Many blog posts or informational articles
weigh the pros and cons of using an alias and why you might want one. The rest
of the conversation happens in the comments. The majority of comment threads
are quite reasonable and usually expand on some aspects of the pros and cons in
the articles or give a personal anecdote about an awkward situation
involving an alias of their own or someone else’s.
The main reason for using an alias is to
separate your personal life from your professional life or your online persona
from your offline one. Some cite privacy, others reputation or
credibility as reasons for using one. Authors have long been known to use
pen names, or alternate author names, for themselves. Some authors have
multiple pseudonyms so they can write in a range of genres without losing or
confusing their publics. An author who wrote poetry and fantasy might use their
real name for poetry and something like Raul Bloodworth for fantasy
books. Potential college students are now changing their identities online
until they have been definitively accepted to their chosen university.
Using a professional alias can prevent bosses or
colleagues from seeing those embarrassing photos of you or a status update
that you’re not particularly proud of. It can give you some privacy from the
online world. True privacy is becoming more scarce every day. It
also puts a barrier between potential stalkers and you, making it difficult to
track you down. Online, you can create multiple aliases tailored to your
specific interests. It makes being involved in both the local opera chat
rooms and online massive multiplayer gaming community a little easier to
separate. However, those that are against using an alias often promote
using strict privacy settings for online profiles.
There are negative factors to take into account
when making the decision to use an alias or not. Using a bad or very fake
pseudonym can reflect negatively on you. Your alias may give people an
impression of you that is false. Revealing your real name to someone or having
others accidentally slip online can be awkward. It can cast a shadow of
dishonesty around you. The decision of whether to use an alias or not is
yours.
Facebook and Google have been known to push a
“real names” policy. But there may be concrete reasons, outside of separating a
personal and professional life, for using an alias. It helps former victims of
crimes or threats, those with security-related jobs, and those with
a volatile family history protect themselves.
However, the pros of using an alias may
eventually outweigh the cons and even become a necessity when online. During
the course of the semester, we discussed surveillance and privacy abilities and
concerns. Online shopping has become an incredibly smooth process because
companies, particularly those like Amazon, track buyer’s habits and make
predictions for future purchases. Metadata and content records are also
associated with your online persona. Hypothetically, the more intrusive
surveillance becomes, the more beneficial a separate online persona may
be. There may not be a completely exhaustive method to separate your offline
persona from your online one, but by fragmenting your identity across
platforms, tracking you as one single person becomes harder.
Sources:
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