by people who ascribe to such politics, is already under observation by various governments.
It can also be assumed that they already know your IP and can get around any privacy-enhancing and security-enhancing options you have chosen to use. Thus they very likely already know your real name and all accounts associated with it. It is very, very difficult to not be watched by nation-state actors.
This does not mean that OP has not given good advice, it is still very good advice.
If the government really wants to come for you there’s little you can do, but I’m more concerned about your average basement troll who may have gotten really pissed off during one of the debates/flamewars that have been popping up and is looking to get even. We’ve already had to ban some… interesting characters… and I just don’t want to give them any easy targets from this site.
Absolutely, forgive me for my quick edit where I made more clear that I still think it is very good advice.
Anyone posting anything personal like names, locations, photos on the internet is just… #facepalm.
Just no.
