16 ms·

Good, I'm glad this is getting traction. Seems like every week I read about another trans person or someone who uses a psuedonym in day-to-day life getting "rep

Good, I'm glad this is getting traction. Seems like every week I read about another trans person or someone who uses a psuedonym in day-to-day life getting "reported" by some asshole and getting locked out of their Facebook, and Facebook seems uninterested in fixing the issue. Honestly, it's heartbreaking, as someone who uses many Facebook open source projects, to talk to engineers at Facebook and find out how many don't know this is even an issue. It's certainly kept me from responding to FB recruitment emails.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
It doesn't just affect people with pseudonyms, too. If you're from some ethnic background which has unusual names, if you have some uncommon or fake-sounding real name, you might also get tripped up.
- nommm-nommm 11y ago
  Facebook Name Police: Native American Names Aren't 'Authentic' Enough - http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/02/13/facebook-name-police-native-american-names-arent-authentic-enough-159188 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/02/13/faceboo...
alimbada 11y ago
> It's certainly kept me from responding to FB recruitment emails. Maybe respond with your concerns?
- bad_user 11y ago
  Do you think they haven't heard these concerns?
  - alimbada 11y ago
    If they hear them from someone they're actively attempting to recruit, I expect it would carry more weight. At the very least it will make FBs HR department aware of the issue. As the parent commenter said, there are a lot of people at FB who aren't even aware of these issues.
    - bad_user 11y ago
      It's more likely that it will make the candidate look like an asshole.
      - larrik 11y ago
        I don't think so. I regularly response to Amazon recruiters with "your reputation for treatment of your developers is poor, and therefore I'm not interested." It helps provide a data point to drive change, something that someone can point to when arguing with their higher-ups.
- avolcano 11y ago
  I'm somewhat optimistic that Facebook will fix this someday, and I didn't want to end on a recruitment blacklist or something in that case. Still, you're right, next time I get one I'll make it clear that this is the biggest reason I'm uninterested, and that if they fix it they should feel free to contact me again :)
pmlnr 11y ago
I don't get this. This is a company, a product, which no one is forced to use.* If you disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook; there are trillions of other options out there to build community sites, some much, much better than FB. That is how you make a change, not by enforcing ideas on a company. *ED. For some situations I understand that it's inevitable - even schools use it as a generic broadcasting media nowadays. But for that, you can clearly use your 'real' name, can't you?
- DanBC 11y ago
  Are you saying it's fine that Facebook chooses to discriminate against GLBT+ people? What happens if we sub in other minorities? "If black people disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook"; "If Jews disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook".
  - aianus 11y ago
    They're not discriminating against GLBT+ people, they're discriminating against people using pseudonyms. I can't show up to a job interview, use a fake name, and claim I'm being discriminated against...
    - DanBC 11y ago
      You know what indirect discrimination is, right? > I can't show up to a job interview, use a fake name, and claim I'm being discriminated against... You could if you're in the process of transitioning. (UK; the US needs to catch up). And it's not a fake name. It's their name. You seem to think that people have this single thing which is their name - that might be true in the US (I dunno) but it's not true in many other places. And because the US rules for changing names on documents are inconsistent a person may have a passport in one name but a driving licence in another.
      - Symbiote 11y ago
        You could probably go further — at most only HR need to know an official name, probably with a note on the file reminding them that it's confidential. That need only be revealed once you're accepting the job offer. I have recently moved to Denmark, and several public or semi-public database systems have had special attention drawn to how my name might be used, and instructions to avoid certain uses. (For example, there seemed to be a special way to register in a municipality under an assumed name, to avoid stalkers etc.)

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

It doesn't just affect people with pseudonyms, too. If you're from some ethnic background which has unusual names, if you have some uncommon or fake-sounding real name, you might also get tripped up.

nommm-nommm 11y ago
Facebook Name Police: Native American Names Aren't 'Authentic' Enough - http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/02/13/facebook-name-police-native-american-names-arent-authentic-enough-159188 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/02/13/faceboo...

alimbada 11y ago

> It's certainly kept me from responding to FB recruitment emails. Maybe respond with your concerns?

bad_user 11y ago
Do you think they haven't heard these concerns?
- alimbada 11y ago
  If they hear them from someone they're actively attempting to recruit, I expect it would carry more weight. At the very least it will make FBs HR department aware of the issue. As the parent commenter said, there are a lot of people at FB who aren't even aware of these issues.
  - bad_user 11y ago
    It's more likely that it will make the candidate look like an asshole.
    - larrik 11y ago
      I don't think so. I regularly response to Amazon recruiters with "your reputation for treatment of your developers is poor, and therefore I'm not interested." It helps provide a data point to drive change, something that someone can point to when arguing with their higher-ups.
avolcano 11y ago
I'm somewhat optimistic that Facebook will fix this someday, and I didn't want to end on a recruitment blacklist or something in that case. Still, you're right, next time I get one I'll make it clear that this is the biggest reason I'm uninterested, and that if they fix it they should feel free to contact me again :)

pmlnr 11y ago

I don't get this. This is a company, a product, which no one is forced to use.* If you disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook; there are trillions of other options out there to build community sites, some much, much better than FB. That is how you make a change, not by enforcing ideas on a company. *ED. For some situations I understand that it's inevitable - even schools use it as a generic broadcasting media nowadays. But for that, you can clearly use your 'real' name, can't you?

DanBC 11y ago
Are you saying it's fine that Facebook chooses to discriminate against GLBT+ people? What happens if we sub in other minorities? "If black people disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook"; "If Jews disagree, walk away and don't touch Facebook".
- aianus 11y ago
  They're not discriminating against GLBT+ people, they're discriminating against people using pseudonyms. I can't show up to a job interview, use a fake name, and claim I'm being discriminated against...
  - DanBC 11y ago
    You know what indirect discrimination is, right? > I can't show up to a job interview, use a fake name, and claim I'm being discriminated against... You could if you're in the process of transitioning. (UK; the US needs to catch up). And it's not a fake name. It's their name. You seem to think that people have this single thing which is their name - that might be true in the US (I dunno) but it's not true in many other places. And because the US rules for changing names on documents are inconsistent a person may have a passport in one name but a driving licence in another.
    - Symbiote 11y ago
      You could probably go further — at most only HR need to know an official name, probably with a note on the file reminding them that it's confidential. That need only be revealed once you're accepting the job offer. I have recently moved to Denmark, and several public or semi-public database systems have had special attention drawn to how my name might be used, and instructions to avoid certain uses. (For example, there seemed to be a special way to register in a municipality under an assumed name, to avoid stalkers etc.)