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> Most of the people I would consider friends are people I haven't met in real life. You are likely in a small minority. This is the difference between a socia

• optimuspaul 10y ago
  > You are likely in a small minority. Agreed. I'm a fairly introverted person and participate in a lot of online communities, but I rarely consider people I haven't met to be my friends. That just seems strange to me. I'd even venture to say that in the tech folk world that is a minority position. Most of the people I know need some sort of tangible validation to form a real friendship.
• vidarh 10y ago
  I am sure I am. But that is not the point. I gave other examples too, and the point is that requiring "real" names breaks down in all kinds of different cases, most of which by themselves are probably not that common, but that adds up to affecting millions of people. E.g. which name for my ex is most "real"? Her legal name? Using that would prevent most of her friends from finding her - it's not the name she uses. This is common for vast numbers of immigrants with names that are hard to pronounce. > This is the difference between a social network meant for the general populace and one specific for tech folk. Facebook is trying to be the one to decide how we should interact with our friends, and fails to understand even how names are used in real life, not just for "tech folk".