Today Google announced that they will allow pseudonyms on Google+. There are some caveats, of course, you can’t call yourself “captaincrunch24″ or something equally silly. The pseudonym should either sound like an actual name or be established with a good-sized following1. You can’t go to G+ and legitimately start new accounts willy-nilly, like you can on Twitter. This is good news for those of us that have established (albeit without the good-sized following) pseudonyms.
There’s still some talk around that only people who use their “real names” can be taken seriously or have valid opinions or blah blah blah. My argument against that has always been “How do you know that’s a real name?” Pfft. Trolls are trolls whether they use their real names or not. The only difference is that people who aren’t recognized by their pseudonym or who just make up a username for one particular instance feel more free to say overtly rude shit. With their “real names” they dress up their asshattery with more polite language. Doesn’t prevent them from being assholes. We all know that. We’re netizens and have been at this for a bit. The people complaining that others aren’t using their “real names” haven’t been conned into thinking the person they’re talking to is actually a really hair 50 year-old man and not a hot twentysomething chick with hot hooters who calls herself “Jessica Johnson”.
Anyway, I feel a bit liberated over there now that the pseudonym ban has been officially lifted. I’ve decided that I’m liking G+ better than Twitter. Yes, I liked it better than Twitter when it first came out, but then I followed mostly tech types and it got a little bit boring. Now my pendulum has swung and I’m liking it again. There isn’t as much quick information, but the conversation is way better. Or it will be as soon as the people I’m dragging over from Twitter start replying in more than 140 characters. I get to leave my usual long, rambling comments in one shot instead of breaking it up into 50 separate tweets2.
I hope that some of my favorite peeps will adopt their old pseudos and come over to play now that it’s open again. I don’t like Facebook, as anyone who has known me more than a week knows, and I’m so not going back over there for any reason. Did you hear that Facebook is giving Politico access to private message contents now? That’s more than a bot thing and it’s super creepy. Yes, Google is also creepy to a certain extent, but I don’t hate them like I do Facebook. Yes, that probably is because I’ve got issues. Yes, we’re going to pretend I have perfectly valid reasons why Facebook is the devil and should be shot while I love to hang at G+.
I’m glad they came around while leaving rules in place that supposedly prevent the true trollz from taking over. Spammers are there, of course, but they’re only bothersome in the Tech King’s comments areas. Dude has this long post about the battle between 3 major social sites and this freak comes in with “Hi…” WHAT? Shut the fuck up, comment whore. *flag*
I like it because it’s like Twitter in that the information flows by fast but different because the conversation happens on the posts where the news was reported. We can tweet that shit or we can just reshare and get some of our people involved and pretty soon you’ve got new followers. Potential friends at the beginning3 until I decide we’re incompatible and should part ways (BLOCK BUTTON, bitchez!).
My ambien is kicking in. I put pics of my shoulder up in my whiners circle. If you are a radiologist, go tell me what those little spots below the ball are. I can’t wait until Wednesday, which means I’ll totally diagnose myself with shoulder cancer after reading WebMD all day. I’m just sayin’.
I edited this post because the last paragraph was in the wrong spot and mucho typos.
- There doesn’t seem to be a definition of good-sized following yet. [↩]
- This paragraph is for those who I’m still trying to convince to participate in G+ more. [↩]
- I maintain that there is nothing wrong with meeting people for potential friendships. Gotta meet them and test them first. [↩]
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5 Comments
I got a following, dammit. I got MINIONS! Oh, that whole real name malarkey has always driven me bananas. However… I do see an eensy weensy point to a piece of it. If someone is using a real name and just being their own bad self, doing their thing online, as people do, for years and whatnot, and others come along under nyms, start a bullying campaign, threatening and shit… well, it really is kind of upfucked then. Real Name is out and exposed, while Nymwit is protected. But that’s not the reason why FB and G+ wanted Real Names. They didn’t care about PEOPLE … they just wanted their advertisers to be happy, I’m pretty sure. The adheads want to target real peeps, not Nymwits. It’s always about money.
I got minions too. Well, I think I have minions. In reality I think I’m just another minion for someone else. Which is fine as long as I’m allowed to think I have minions.
That’s actually a good point in favor of pseudonyms, I think. We’ve all seen someone do exactly that sort of thing, or call someone’s boss, or whatever because they were mad about something said in a comments box. Then you’ve got this tread-head on da Twitteh who is threatening to sue people– under his single-name pseudonym.
Anyway, that’s an even better reason to use a nym. You know, you’re sitting there, thinking to yourself “Boy, this episode of Glee really sucks balls” so you tweet it. Asshat decides he hates you because you said something off about Glee. He and his minions dig into your history. He finds your ex and gets in touch and BAM! It’s total bullshit that people do that sort of thing, but they do. Better to give yourself an online presence with a made up name than to let assholes find out how to ruin your life at work.
I agree that they don’t care about being polite online or reputations or anything. They want to sell us. We are a commodity. At least I know that with G+. Facebook sells user info and then when found out says “oops. You found out.” Anyway, you’re absolutely right about that. It’s all about advertising dollars. But, for some reason, otherwise intelligent people fall for the line “We just want to make your experience better!” and discussions come from that.
I did see a study (not reputable, but who cares about that when providing proof that I’m right?) that showed pseudonymous commenters left better comments than real namers or anonymous posters. I thought that was interesting.
I used Twitter for all of about a week and I still don’t get it. And I don’t think it’s cause I’m “old”. I don’t see the point of putting all this info out into the ether in 140 character bits. Do people really care about all of my random thoughts? Do I even care?
I’d spend more time at G+ if more people were over there. So far, you’re the only one I know that uses it consistently. I’ll remember to check you out from time to time. (Hope that didn’t sound all stalker/creepy old guy but you know what I mean).
You are right. I just tee’d off on a teaparty idiot on G+ in over 1000 words and three paragraphs. Dude thought Private Equity firms are angels sent from above to drive the USA economic engine. There is no way I could have ripped him apart enough on the twittez.
And, it felt could – like getting out of my cage.
Still – Did you know you unfollowed me? Did I do something wrong? :<
@Vince,
I use Twitter mostly for information and, believe it or not, watching my shows with other people. Honestly, tweeting out a quick “OMG! Did you see Sophia? #WalkingDead” and then a bunch of people saying the same thing or worse (ha!) is fun. The hashtags are probably the best part of Twitter.
I was having decent back-and-forth on there, mostly one-liners that are easy to shoot off, but I’m trying to get the folks I engage with there over to G+. It’s a difficult transition for some folks. I’m currently using it for a news feed and word games with another user (which is fun).
@Rob,
I didn’t unfollow you. I think Twitter did that for me. Tricia says it unfollows me for her all the time. I fixed it. I didn’t uncircle you on the other though, so there’s that.