Fictional online identities are becoming a thing of the past. Instant Messaging has lost its grip around America’s youth and has been replaced with social networking forums like FaceBook and MySpace. People who partake in online social networking forums almost always identify themselves with their first name and not a nickname or pseudonym because they want to be credited with their contribution, whether they are videos, photos or even opinions. I believe people can’t describe themselves in one nickname. Human beings are too complex to be described in one nickname. An online nickname like Mr. Democrat for example is too broad. Are we to assume that this person will always take a stance with democrats on all subjects? My answer is no. I believe in providing ones real name online because it doesn’t lead to any assumptions about that person and that your expectations and opinions of that person are neutral prior to viewing their work. Providing your real name online establishes your credibility with a larger audience, who will read or view your work and not just turn you away based on your name. To provide support to my idea of online credibility, Judith S. Donath states “No matter how brilliant the posting, there is no gain in reputation if the readers are oblivious to whom the author is” (Donath).
Building ones credibility online is more crucial than ever with all kinds of attempts of deception and misinterpreted information online. Knowing an actual name of someone who contributed something online automatically increases their status in the virtual community and is a small yet significant step towards more credibility online. As users of the internet, we should not identify ourselves by nicknames because nicknames are for infamous hackers, who contribute nothing to the online community and are pathetic deceptive individuals in my opinion.
Social networking websites dedicated to matching someone with their significant other have become a prime example of the transition of pseudonyms to actual names as forms of online identification. An article written in the Toronto Star by an unknown author describes the problems faced by many men on the website Lavalife, which is very similar to eharmony and match.com. Many of these men would describe themselves in a short paragraph, which would generate interest among many women, but when the women tried to interpret the men’s nicknames, they became confused. One example of a nickname was “curious cupid,” which didn’t match his opening line of “1000 words are worth a picture” (Toronto).
The article focuses on a man named Frank, who has been on sixty different dates and has been disappointed on every one. His main complaint is the person he meets face to face isn’t the person who he had chatted with online. It can be argued that providing ones real name online is one step closer to online credibility. In fact, that would be an interesting study for social scientists to perform to see how providing ones real name online effects the trust and believability of recipients of that information.
Even though I have not condoned the use of nicknames online created by the user him or herself, I don’t see anything wrong with nicknames being generated by other people to describe a person. For example, a famous writer named Stephen Glass for the New Republic made headlines everywhere providing his readers with very provocative readings that seemed to match with main stream stereotypes. These readings were later discovered to have been fabricated in 1998. A movie was made about him entitled “Shattered Glass” and a book was written entitled “The Fabulist,” by Stephen Glass himself, which is what people called him after his downfall (Wikipedia).
An online blog that I participate in is Home Theater Forum. As an electronic retail salesman, I need to know my product and be as knowledgeable as I can for the customers. Becoming a member of Home Theater Forum is free, but does require a user name. That user name must be a real name; it can’t be a fictitious name like Plasma Man for example. They want to create a very formal atmosphere without profanity where people can discuss the latest technology and be personally credited for their work.
I believe that nicknames in general aren’t bad, but sometimes when they are used online, it creates a sense of distrust and lack of credibility. Look in any newspaper or academic journal and I guarantee you won’t find a credited author represented by his or her nickname. I also believe that the popularity of nicknames will decrease with the ever rising use of online social networking forums.
References
Donath, Judith S. (1996, October 12). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community.
Retrieved February 21, 2007 From
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
Toronto Star. (2006, April 7). A few more good men. Retrieved February 22, 2007 From
http://web.lexis-nexis.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/universe/
Wikipedia. Stephen Glass. Retrieved February 23, 2007 From http://wikipedia.org
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