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I experience similar anxiety. For too long I kept my profiles (GitHub/Twitter/..) pseudo-anonymous. So that If I mess up somewhere I don't have to face the cons

I experience similar anxiety. For too long I kept my profiles (GitHub/Twitter/..) pseudo-anonymous. So that If I mess up somewhere I don't have to face the consequences after I shut that account down. This is primarily due to social anxiety rather than having any malicious intent. Even my HN account is anonymous. (That I think is holding me back too.) I cannot imagine myself working like Evan.

agumonkey 6y ago
I think it's a side effect of internet. By working too much in isolation we fear approval or rejection ? It frees us from following others opinions or a group direction but we also lose track of something (I'm blurry I have no precise word for this)
- sethetter 6y ago
  Accountability! It can be scary, but it's also important and a driver for positive change. I deal with all of these things as well, but have pretty much decided to not go the anonymous route, because I would rather try to build that confidence in myself and embrace the accountability that comes along with it. That said, I still don't comment or publish much online out of this same anxiety. /shrug. It's a work in progress :)
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    personally I dropped the whole thing, it's useless. I'm going back to good old life.
  - mesaframe 6y ago
    Thank you. Today I realised, I should take responsibility of my words, and behaviour.
- mesaframe 6y ago
  > It frees us from following others opinions or a group direction This! The biggest pro is the freedom to say politically incorrect things.
lowdose 6y ago
I had that too until I ramped up my own noise signal. With twitter I hooked up a couple of RSS feeds via IFTTT. I do tweet more but send out 20 RSS tweets also. Perfectionist is a creativity killer. Nobody fact checks and remembers what you tweeted a month ago. I do keep my hn profile low profile because it is also nice to have an outlet for fresh idea's and opinions that need refinement. I actually change my mind the most about things I comment in on HN. On my work everything is within the Overton window.

agumonkey 6y ago

I think it's a side effect of internet. By working too much in isolation we fear approval or rejection ? It frees us from following others opinions or a group direction but we also lose track of something (I'm blurry I have no precise word for this)

sethetter 6y ago
Accountability! It can be scary, but it's also important and a driver for positive change. I deal with all of these things as well, but have pretty much decided to not go the anonymous route, because I would rather try to build that confidence in myself and embrace the accountability that comes along with it. That said, I still don't comment or publish much online out of this same anxiety. /shrug. It's a work in progress :)
- agumonkey 6y ago
  personally I dropped the whole thing, it's useless. I'm going back to good old life.
- mesaframe 6y ago
  Thank you. Today I realised, I should take responsibility of my words, and behaviour.
mesaframe 6y ago
> It frees us from following others opinions or a group direction This! The biggest pro is the freedom to say politically incorrect things.

lowdose 6y ago

I had that too until I ramped up my own noise signal. With twitter I hooked up a couple of RSS feeds via IFTTT. I do tweet more but send out 20 RSS tweets also. Perfectionist is a creativity killer. Nobody fact checks and remembers what you tweeted a month ago. I do keep my hn profile low profile because it is also nice to have an outlet for fresh idea's and opinions that need refinement. I actually change my mind the most about things I comment in on HN. On my work everything is within the Overton window.