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Nothing stops one creating a fake Facebook profile. Choose a reasonably human sounding name, crank the privacy levels way up, and comment. FB is unlikely to fig

Nothing stops one creating a fake Facebook profile. Choose a reasonably human sounding name, crank the privacy levels way up, and comment. FB is unlikely to figure out it's fake. There are some disadvantages. Your fake identity will probably need to be reused across sites, since creating a new account involves getting an email address, which takes a few extra minutes per identity. But choose a generic enough name, and it is less of a problem...

Skalman 16y ago
Though I really don't want to create a fake Facebook profile. I don't want to resort to being dishonest with Facebook, and I still don't want all my comments to go through Facebook. Also, it's not easy to be logged in to Facebook with multiple identities at once.
- phwd 16y ago
  Try using a page as Siegler did http://www.facebook.com/pages/MG-Siegler/106690852693356 http://www.facebook.com/pages/MG-Siegler/106690852693356 . But see if you can tune the settings on your original profile to prevent people from viewing this page and then you can name your alter-ego to whatever you please. Though this is different from users who intentionally impersonate others, never really understood that ... especially when no humour came from it.
yeahsure 16y ago
You would have to be behind a proxy or something though, otherwise if you say something that can be remotely miss-interpreted you might end with a gps tracking device in your car anyway (like that guy on Reddit).
buza 16y ago
Now Google is requiring users to verify new gmail accounts with a text message sent to a mobile phone. I can only assume that it will soon be prohibitively difficult to create fake email addresses to use to create other fake accounts. I fear that anonymity will likely die soon, whether we like it or not.
- peterwwillis 16y ago
  Um. You know Google is not the only free e-mail provider, right? Anonymity and privacy are like punk rock. People have been saying it's dead since its inception, but look around and you'll find it all over the place.
  - buza 16y ago
    Of course. I'm just suggesting that once one provider starts doing it, others may likely follow.
- pnathan 16y ago
  AOL still has free email accounts, I believe.
Vivtek 16y ago
I think it's increasingly looking like it's time for open-source persona management software.

Skalman 16y ago

Though I really don't want to create a fake Facebook profile. I don't want to resort to being dishonest with Facebook, and I still don't want all my comments to go through Facebook. Also, it's not easy to be logged in to Facebook with multiple identities at once.

phwd 16y ago
Try using a page as Siegler did http://www.facebook.com/pages/MG-Siegler/106690852693356 http://www.facebook.com/pages/MG-Siegler/106690852693356 . But see if you can tune the settings on your original profile to prevent people from viewing this page and then you can name your alter-ego to whatever you please. Though this is different from users who intentionally impersonate others, never really understood that ... especially when no humour came from it.

yeahsure 16y ago

You would have to be behind a proxy or something though, otherwise if you say something that can be remotely miss-interpreted you might end with a gps tracking device in your car anyway (like that guy on Reddit).

buza 16y ago

Now Google is requiring users to verify new gmail accounts with a text message sent to a mobile phone. I can only assume that it will soon be prohibitively difficult to create fake email addresses to use to create other fake accounts. I fear that anonymity will likely die soon, whether we like it or not.

peterwwillis 16y ago
Um. You know Google is not the only free e-mail provider, right? Anonymity and privacy are like punk rock. People have been saying it's dead since its inception, but look around and you'll find it all over the place.
- buza 16y ago
  Of course. I'm just suggesting that once one provider starts doing it, others may likely follow.
pnathan 16y ago
AOL still has free email accounts, I believe.

Vivtek 16y ago

I think it's increasingly looking like it's time for open-source persona management software.