2 ms·

Ask HN: Forum with Real Identity

1 points by ahl1395 5y ago

Why is there no forum with real identity as a requirement? The closest seem to be Facebook + Twitter, and neither of those seem to be a good place to have a discussion. Has anyone tried this?

detaro 5y ago
There are some forums that do that, but as you already point out with the example of Facebook, it doesn't really add much in the general case, so why should people bother with the hassle?
- ahl1395 5y ago
  Which forums do this? I couldn't find any through Google. Facebook doesn't work as a forum because (1) its use case in the minds of most is as a personal social network, rather than a discussion board, so most people end up using it to upload personal photos, status updates, etc. rather than engaging in "Facebook debates". (2) The platform doesn't easily facilitate discussion; the best you get are comment threads on links, but there is no convenient division of topics or way to rate and moderate content like you might find on a site like Reddit. The value would be in more qualified information discovery. It would be a lot easier to filter out who probably knows what they're talking about, and who doesn't.
  - detaro 5y ago
    Some niche-topic forums do it. And regardless if Facebook is a good forum or not, the same logic applies: real-name policy doesn't do much to help against problems and tells you little. It's also an excellent tool to exclude people and provide extra avenues for abuse. In forums without such policies, people are still able to identify themselves if they want after all, and those that don't can still demonstrate that they know their stuff.
    - ahl1395 5y ago
      Agreed. Real name isn't enough. However, what about real name + other qualifications that go with identity? Relevant education, work history, projects, etc. These things seem like they would be a decent but not perfect filter for expertise in a given topic. Exclusion and abuse are problems. But those things happen a lot on Facebook, Twitter, etc. already and those platforms seem to still serve their primary use case and be doing okay overall. I agree that people are still able to identify themselves, but if it's not common practice or built-in as a cultural "feature" of the platform, most people won't identify themselves. The last point is a good one, but I think that the issue is that it's hard to demonstrate you know your stuff in a short Facebook comment or 140 characters. More crucially, on an anonymous forum like Reddit, uninformed readers can't tell the difference between qualified and unqualified opinions. The best proxies - proper grammar, familiarity with relevant jargon, and unverified statements of qualification - seem lacking.
      - detaro 5y ago
        Some subreddits also do user "flairs" for people that choose to show some proof to the moderators, unrelated to the actual identity being known.
        ahl1395 5y ago
        Yeah I've seen that. In that case you can tell that someone is "legitimate" but you have no clue to what extent. Interesting idea for credentialing though.
thesuperbigfrog 5y ago
Why would the real identity requirement be needed? How would you prove real identity?
- ahl1395 5y ago
  Real identity to qualify opinions on posts. E.g., I'm more likely to read and consider a wall of text about AI if it's written by a Stanford CS PhD than some random guy who watched a couple of Andrew Ng videos. Proof via connection to a pre-existing real identity network like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. and through APIs which provide identification service (Stripe, Okta, etc.)

1 points by ahl1395 5y ago

Why is there no forum with real identity as a requirement? The closest seem to be Facebook + Twitter, and neither of those seem to be a good place to have a discussion. Has anyone tried this?

detaro 5y ago

There are some forums that do that, but as you already point out with the example of Facebook, it doesn't really add much in the general case, so why should people bother with the hassle?

ahl1395 5y ago
Which forums do this? I couldn't find any through Google. Facebook doesn't work as a forum because (1) its use case in the minds of most is as a personal social network, rather than a discussion board, so most people end up using it to upload personal photos, status updates, etc. rather than engaging in "Facebook debates". (2) The platform doesn't easily facilitate discussion; the best you get are comment threads on links, but there is no convenient division of topics or way to rate and moderate content like you might find on a site like Reddit. The value would be in more qualified information discovery. It would be a lot easier to filter out who probably knows what they're talking about, and who doesn't.
- detaro 5y ago
  Some niche-topic forums do it. And regardless if Facebook is a good forum or not, the same logic applies: real-name policy doesn't do much to help against problems and tells you little. It's also an excellent tool to exclude people and provide extra avenues for abuse. In forums without such policies, people are still able to identify themselves if they want after all, and those that don't can still demonstrate that they know their stuff.
  - ahl1395 5y ago
    Agreed. Real name isn't enough. However, what about real name + other qualifications that go with identity? Relevant education, work history, projects, etc. These things seem like they would be a decent but not perfect filter for expertise in a given topic. Exclusion and abuse are problems. But those things happen a lot on Facebook, Twitter, etc. already and those platforms seem to still serve their primary use case and be doing okay overall. I agree that people are still able to identify themselves, but if it's not common practice or built-in as a cultural "feature" of the platform, most people won't identify themselves. The last point is a good one, but I think that the issue is that it's hard to demonstrate you know your stuff in a short Facebook comment or 140 characters. More crucially, on an anonymous forum like Reddit, uninformed readers can't tell the difference between qualified and unqualified opinions. The best proxies - proper grammar, familiarity with relevant jargon, and unverified statements of qualification - seem lacking.
    - detaro 5y ago
      Some subreddits also do user "flairs" for people that choose to show some proof to the moderators, unrelated to the actual identity being known.
      - ahl1395 5y ago
        Yeah I've seen that. In that case you can tell that someone is "legitimate" but you have no clue to what extent. Interesting idea for credentialing though.

thesuperbigfrog 5y ago

Why would the real identity requirement be needed? How would you prove real identity?

ahl1395 5y ago
Real identity to qualify opinions on posts. E.g., I'm more likely to read and consider a wall of text about AI if it's written by a Stanford CS PhD than some random guy who watched a couple of Andrew Ng videos. Proof via connection to a pre-existing real identity network like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. and through APIs which provide identification service (Stripe, Okta, etc.)