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To treat this in good faith, I point to here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200313231227/https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/02/22/rip-culture-war-thread/ https://w

To treat this in good faith, I point to here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200313231227/https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/02/22/rip-culture-war-thread/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200313231227/https://slatestar... "A subreddit devoted to insulting and mocking me personally and Culture War thread participants in general got started; it now has over 2,000 readers." That is SneerClub. "Some people found my real name and started posting it on Twitter. Some people made entire accounts devoted to doxxing me in Twitter discussions whenever an opportunity came up. A few people just messaged me letting me know they knew my real name and reminding me that they could do this if they wanted to. Some people started messaging my real-life friends, telling them to stop being friends with me because I supported racists and sexists and Nazis. Somebody posted a monetary reward for information that could be used to discredit me. One person called the clinic where I worked, pretended to be a patient, and tried to get me fired. ... I had a nervous breakdown. It wasn’t even that bad a nervous breakdown. I was able to keep working through it. I just sort of broke off all human contact for a couple of weeks and stayed in my room freaking out instead. ... The first few [subreddit mods] I approached were positive; some had similar experiences to mine; one admitted that even though he personally was not involved with the CW thread and only dealt with other parts of the subreddit, he taught at a college and felt like his job would not be safe so long as the subreddit and CW thread were affiliated. Apparently the problem was bigger than just me, and other people had been dealing with it in silence."

throwaway4666 6y ago
There's no evidence that any of the things mentioned came from SneerClub. As far as I know the original doxxing came from some alt-right dude with mental issues on tumblr who thought he was shadowbanned and posted in response to a SA reblog on tumblr 'Care to comment, Scott Alexander [Real Surname], working at [Actual clinic] in [Actual location]?' to which SA replied with 'No one's shadowbanned, you're banned for doxxing me though'. This is all relatively easy to look up and check. SneerClub was always ever about venting about rationalists when the dumb speculation about evopsych and the IQ of black people went out of hand, and people who have attempted to doxx Scott on there have been banned. (Doxxing people at all is against the rules of reddit anyway.) Yes, it's a circlejerk subreddit, yes it's petty etc. But it's not the evil den of terrorists rationalists think it is.
- danharaj 6y ago
  If one were to examine that subreddit at this moment it would appear that the mods are very strongly against Scott Alexander being doxxed by a reporter and are also handing out bans for anyone gloating about this.
tptacek 6y ago
It is odd seeing someone who blogged under their real name, who released one of their best-known pieces of public writing under their real name, talk as if their real name was somehow discovered through sleuthing. I want to be careful how I respond to this but, let's just say, the amount of Google elaboration required to penetrate the veil of protective secrecy this person has created for themselves is not... uh... significant.
- mundo 6y ago
  You're looking at the wrong side of the veil. Yes, it's trivial to find his real name if you know of his blog, but it's not easy to find his blog by searching his real name.
  - tptacek 6y ago
    No, it's straightforwardly evident from a search of his real name. And, again: one of his best-known standalone pieces was originally published under that name.
    - neonate 6y ago
      What piece was that? Just curious as I have no idea.
      - jefftk 6y ago
        I'm not sure which one tptacek was thinking of, but https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/efficient-charity-do-unto-others/ https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/efficient-charity... (a cross-post, which now says "Scott Alexander") comes to mind for me.
        tptacek 6y ago
        Not that one. I'm uncomfortable sharing, though honestly I would have a hard time articulating why, since my whole point is: this guy's identity is not a secret.

throwaway4666 6y ago

There's no evidence that any of the things mentioned came from SneerClub. As far as I know the original doxxing came from some alt-right dude with mental issues on tumblr who thought he was shadowbanned and posted in response to a SA reblog on tumblr 'Care to comment, Scott Alexander [Real Surname], working at [Actual clinic] in [Actual location]?' to which SA replied with 'No one's shadowbanned, you're banned for doxxing me though'. This is all relatively easy to look up and check. SneerClub was always ever about venting about rationalists when the dumb speculation about evopsych and the IQ of black people went out of hand, and people who have attempted to doxx Scott on there have been banned. (Doxxing people at all is against the rules of reddit anyway.) Yes, it's a circlejerk subreddit, yes it's petty etc. But it's not the evil den of terrorists rationalists think it is.

danharaj 6y ago
If one were to examine that subreddit at this moment it would appear that the mods are very strongly against Scott Alexander being doxxed by a reporter and are also handing out bans for anyone gloating about this.

tptacek 6y ago

It is odd seeing someone who blogged under their real name, who released one of their best-known pieces of public writing under their real name, talk as if their real name was somehow discovered through sleuthing. I want to be careful how I respond to this but, let's just say, the amount of Google elaboration required to penetrate the veil of protective secrecy this person has created for themselves is not... uh... significant.

mundo 6y ago
You're looking at the wrong side of the veil. Yes, it's trivial to find his real name if you know of his blog, but it's not easy to find his blog by searching his real name.
- tptacek 6y ago
  No, it's straightforwardly evident from a search of his real name. And, again: one of his best-known standalone pieces was originally published under that name.
  - neonate 6y ago
    What piece was that? Just curious as I have no idea.
    - jefftk 6y ago
      I'm not sure which one tptacek was thinking of, but https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/efficient-charity-do-unto-others/ https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/efficient-charity... (a cross-post, which now says "Scott Alexander") comes to mind for me.
      - tptacek 6y ago
        Not that one. I'm uncomfortable sharing, though honestly I would have a hard time articulating why, since my whole point is: this guy's identity is not a secret.