War of the nyms

Please don’t hold it against me, I know it’s somewhat of a tacky play on words, but I just couldn’t resist doing it. It also sounded a bit catchier than just calling it nymwars. But that is somewhat part of the long-standing Internet culture, being able to think outside the box. Not following dominant social conventions.

Blaming all bad behaviour online on the use of pseudonyms is unfortunately also part of the long-standing Internet culture. Because that is much easier to do then to look at why something was done and by whom.

It is easy to blame a rise in murders on the access to guns legally. As it is easy to blame alcoholism on the easy access to alcohol legally.

Instead we should rather look at us — our society.

Social networks, guns, alcohol, etc — they are only tools for some to, lack of a better word, express themselves stronger. Unfortunately, when the effect of that expression is negative, it is of course unwanted.

However, social networks are great tools to stay in touch with friends and family, make new friends and quickly spread independent news. Guns can be great fun when shooting at targets in a competition. And a cold beer after a long day at work on a summer day — beautiful.

Let us take a look back at social networks, how they can easily spread news and important information rapidly across the world. If the news or information you are putting out there is considered controversial, showing your true identity might not be in your favour. Depending on the country you are in, the risks can be anything from being laughed at to ending up dead.

Which leads us to the expression, nymwars. It heated up when Google didn’t allow the use of pseudonyms on Google+. Much like Facebook, they both demand that you use your real name. Because doing so, people will act more nice and it will prevent spam, they claim.

If you ask me, regardless of real name or not, people will still behave like jerks if they feel like it. Go to a nightclub and you will experience people being jerks to each right in each other’s faces without much hesitation. And it will hardly prevent spam, more like increasing it, making it easier to track you because you are using your real name.

Online I’m known as Dr. W. But if you ever receive my business card, you will find my real name and Dr. W printed on it. Because that is who I am — online. It’s not made-up, more like an abbreviation. I don’t have much to hide, just my privacy.

The use of pseudonyms isn’t new. Mark Twain used one. So has Stephen King. Unfortunately far too many abuse that power to be able to hide their identity. But punishing those of us who has no ill intentions is not the right way to do it.

If we were to follow that logic, we would have to punish a lot more people and ban a lot more things. Which means we would have to, in the end, say goodbye to freedom. And we don’t want that, right?