Here’s a roundup of stories about pseudonyms online that might be of interest to fans:
- Google’s decision to restrict its new + accounts to people using their legal names has resulted in a variety of protests from affected groups. The My Name is Me project has collected thousands of posts from online users who support choice in how a person identifies themselves, including OTW Board members Francesca Coppa and Rachel Barenblat, The Velveteen Rabbi. Social media scholar danah boyd called the effort to police self-identification as “an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people.” Both she and the My Name is Me page list a number of groups negatively affected by such policies including fans.
- In a different look at the advantages of pseudonymity, author Hanne Blank discusses how difficult she finds it to accept praise for her professionally known work, but is greatly cheered to get comments on her fanfic posts from people she doesn’t know, and who don’t know her — a contrast many fans may be familiar with.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.