<. If your daughter came home from college with a beaux who you discovered was using an alias>
Or the beaux is in show business. That in of itself would be reason for concern. ;)
I think there are new rules in cyberspace. I don't want it to become an extension of 3D. Why should it? If you want to authenticate someone's existence on the Internet, it is possible to do so with relatively high probability. You'd be foolish to engage in a contract with someone who goes by 'cosmicforce' on SI. If you found that you wanted to know who I was for some legitimate reason or engage in business transactions, I could document my true identity to your satisfaction and give you independent references in several states.
I, however, feel that I'm free to say whatever comes to mind without too much fear of reprisal (direct or indirect) because I'm relatively anonymous. If I abused it, the FBI could track me down quickly. They know my IP address, my carrier and the mode of communication. I don't misuse my anonymity. If SI made me post my real name, I'd simply stop posting. That would be a loss of some ideas that, IMHO, might reduce the breadth of opinion here.
I don't think there should be a presumption of wrong-doing just because someone doesn't want to broadcast their identity. I could imagine a 1000 reasons why you, Karen, may actually posting under an alias - in fact, I'd suggest that there are more reasons to be here as an alias than to be here as yourself. Would I think badly of you for it if at some later date that Karen Holt was someone you made up, or that the story of your on-screen moniker was pure BS? Or that of X, or Poet, or Solon, or Coug, Neo, ConstantReader, Choosie or any other figure here? Not one iota. |
