Hiding behind an alias

[Puckoon]

Its come up a few times on here, and there have been many suggestions about the annonymity of posters - particularly those abusing amateur gaa players. There have also been plenty of incidents with posters, and many people hiding behind aliases while dishing out abuse, or posts that might not necessarily be said face to face.

This article makes it not seem like it would work - but one of the biggest forums in gaming is pushing ahead with it anyway.

World of warcraft ends annonymous forum posting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10543100.stm


World of Warcraft maker to end anonymous forum logins
Page last updated at 18:13 GMT, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 19:13 UK
E-mail this to a friendPrintable version  It has been 12 years since Blizzard last released a StarCraft title A row has erupted after Blizzard - the publishers of the popular online game World of Warcraft - announced that users on its site forums would have to post under their real names.

The firm say the move is to put an end to heated online arguments and topics started purely to cause trouble.

But users reacted angrily, citing concerns about safety and privacy.

Blizzard said they would start implementing the changes over the next few months.

A post, by Vameras - one of the site community managers - said that the forums had become " a place where flame wars, trolling and other unpleasantness run wild".

"Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven't been connected before," the post continued.

People talk

Blizzard new system - Real ID - means that users will have to post under their real first and last name.

The firm said it will implement the changes over the next few weeks, with the StarCraft II forums - a section dedicated to the forthcoming real time strategy game - making the switch by the end of the month. The World of Warcraft forum will change soon after.

Continue reading the main story
Within five minutes, users had got hold of his telephone number, home address, photographs of him and a ton of other information
Jim Brand

Gamer
In addition to users now posting under their own names, the site will allow others to rate post and interact with other users, creating a "social-networking platform".

"As the way gamers interact with one another continues to evolve, our goal is to ensure Battle.net is equipped to handle the ever-changing social-gaming experience for years to come," the post by Vameras went on.

The online community was swift to respond, with almost a thousand replies in less than 24 hours; the majority of which expressed their displeasure at the move.

"I can't even begin to fathom why you would do this", posted one user, while another wrote that it seems "like someone who likes Facebook came up with it, while being blissfully unaware that an awful lot of people deliberately avoid Facebook".

Real worlds

One World of Warcraft player, Jim Brand, contacted BBC News to say how disappointed he was over the change.

"I have been using the forums for over five years, reporting bugs and trying to be helpful. Now, to have the privilege to help people on the forums I have to reveal my real name; I'm dead against it," he said.

"I work in a charity and deal with governments officials. If they do a search and see I am a gamer, it could affect my employment prospects," he added.

Although most social networking sites have links to a person's real world name, gaming sites have always used anonymous handles.

There have been a few rare cases of online gaming disputes spilling out into the real world, and users are mostly reluctant to reveal personal details, given that video games can sometimes elicit strong emotions.

Mr Brand said that one Blizzard employee posted his real name on the forums, saying that there was no risk to users, and the experiment went drastically wrong.

"Within five minutes, users had got hold of his telephone number, home address, photographs of him and a ton of other information," said Mr Brand

The post and topic has since been removed from the Blizzard forum.

[give her dixie]

On a Rally Forum and discussion board I use, serious allegations and lies against competitors was destroying what was once a good forum.

It got so bad that the mods were constantly deleting posts and banning contributors.

However, the vast majority of users decided to use their own name, and it caught on.
Now, 95% of the posters use their real name, and the quality of the forum has soared.
Gone are the hurtful lies and unfounded allegations, and the forum is a joy to use.

I for one am totally in favour of using your real name, as it would cut out a lot of nonsense getting posted here,
or on other forums like this.

What do others think?
How would others feel about using their real name here, and would they do it?

[RMDrive]

I'd have no problem with it really except I wouldn't like my employer knowing that I post during work. How could you be sure it was a person's real name though?

[mountainboii]

I'd have no problem with it really except I wouldn't like my employer knowing that I post during work. How could you be sure it was a person's real name though?

I'd say that'd be a concern for a lot of people.

It would also kill debate on some of the more controversial topics, as I'm not sure many would be comfortable having their take on joyriders, or the Catholic Church, or the troubles stuck up on screen, beside their name, for the whole world to see.

Inside info, or gossip, on the GAA world would probably dry up too, although some might see this as a positive.

[Banana Man]

let's be realistic society in the north isn't ready for real names when dealing with topics like politics, religion etc, just look at tony fearon for example, while he has a set of balls and writes what he thinks and does it using his real name he has received a lot of unsavoury attention for it. From postcards from norn iron fans to incitement to land up to his place of work.

While it's a noble thought puck i personally don't think society here is ready for it.

Lookat the irish news letter page, it used to be 2 pages then they intorduced that you had to use your real name and postcode, the letter page is just that now, one page and a surge in the number of contributors using their Irish names....

[Maiden1]

Jerome Quinn is definitely in favour of aliases!

[amallon]

Real names are the way to go!  It makes you think twice before posting something.

[thebigfella]

On a Rally Forum and discussion board I use, serious allegations and lies against competitors was destroying what was once a good forum.

It got so bad that the mods were constantly deleting posts and banning contributors.

However, the vast majority of users decided to use their own name, and it caught on.
Now, 95% of the posters use their real name, and the quality of the forum has soared.
Gone are the hurtful lies and unfounded allegations, and the forum is a joy to use.

I for one am totally in favour of using your real name, as it would cut out a lot of nonsense getting posted here,
or on other forums like this.

What do others think?
How would others feel about using their real name here, and would they do it?

Sorry but how the hell do you enforce people use their real names. Some pretty basic technical and legal points but you'll get my point.

What happens when 2 people people have the same name, how do you distinguish them?
How do you prevent identity theft, as potentially you may (the board) be legally (don't forget the laws are different for which ever juristicion you live in) responsible for ensuring the user is who they say they are, thus leaving the board open to legal ramifications?
Who pays for the above identity checks to be carried out?
Where and how do you store the personal info required to verify a persons details? Do you even know the laws/standards etc... required for this and how much extra it will cost to implement/maintain?
Do you leave the forum open to view for guests? How do you then prevent them from using personal details from board posts  to potentially steal a board users identity?
With all this extra cost, are you going to make people pay to use the forum? There are better forums available for free, what would make people want to pay anyway?

As a few others have pointed out, those who have used the board with real name have received unwanted attention. I for one don't wish that because of a post on an internet forum that someone disagrees with.
Also what is the issue with people having an anonymous view on a forum? Some posters here take themselves and this board far too seriously/personally and think the boards impact is bit more than it actually is Let the MODS enforce the board rules (personally there should be a lot more of them but that's a separate discussion on collaborative effort vs the approach they take at the moment) as they see fit.

[Muzz]

Personally I would be against it.  A search on google on your username pulls up a relationship to the gaaboard.  If you were to use your own name ANYONE that done a search on your name could see posts you have made.  Some people may not want work colleagues or potential employer to know their thoughts on particular thread's (Polictal, Comments made about work colleagues in grinding gears section etc.)

Really think it comes back to privacy.  I know searching my name on google pulls up a post from 15 years ago that my mother made when doing research for a course she was attending - but she used my email address as she did not have one of her own - default ISP email address.

Wouldn't want my kids to grow up search my name and see the comments made about some of the fine ladies on Hot Ladies thread 

[Orior]

While they were here, one of my favourite pastimes was winding up OWC. Hence it was obvious i would not do that without an alias, particularly as they are such a sad homeless militant crowd of Irishmen.

[AZOffaly]

I'd have no problem with it really except I wouldn't like my employer knowing that I post during work. How could you be sure it was a person's real name though?

I'd say that'd be a concern for a lot of people.

It would also kill debate on some of the more controversial topics, as I'm not sure many would be comfortable having their take on joyriders, or the Catholic Church, or the troubles stuck up on screen, beside their name, for the whole world to see.

Inside info, or gossip, on the GAA world would probably dry up too, although some might see this as a positive.

If you wouldn't say something as your real name, then you shouldn't say it as an alias, because you are not debating at that point, you are just either stirring or mouthing off.

[Muzz]

I'd have no problem with it really except I wouldn't like my employer knowing that I post during work. How could you be sure it was a person's real name though?

I'd say that'd be a concern for a lot of people.

It would also kill debate on some of the more controversial topics, as I'm not sure many would be comfortable having their take on joyriders, or the Catholic Church, or the troubles stuck up on screen, beside their name, for the whole world to see.

Inside info, or gossip, on the GAA world would probably dry up too, although some might see this as a positive.

If you wouldn't say something as your real name, then you shouldn't say it as an alias, because you are not debating at that point, you are just either stirring or mouthing off.

Not necessarily.  What if you have a point or a view that is personal to you that you dont want peers or work colleagues to know.  If its in your real name it will be in public domain for everyone to know.

[Billys Boots]

If you've got a point of view that you don't want people to know about why would you want to post it on a forum - is there not something quite pathetic about wanting your view to be heard, but not wanting people to know you have such a view?  That's even lower than ringing Joe Duffy.

[whiskeysteve]

I'd have no problem with it really except I wouldn't like my employer knowing that I post during work. How could you be sure it was a person's real name though?

I'd say that'd be a concern for a lot of people.

It would also kill debate on some of the more controversial topics, as I'm not sure many would be comfortable having their take on joyriders, or the Catholic Church, or the troubles stuck up on screen, beside their name, for the whole world to see.

Inside info, or gossip, on the GAA world would probably dry up too, although some might see this as a positive.

If you wouldn't say something as your real name, then you shouldn't say it as an alias, because you are not debating at that point, you are just either stirring or mouthing off.

Not necessarily.  What if you have a point or a view that is personal to you that you dont want peers or work colleagues to know.  If its in your real name it will be in public domain for everyone to know.

Exactly. Most people have points of view that others may find contentious or even prejudiced.

For example, say John Smith was on here and gave his reasoned and eloquent opinion that abortion was an abomination and evil (or should be freely available).

How would John like it if folks in his office got wind of this, a few chinese whispers later and who knows who would take offence?? The boss, clients, etc??

I think that when you throw into the mix the religious and political opinions that can be part of a real cauldron of issues in this country you have a situation where posting open and honest opinion under your own name - not stirring or mouthing off - could create unnecessary bother for you.

Re: The Gaaboard, having the facility to post under an alias allows unshackled and forthright debate the benefits of which outweigh the WUMery (is that a word?) and trolling that drag this board down.

Finally, trolls and WUMs can be a bit of craic too!

Do you really want to restrain alter egos like ArmaghForSamAgain?? How else would we have Death Notices or Saints Days??

[Hardy]

People need to remember that the internet is an open, worldwide and, most of all, permanent public forum. It is a form of publishing. Anything you commit to the internet is potentially available and retrievable forever.

That is a very good basis for being very careful about what you commit to the internet - including your identification details. There are dozens of reasons for this, including

- not wishing to expose yourself and your family to the deranged attentions of the thousands of psychopathic loonies who have the same access to these details as the rational and sane people. You can't tell in advance what might trigger one of these into perpetrating something awful. When you can, it'll be too late.
- not wanting to have to apply to everything you post on a frivolous discussion board the level of rigour you should want to apply to the consideration of anything you would publish.
- not forcing your family, without their consent, to be associated with a public figure, which is what you are if you're putting your thoughts and opinions in the public domain.

But probably the biggest reason is what I might call the tattoo effect. Like tattooing the name of your current girlfriend on your arse, anything you say today is there in 20 years time, when there's a good chance at least some of your opinions and attitudes will have changed and at least some of what you say now will look very different in the light of a new generation. That's fine if you're getting paid to be a journalist, or the like, but not for random cyber conversations that are mainly for amusement.

Facebook makes me shudder. There's probably an industry in the making in counselling people who have irretrievably committed forever to the public record via Facebook stuff they're going to regret.