What are your other public, online identities?

[zby]

I am not a veteran here, but I have been hanging around for some time and, I must say, I learnt to value the opinion of you other monks very high. It would be nice if I could recognize your voice on other online fora. Perhaps we could establish a habit of putting it on the homepage?

As far as I am concerned I do have a username on slashdot (the same as here) but I don't post there much.

For those liking a lengthy read (an abstract is available too): THE AUGMENTED SOCIAL NETWORK: BUILDING IDENTITY AND TRUST INTO THE NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET is a paper discussing why consolidation of our online identity is so important. A less ambitious but perhaps more in the mindset of "Worse is Better" project: FOAF.

[halley]

On the "everything2" site, which uses this same engine by the way, this is known as a getting to know you node. What's your favorite color? Emacs or vi? Last book you read?

A lot of participants in many communities are understandably interested in reading such nodes and extending the inevitably long list of replies. A lot of other participants shrug and move on to something else to talk about... something more on-topic or worth the time to read.

I don't mean to sound rude; we've all heard about the arrogant colleague who asked at party introductions a boorish "will I need to remember you?" But what's the real value of, as you say, consolidating our online identity from site to site? People migrate and mutate their identities online; that's one of the medium's strengths.

And what's the value of lumping it all in a single getting-to-know-you posting? If you wanted to research connections on a particular individual, it wouldn't be that hard. Make some guesses. Review the clues on each potential site's equivalent of a "personal node." Hey, just ask them with a direct chatterbox /msg or email. Why ask en masse, to invite answers of strangers, answers that you won't really absorb or catalogue?

Lastly, what value will this have to the reader in a year? Some monks will have left their perlish frocks behind by choice, or passed through the perly gates (uh, sorry). Maybe the folks who replied will have risen here while ended their involvement in other virtual communities. Even with some revisions to the replies, it's instantly out of date, and soon about as interesting as asking whether they caught that Adam Ant concert at the Garden last weekend.

Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud. Enjoy the cocktail conversation value of this. I was just asking myself, but if you've got more coherent thought behind 'consolidation of online identity,' it would pass some semi-interesting time.

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[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

[Jenda]

I really like the "will I need to remeber you?" line. I wount need to ask like that though, I don't remember anyone. ;-)

Jenda
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
   -- Rick Osborne

P.S.: I don't want anyone to know my other selves.

Edit by castaway: Closed small tag in signature

[zby]

The value of such a consolidated online identity is the reputation that you don't need to rebuild from scratch every time you enter a new community. The semi-anonymous state of todays internet while attractive for the first glance is not very usefull. In every online community the identity of its participants plays a central role - it's not possible to have a community of fully anonymous members. The value of network lays in the possible connections between it's nodes, when you divide the network into separate compartments the value drastically deminishes - and that is the state of today's internet where each community is a separate island and gaining reputation in some new forum is like an overseas journey.

A very sound argumentation you'll find in the linked paper "THE AUGMENTED SOCIAL NETWORK", I don't wan't to copy it here.

Update: A practical example of a topic that would benefit from a cross border communication is templating. This technique is used in many languages why not share the experiences?

[thinker]

Hi zby

I'm known as Anonymous Coward on slashdot

first post

cheers

thinker :-)

[Anonymous Monk]

You too!?! Wow, what are the odds!

-1 Troll ;-)

[belg4mit]

Several monks include this information on their home nodes, I daresay most/all of these who actually wish for the dotted lines to be drawn. Others, such as myself, may not have made the lines explicit, but have such a unique name that you can assume if you see it elsewhere it is them.

--
I'm not belgian but I play one on TV.

[sauoq]

It would be nice if I could recognize your voice on other online fora.

To take a quote from BrowserUk's sig, "Examine what is said, not who speaks."

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";

[zby]

"Examine what is said, not who speaks."

That's fine when you have the expertise for that, when not you can only rely on the reputation of the speaker.

[robobunny]

I always use the name robobunny when it's available. It is often taken already, which I guess is understandable. The thing that really annoys me is when the username robobunny.com or even www.robobunny.com is taken. Why would anyone other than me want to register my domain name as their username? It boggles the mind. If you are going to pretend that you have a website, you should at least pick a website that is popular.

[blue_cowdawg]

I've never really "hidden" behind my on-line identity. I have several identities that I use on-line but you will notice my "real" identity is in my signature line anyway.

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Peter L. Berghold	Brewer of Belgian Ales
[e-mail]	www.berghold.net
Unix Professional