Tomorrow, Friday August 12, at the Nonprofit Commons, we will have a discussion about a timely and important subject: anonymity, pseudonyms and online spaces.
Several news sites have been reporting on how the new social network “Google Plus” has been systematically removing accounts that use names that are not “real,” including several prominent Second Life residents. Meanwhile, Second Life changed their naming policy last year to enable you to effectively choose almost any name that you want, and display any name that you want. So whereas before I had to be “Rik Riel,” I can now be “Rik Panganiban” in Second Life.
References:
- http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/07/google-profiles-pseudonym-avatar-names-suspension-policy.html
- http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html
- http://alphavilleherald.com/2010/12/second-lifes-new-naming-policy.html
Do you think it is important in online spaces like Second Life and Google Plus that users be able to use any name they wish? Or should there be some form of identify verification?
Come share your opinion tomorrow at the Nonprofit Commons, starting at 8:30am PST . See you then!
Written by: rikomatic