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Comment by paradite | Hacker News Reader

So would this lead to self-censorship on social media?

I already do this in part because of the nature of my job, and it has helped push me to lose interest in the major social media platforms. At the same time, my interaction in more obscure forums like this one and other tech sites has grown significantly.

Who among us isn't already self-censoring?

In contrast to yourself, I'm most self-censored here. In a game or in person is where I feel like I can speak freely. Here, not so much.

Arguably, society could not exist without self-censorship. And of course lying.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-25922569

Wow, I totally didn't know that. I wonder if that would cause me to think differently about the Tencent's Riot Games purchase.

I'm not self-censoring because my account is pseudonymous.

That does not make much difference to CIA or NSA to my knowledge. There are many ways to correlate pseudonymous with your real identity: IP address, usage pattern, speech pattern, or even patterns in the photos that you posted.

That's way I never used pseudonyms, they are practically useless in hiding your real identity. Additionally they give you a false sense of anonymity.

I'm not worried about state-level attacks (unless I become famous). My opinions are not that scandalous (maybe 0.1% are; but that isn't on HN ;). Many (a small percentage, but a large number) people have similar ideas. If my real identity were released, people may disapprove of some ideas; but I'll be fine.

It's kind of like pictures of naked me. I don't want it to be public but it's not that severe either.

Your parents gave you the name "paradite", then?

I think it is a social norm in the English speaking countries to not use real name on Internet forums. So I wouldn't call the use of nicknames or Internet handles examples of pseudonyms.

Also, I have no intention of using this nickname to hide my identity. You can Google it to find everything you need to know about me.

I kind of envy that. But years ago I cared a whole lot about HN and tied my personal self to it. I owe a lot to the community, too. For better or for worse, I'm stuck. I don't know of a community I'd rather be part of. It just is what it is.

Twitter usage in the UK is already heavily policed.

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