I donât know that thereâs any policy here on alts or speculation. Just throwing this out there as a thought, not policy:
Not sure why anyone needs alts, but OK. Also not sure why anyone would care if someone has alts. Do or donât, I donât care.
I donât care about alt speculation unless the user cares, then Iâm confident that the mods would respect that and shut down any speculation. Otherwise, itâs just another rule we donât need.
This isnât the AO. Itâs a smaller and tighter group, so I suspect privacy is less of an issue.
I care about privacy, but youâre not private. If youâre posting online, youâre going to get connected by someone that wants to connect the dots. I emphasize this because I suspect most people have heard this but donât understand how easy it is for someone to find their IRL identity just from forum postings. Even a quick google of usernames often produces enough information.
Iâm not private online, you could easily get my home address just from my postings here. Still, Iâm less public than most people I suspect because Iâm not really on social media. Iâve got limited stuff online for business reasons that are attached to my name, and almost zero stuff. The posts I made the past week with pics in the happy thoughts thread were the most personal content Iâve ever posted online. And thereâs no personally identifiable pictures.
I just checked the meta data of the images I posted. Thankfully nothing identifiable.
I think a common reason for alts on the ao was that someone posted in the exam threads and was easily identifiable to their co-workers due to that. Then they wanted to post in political or something, and didnât want people to immediately connect the dots.
I have used a pseudonym not because it prevents people who already know me from recognizing me on-line (it doesnât, and I have lots of evidence of that) but because it makes it less likely that someone who DOESNâT know me will meet me and immediately connect me to my on-line political views. Iâd rather they get to know me as a colleague, first. So I have a strong preference that no one shares my actual name. (tia)
I have an alt here just because I did on the ao, but Iâve barely used it. If I ever return to visiting other peopleâs religious services, and writing that up on-line, I will likely bust out the alt just to keep stat stuff in the same persona. I suppose I donât really care whether PP and Lucy get connected, so Iâll do it here to make that clear.
Oh I was specifically referring to alts where someone has the illusion that if they have a brand new account that people wont link it to the old account and therefore post something super private thinking nobody will know it is the same person. Their style shows through for anyone who is familiar with their posting style.
With main ids, yeah of course people can easily link it to your real life name pretty easily if you post enough, but I was referring to alts linking to main ids, rather than to their real name. Might be a small difference as to my point here.
Real life names shouldnât be outed and I can see situations where someone would use and alt. Some people can be aggressive connecting dots and some arenât good at discretion.
I donât care that you all know I was a lawyer on TV for a year. I also donât care that you all know I got fired for my bathroom habits that didnât sync up with someone elseâs schedule. Iâm pretty damn proud of the 1st one, and the 2nd one is ⌠well, a manâs home is his sanctuary, is it really that big of a deal that I liked to get a cup of coffee, look out on the Pacific Ocean and zen for a little while, then take a leisurely visit to the porcelain bank, then go to work? How is anyone supposed to do great work when theyâre stressed out over when they might need to send the kids swimming?
Everything else is, ⌠well, see what SpaceLobster said above.
I didnât mean you should be allowed to post someoneâs real name. My point is, alts give people a false sense of security when they have a main id that is already well known and that people on here have already likely met to think they can now use an alt to talk about personal stuff and nobody will know itâs them. Itâs more that the community here will absolutely know itâs the same person under both idâs if youâre a regular on here.
my point basically is, alts are a stupid way to think youâre avoiding linking this super private thing youâre posting to your main id. it doesnât have much to do with outing alts. if someone posts a super private thing, you probably shouldnât post that itâs the same poster on here because thatâs rude, but every regular who already knows you as this main id will know and youâre kinda dumb to think they wonât.
Someone apparently connected an alt to JFG on the AO but didnât out it for which Iâm grateful. It doesnât matter now but I was stressed at the time. Honestly I was stupid for posting so much.
From comments I have made here and back on AO, itâs not hard to figure out who I am.
If, however, I felt a need to post a question here that (for example) suggested I was considering changing jobs/companies, I would probably want to do so with an alt.
Back in the olden days of the CAS water cooler, I had two accounts, one an alias and one under my real name. In the kerfuffle over pseudonymity that triggered the demise of that forum, I made a point of writing in favor of pseudonymity using my real name.
No, you were awesome for posting so much. It gave much entertainment, and it is a travesty that the giant thread wasnât preserved. I should have worked harder on the summary thread.