Usenames! Why do users choose Pseudonyms?
I have noticed, especially on this site, over and above other social media sites that almost everyone is writing under a Pseudonym i.e. not their real name. I have noticed this with other social media sites but to a lesser extent. For instance, most of my friends on Facebook have some username connection to their real name.
Is it different here because the nature of crypto currency makes people cautious and have a degree of anonymity? Although, many people are only too happy, like on other social media to tell us all about themselves in the introduceyourself section and other blogs.
Maybe people are initially cautious of a site until they trust it and only then become more open. I go by my real name here and it didn't occur to me to go by any other name when signing up. Obviously, if your name is John Smith I can understand the reasons why your username might be different.
I see Craig Grant, who does those great youtube videos, also goes by his real name here, which, to a degree makes me feel like I have more of a connection to him in some ways even though we don't know each other.
Sometimes 'unusual' usernames make me feel being somewhat less personable with someone.
What do other people think?
i dont know what ppl scared of , iv put my real name in here.
In your mind, what makes a person's username less representative of themselves than their actual name?
I would note that a person chooses their own username, making it therefore directly representative of them in some way, whereas our actual names — for most of us at least — are something we were born with and did not choose.
I do understand the point of view that a person's "real name" has a more tangible connection to their real self, but I don't necessarily agree. It's also not difficult to create a social media account with a fake name that seems like a real name just to fool people. I don't think that the type of name a person uses represents any useful information about their trustworthiness, or even their identity.
I go by my gamer handle on here (i.e. my Steam ID is the same as my Steem ID), but on other sites like Wattpad I go by my real name. Neither name is any less "me."
Fair point but I don't think passports, driving licenses, ownership of property, registering with a doctor or school etc would work so well without a consitent identity. On a spiritual level, maybe our birth name does reflect who we really are and not who we dream we want to be. I voted you up anyway because you make some great points
I think the future of a digitized identity and is to have every individual registered to a unique cryptographic key that represents their "true identity." Under that sort of system, you have universality of record keeping that is linguistically neutral, but also no need to tie your identity to a "name" that isn't of your own choosing. What you "call yourself" and what your legal identity is do not need to be the same thing, just as when people call their friends by a nickname, they aren't referring to some other different person just because it's not the same as their "real name."
EDIT: Interesting discussion. Thanks for raising the question!
Thats interesting. I used my real name as well and was happy to get it. I think you raise an interesting point. I guess if you want to be promoting Steemit and crypto people have been using names like cryptoguy and steemitgirl... But yah then you don't know who the person is and there is a total disconnect. Also maybe a few people could use the same account like if they were called like "travelpeople" (literally just making things up) but then it may not just be one person posting. Its not personal...What do you think? @michaeldodridge
Great points Kristy. I see your real name and, maybe It's small minded of me, but already there is more of a connection, at least for me it works that way.
I think when I created this pseudonym ~17 years ago a quantum of anonymity and caution was the rule on most parts of the internet (geocities...). This shifted slowly and over time to the happy intimate privacy-sharing of today's Facebook. I'm getting old and conservative and stubborn mayhaps. On the other hand, I find it natural to interact with "abc38317", "hey-its-me", "illuminaughty23" and "starbeauty.97".
wiser was the moniker I used to register on Bitcointalk and I just kept using it for all things crypto. Since I came to this site through the cryptosphere I think of it more as a crypto site than a social media site. Of course it can be both, but that's why I have a pseudonym here.
Most people in cryptocurrency tend to value privacy and anonymity more than your average man on the street. As more "regular" people join this will probably change.
I think a good reason for using a pseudonym as a username is simply a matter of privacy and avoiding the potential of real life harassment if you should somehow get on someone's bad side.
All good stuff 😃
Put information about you in social network where you can not control who access it, and specially if this information would be freely in a blockchain forever... in this moment at least look kind of stupid.... My opinion.
Another good point but isn't that true also of Facebook etc yet my point was, people there on average are more likely to enter their real name, I can do a search for people I know and often come across the person I am looking for, not to cause harm but just to connect. Here it seems less so, that was my main point I think.
Force of habit. I've been using this name online for close to 20 years.
And I don't see myself stopping any time soon.
I'll give you my upvote.
Please reciprocate in my post https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gustavopasquini/olympic-games-rio-2016-between-reality-and-hope
😃
Is very good man , and you what do you think about your article ?