Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

Why use pseudonyms?

RichardHRichardH Veteran
edited January 2010 in General Banter
I'm new to online forums and appreciate the sharing and learning I have found. The one thing I do not understand though is the use of pseudonyms, particularly on Buddhist sites. We are real people ( I'm talking in the conventional sense not the absolute....ok) with real lives, why not just be that? This isnt a judgment of those who choose anonymity, I just do not understand the reason.

Maybe some folks could explain the reason? Thank you:)
«1

Comments

  • edited October 2009
    Hi Richard, the internet is a weird as well as a wonderful place, and all kinds of people inhabit it, including stalkers, paedophiles ,etc etc

    Buddhist group sites are still places which can be viewed by the public. As a single woman, I would feel far too vunerable if I used my real name.

    Kind regards.


    Dazzle
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Hi Dazzle. Well , I certainly can't argue with that, and I respect you concerns, but I will debate the general principle. I am an artist and my face and name are all over the internet connected with various galleries and media. If anyone wants to find me it is a click away. I also know many single women artists who are equally exposed in public profile, Anyone can see this stuff, and although modern life has these concerns, they are not especially concerned. It seems different on these forums. Once again I respect your choice, especially on the count of genuine fear, but it seems there are also other reasons for other people....
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Maybe some folks could explain the reason?
    There isn't single reason. Dazzle's reason is a very good one. I've talked to a couple of women who have had the sort of online experiences that encourage anonymity. Also, a pseudonym can help establish an identity. Or it can send a message. For example, Dazzle's pseudonym suggests to me that there's something about Buddhism that she finds dazzling. In my case, my pseudonym is in a language that very few people speak, and so it sends a message intended only for me. It reminds me that my understanding of Buddhism may be unadulterated lunacy.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Ok. So we have a concern for safety, which in the case of a single woman is impolitic to question. There is the creativity of inventing an Identity (and avoiding the risk of being outed as a wingnut). This all sounds fare enough, but there is something else going on.....

    What does anonymity provide?
  • edited October 2009
    I'm new to online forums and appreciate the sharing and learning I have found. The one thing I do not understand though is the use of pseudonyms, particularly on Buddhist sites. We are real people ( I'm talking in the conventional sense not the absolute....ok) with real lives, why not just be that? This isnt a judgment of those who choose anonymity, I just do not understand the reason.

    Maybe some folks could explain the reason? Thank you:)

    Hi Richard

    I was given my pseudonym originally as a nickname by a boyfriend I met online many moons ago . It just kind of stuck..:) I sort of associate Medusa with being my 'online' self . However, that does not preclude me from discussing and sharing my 'real life' on forums,(probably too freely actually!).

    I tend to use Medusa as my on screen name initially; but willingly disclose my true identity as soon as it seems appropriate or useful.

    And for the record.. I am Lesley from Milton Keynes :p
    Pleased to meet you.;)
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited October 2009
    I can talk honestly about aspects of my life which I wouldn't want a prospective employer to turn up using google.
  • LincLinc Site owner Detroit Moderator
    edited October 2009
    It took me many years before I told anyone my real name online, and several years beyond that before I started openly using my real name.

    The Internet and its inhabitants are not to be trifled with. Part of my decision is that I have (the luxury of) little concern for potential employers and a maximum appreciation for the deep crap I can get myself in by being so open.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2009
    The name I use on here - and have used on other Buddhist sites - is my real one, albeit my middle name, but I like it.
    Also, it reminds me that we occasionally, out of convention or necessity, occasionally present ourselves to different people, on different occasions, in different ways.....whilst discussions of duality, self- and not-self rage, we should all remember that due to attachment, we are all pretty complex... and thereby hangs a discussion of its own.
    I frequent other forums where anonymity is encouraged due to personal safety, responsibility for personal privacy as well as that of those associated with us, and to prevent too many people occasionally sharing the same names and causing confusion....

    Know what I mean, John....?;)
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Oh, yeah, Lincoln raises another important point: there used to be a lot of trolling on one of the forums where I hang out, and one of the trolls accused someone using their real name there of pedophilia.
  • edited October 2009
    A couple of reasons-

    Mainly, its a safety issue, im a woman, so its safer not to give out your name.

    Also its nice to have an 'online identity'. Its you, online :) (well i know what i mean) LOL

    My online name is because i love Japanese culture, Geisha, martial arts ect.
    Its a 'japanesey' theme name.
    You call yourself something you think reflects your interests maybe :)
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2009
    ......and, of course, all names are, at the last, only pseudonyms.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Well said, Simon dearest.
  • edited October 2009
    I would use my real name, as I am not ashamed of this website being associated with my name. But I am, however, afraid of the malicious intents of some people out there.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    fivebells wrote: »
    Oh, yeah, Lincoln raises another important point: there used to be a lot of trolling on one of the forums where I hang out, and one of the trolls accused someone using their real name there of pedophilia.
    Pardon my naivity Fivebells but what is a Troll?, sounds awful. There is still the point I made earlier. Many people including myself have careers that involve having our identities; histories, contacts, and views, plastered all over the place, and we dont really talk about danger. Yet it seems folks who are not so public do. Is this just a perception thing.. ?

    Anyway. Its nice to meet you all by any name.:)
  • LincLinc Site owner Detroit Moderator
    edited October 2009
    I also believe that using your real-life name requires that you use your real-life instincts of whom to associate with and be discerning. :)

    I am less open on sites that I don't run myself! :lol:
  • LincLinc Site owner Detroit Moderator
    edited October 2009
    what is a Troll?, sounds awful.
    This explains why you find pseudonyms odd! :p

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Lincoln wrote: »
    This explains why you find pseudonyms odd! :p

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29
    Aha! That is what I encountered in the first forum I tried. Some characters who just seemed out to trash people. Well there doesn't seem to be that kind of thing going on here.
    Nice to meet you Lincoln.
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Trolls are incredibly useful for practice, actually. :)
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    fivebells wrote: »
    Trolls are incredibly useful for practice, actually. : )
    ...in this very life they [the person being reviled] will, by means of that humiliation, annul those impure deeds of their former lives, and they will reach the enlightenment of a Buddha.
    —Diamond Sutra
  • edited October 2009
    I'm new to online forums and appreciate the sharing and learning I have found. The one thing I do not understand though is the use of pseudonyms, particularly on Buddhist sites. We are real people ( I'm talking in the conventional sense not the absolute....ok) with real lives, why not just be that? This isnt a judgment of those who choose anonymity, I just do not understand the reason.

    Maybe some folks could explain the reason? Thank you:)

    1. It's FUN!! And there's nothing wrong with that.
    2. Our "Christian" names (sic) don't always represent our true selves - especially if we have developed new faiths and beliefs in life, our old names may have worn out. What's the harm in developing a new fresh identity?
    3. Often when folks are ordained, they assume a new name anyway - consider this as a practice :]
    4. It's FUN!! :)
    5. People take on pseudonames in all walks of life - as musicians, DJs, artists, singers, authors, in sports, in role-playing games, and what have you - so what could possibly be wrong with doing it on online forums?
    6. It's FUN!!
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Oh.......by the way. My Dharma name is Kojip. Recieved in Seon, meaning Four Noble truths. Stopped using it because I kept getting "Kojak"
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Lincoln wrote: »
    I am less open on sites that I don't run myself! lol
    Also, owning or being a contact person for a web domain tends to expose your identity. There are ways around that, but you can't help leaving some traces.
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Richard, suppose someone is on the web for non-commercial reasons, has no need to establish an identity for marketing purposes, has no need to establish a reputation, and simply wants to talk to other people who share an interest. Give us one good reason why that person would not use a pseudonym.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    RenGalskap wrote: »
    Richard, suppose someone is on the web for non-commercial reasons, has no need to establish an identity for marketing purposes, has no need to establish a reputation, and simply wants to talk to other people who share an interest. Give us one good reason why that person would not use a pseudonym.
    Its clearly a personal decision. I could not give a good reason to use either one's real name or a pseudonym. I would use my real name just because it wouldn't occur to me to do otherwise. The fact that there is a marketing aspect to being an artist doesnt lessen to any extend the deeply personal exposure. Its quite visceral.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    RenGalskap wrote: »
    Richard, suppose someone is on the web for non-commercial reasons, has no need to establish an identity for marketing purposes, has no need to establish a reputation, and simply wants to talk to other people who share an interest. Give us one good reason why that person would not use a pseudonym.
    ......authenticity.
  • edited October 2009
    Sorry, Richard, you're wrong. How do I even know that your name is Richard? How do I know that it's not the name of your 5th grade math teacher? And just because your name is Richard Herman means that I should supposedly trust you as an authentic, genuine, accurate source of information?

    Your name "Richard" is just as arbitrary as "sambodhi" or "federica".

    Please. That's almost as good as believing that Al Gore invented the Internet.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Hi Sambodhi. I hear what you are saying, but we differ on this. I can easily be checked out as a real person .....go ahead. With a real identity comes accountability. My website is on my face page with links to email and so forth (and no this is not commercial advertising!) RenGalSkap suggested that revealing your life online is about business and reputation (ie money and ego), and I think that is a dodge.

    I live in Toronto with my partner Jennifer and son William who has mild autism. We have had to deal with cancer this year and a challenging art market ( improving thank goodness) We have a weiner dog named Dapple who is, I'm ashamed to say, very neurotic because we have babied her so much. Our Sangha is the Theravada Buddhist Community of Toronto a Thai Forest Lay Sangha in the lineage of Ajahn Cha. I took refuge under Samu Sunim in 1990 or there abouts..... Thats about it.


    The only reason Ive heard that make sense for anonymity are, fear for safety, concern for being seen unfavourably by a prospective boss as......a Buddhist... I guess, and for fun.

    Still I respect your choice and it is good to meet you by the name you choose. This is just my honest view on the matter, and once I get use to this culture maybe this view will change. I hope we can get to know each other.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2009
    We have a weiner dog named Dapple who is, I'm ashamed to say, very neurotic because we have babied her so much....

    Well, as a bona-fide dog behaviourist, I can help (or should that be bonio-fido?)

    Dogs are never too old to learn, and in fact, pick up new and correctly-established behavioural modifications at the click of a finger.
    It's the humans that take a while....:rolleyes: :D;)

    so as to not steer the topic off, if you want help, let me know.
    I'll leave it there. :)
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited October 2009
    The only reason Ive heard that make sense for anonymity are... concern for being seen unfavourably by a prospective boss as......a Buddhist... I guess...

    It also affords freedom to talk about things one wouldn't while hanging around the water cooler. Bouts of depression, for instance.
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    RenGalSkap suggested that revealing your life online is about business and reputation (ie money and ego)...
    No, I didn't.
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Its clearly a personal decision... Its quite visceral.
    It seems to me that that answers your question.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    RenGalskap wrote: »
    No, I didn't.
    O.K.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    RenGalskap wrote: »
    It seems to me that that answers your question.
    oh now...context. Yes sure its a choice. It is interesting to see the responses when the subject is identity.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    When I overcome the shame of our dog failings, I'll ask you a question or two. Thanks
    Federica
  • edited October 2009
    If anything, the internet is safer for people online than in real life. Sure there are some dodgy places online, but this isn't one of them.

    I mean who on earth comes to an internet forum to read opinions? Well, people who want to read opinions of course. you want opinions; there's no shortage on the internet. Who wants to be noticed most? hmm

    This isn't like the terminator where someone gets picked out arbitrarily from a phone directory and hunted down.

    If you're gonna annoy someone do it in real life, or by proxy if you're a coward. Online, people are often separated by oceans, highways, hedges and bogs and stuff. Real obstacles, that take unwanted effort.

    Places like this are here to provide a community spirit, something which of late is getting lost in the shopping culture. You know- community- a sort of extended family where everyone bounces off one another.
  • edited October 2009
    Hi Sambodhi. I hear what you are saying, but we differ on this. I can easily be checked out as a real person .....go ahead. With a real identity comes accountability. My website is on my face page with links to email and so forth (and no this is not commercial advertising!) RenGalSkap suggested that revealing your life online is about business and reputation (ie money and ego), and I think that is a dodge.

    I live in Toronto with my partner Jennifer and son William who has mild autism. We have had to deal with cancer this year and a challenging art market ( improving thank goodness) We have a weiner dog named Dapple who is, I'm ashamed to say, very neurotic because we have babied her so much. Our Sangha is the Theravada Buddhist Community of Toronto a Thai Forest Lay Sangha in the lineage of Ajahn Cha. I took refuge under Samu Sunim in 1990 or there abouts..... Thats about it.


    The only reason Ive heard that make sense for anonymity are, fear for safety, concern for being seen unfavourably by a prospective boss as......a Buddhist... I guess, and for fun.

    Still I respect your choice and it is good to meet you by the name you choose. This is just my honest view on the matter, and once I get use to this culture maybe this view will change. I hope we can get to know each other.
    That is all wonderful, and I appreciate you sharing that information with me. But... How does that help you teach me the dharma?
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Hi Sambodhi. How does that help me teach you Dharma? Well, first of all I wouldn't presume to teach you anything. This to me is not just any forum, it is an online Sangha, and I am treating it as such.. You will not find me going on about my personal narrative, but the issue of identity was being discussed and I presented an identity. The Dharma is the reason I'm here and that is what I'll be talking about....and listening to. I look forward to sharing insights.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2009
    At least this thread set me thinking again about names.

    How many have you had? Even my given and inherited name are not static. Brought up half in French, half in English, neither has a fixed nature or pronunciation. To my teachers, I was called by my surname, which was my father's before me but not my grandfather's as Pa changed it in 1919 to avoid anti-German sentiment. My brother called me "Salmon" when a baby but I was "Simon" (never "Si" until I moved to Gloucestershire) for most of my life. My wives, children and grandchildren have called me many things, some of them repeatable and agreeable.

    So who am I? Am I what will appear on my tombstone? I am certainly not who I appear to be on my birth certificate because that was changed "by order of the Registrar General" when I was legitimised.

    I am all these and more; all these and less too.

    Does anyone else remember the scene in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia with its discussion about names?
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Yes but...... Yes a name is provisional, yes it is purely relative and has no ultimate value. Yes even your worldy identity can be a fuzzy thing. Still.. in the face of real sociopolitical realities, economic realities, being admitted to the hospital, being picked up by the cops for something you didnt do (happened to my father inlaw) isnt a lot of this "whats in a name " talk just so much Buddhist sophistry. You have a real identity with real accountability to your family and society. Ofcourse this is not absolute, but lets not confuse the absolute with the relative. A mountain is not "real" in the sense of being compound, contingent, and impermanent , but you want to avoid it in a plane. The tax collector is impermanent too, but we dont want to be confused with the neerdowell living down the street. You have a name, an identity, and when it is revealed, you become accountable.
  • edited October 2009
    If anything, the internet is safer for people online than in real life. Sure there are some dodgy places online, but this isn't one of them.

    I mean who on earth comes to an internet forum to read opinions? Well, people who want to read opinions of course. you want opinions; there's no shortage on the internet. Who wants to be noticed most? hmm

    This isn't like the terminator where someone gets picked out arbitrarily from a phone directory and hunted down.

    If you're gonna annoy someone do it in real life, or by proxy if you're a coward. Online, people are often separated by oceans, highways, hedges and bogs and stuff. Real obstacles, that take unwanted effort.

    Places like this are here to provide a community spirit, something which of late is getting lost in the shopping culture. You know- community- a sort of extended family where everyone bounces off one another.

    Completely off topic..but I love your username. It makes me giggle everytime I see it.:lol:
  • edited October 2009
    When I overcome the shame of our dog failings, I'll ask you a question or two. Thanks
    Federica

    Had to laugh...:D
    know just how you feel! I darent ask Federica for any tips either because it would mean having to tell her the full extent of my dogs weirdness!:eek::eek:

    He is a Golden Retriever..which apparently accounts for at least half his issues!

    :lol:
  • BarraBarra soto zennie wandering in a cloud in beautiful, bucolic Victoria BC, on the wacky left coast of Canada Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Some good points have been made about why some folks need anonymity. There are some places in N. America where Buddhism is seen as being next to witchcraft and is a challenge to the american way of life. I remember travelling on the train through middle america - seeing a dozen Christian churches in a relatively small town, and wondering how comfortable I would feel there talking about my spiritual beliefs. Fortunately I live in a town where there are probably as many Buddhists and practicing Wiccans as there are Roman Catholics!! One of our community associations re-opened a historic community well and had all their neighborhood churches represented and involved in the blessing - it included First Nations dancers, a Greek Orthodox priest, a female rabbi, a Zen Buddhist, and a Wiccan!

    As for names, I use a long standing pseudonym which I've used publicly, and I which I use as a persona when I publish my poetry and other writing. I also use my real name. I was just updating a family tree that my son was working on and I realized that of my 7 siblings and myself, only 2 of us retained the same name spelling that we had in the land of our birth (the Netherlands) while the rest of us anglicized the spelling when the family immigrated to Canada!

    Pieta
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Would The Mill On The Floss be any less or more of a masterpiece if 'George Eliot' had used here birth name?
  • edited October 2009
    JULIET:

    "Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
    Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
    What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
    Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
    Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
    What's in a name? that which we call a rose
    By any other name would smell as sweet;
    So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
    Retain that dear perfection which he owes
    Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
    And for that name which is no part of thee
    Take all myself."
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Jumbalia:

    "Tis but thy kipper that is my fish;
    Thou art thyfish, though not a kipper.
    What's Kipper? it is nor chicken, nor duck,
    Nor pheasant, nor sparrow, nor any part
    Belonging to goose . O, be some other name!
    What's in a name? that which we call a pickled herring
    By any other name would smell as sweet;
    So Socks would, were he not Socks call'd,
    Retain that dear herring-like sweetness which he owes
    Without that title. Socks, doff thy name,
    And for that name which is no part of thee
    Take all myself."
  • edited October 2009
    ive had some really horrific abuse in the past - some of it really quite scarey... sometimes i do use my real name - but ill never confirm it..

    i even go as far as not revealing my gender, and i keep my location to very general areas ... its about safety and about privacy..

    non of us here really knows who is behind the names and i think its better to be safe and not to use reall identities
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Channah108 wrote: »
    ive had some really horrific abuse in the past - some of it really quite scarey... sometimes i do use my real name - but ill never confirm it..

    i even go as far as not revealing my gender, and i keep my location to very general areas ... its about safety and about privacy..

    non of us here really knows who is behind the names and i think its better to be safe and not to use reall identities
    Well Channah. If that is truly the paranoid state of affairs online, where no one can have the most basic trust in the person you are talking to, where we must conceal ourselves and speak through arms length puppets. If this is true, then this is definitely not Sangha. Sorry for your suffering, but don't lose your head. We have all been abused.
  • edited October 2009
    What's in a name?
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2009
    This is interesting. It keeps going back and forth between people who defend pseudonyms on the basis of "whats in a name?", and people who are saying there personal safety is on the line if this same meaningless name is revealed. This is because behind the talk of emptiness, behind our real names, there is vulnerability and accountability. Its simple.
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited October 2009
    At least this thread set me thinking again about names.

    How many have you had? Even my given and inherited name are not static. Brought up half in French, half in English, neither has a fixed nature or pronunciation. To my teachers, I was called by my surname, which was my father's before me but not my grandfather's as Pa changed it in 1919 to avoid anti-German sentiment. My brother called me "Salmon" when a baby but I was "Simon" (never "Si" until I moved to Gloucestershire) for most of my life. My wives, children and grandchildren have called me many things, some of them repeatable and agreeable.

    So who am I? Am I what will appear on my tombstone? I am certainly not who I appear to be on my birth certificate because that was changed "by order of the Registrar General" when I was legitimised.

    I am all these and more; all these and less too.

    Does anyone else remember the scene in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia with its discussion about names?

    I've had lots of names, some of which can even be printed in public places! The one I use here is my actual (Buddhist) name, part of my ordination name (the full thing is Thubten Rinchen Palzang, which is a bit of a mouthful). It actually feels more like my real name than my real name. I even dream it.

    Of course, I've had nicknames aplenty, including Boomer, Pzang, Zippy (!), even Frog. Having different names is kind of fun actually as they each seem to bring out different aspects of my personality. I've had a number of refuge names as well. I can't even remember them all! But, as was said long ago, a rose by any other name is still a rose...

    No, I don't remember the scene in Lawrence of Arabia. What was it?

    BTW, I have a question: do my stupid puns and jokes qualify me as a troll?! :eek: Oh, I hope not (or do I?)!

    Palzang
Sign In or Register to comment.