Install Theme

Man I looked at that Wil Wheaton article about removing anonymity from gaming that @multiheaded1793 had been complaining about and it’s just … there’s nothing there

It’s not just that he’s ignoring the implications for trans people whose “real names” aren’t their names, or how it could help potential employers and the justice system comb through ill-advised should-be-irrelevant stuff people said a lifetime ago, or how it could be a godsend for stalkers.  It’s that he literally does not have a proposal.  He’s suggesting a sort of policy that tends to have huge glaring flaws, and any such suggestion that treated the reader like a grown-up would address how to patch those flaws with specific clever features, but nope, he’s just like “this bad idea?  worth a try, huh?”

Between this and Arthur Chu’s almost ingeniously terrible “solution” to the same problem, something weird is going on here.  I suspect that the people who write these things don’t really care about reducing internet harassment in a workable way, they just want to remind you that they are against internet harassment, just in case you were worried they might not be among the Good Guys.

  1. gattsuru reblogged this from nostalgebraist and added:
    I’m not sure that I’d go to such a degree. There’s usually an implied plan with more specifics “which this margin is too...
  2. lovestwell reblogged this from nostalgebraist and added:
    I think you’re much too harsh on Wheaton. The goal of his article is to argue that anonymity on gaming forums is a...
  3. neshselg reblogged this from nostalgebraist and added:
    Isn’t status of publication more related to quality of writing and the views it puts forth then content. Also it can be...
  4. fipindustries reblogged this from nostalgebraist