3 ms·

What's the benefit? It sounds like you might have to explain yourself one day if someone posts something racist/horrible.

BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago
I look at it differently, even if someone isn’t going around posting racist/horrible things, people and tastes change over time. I’ve been a part of fandoms that are now seen as cringey or toxic. I’ve also grown up more as a person and I look back at a lot of my old comments as sophomoric. I write differently, and my opinions on things have changed as well. I’ve had people dig through my post history on sites like Reddit to try and find a “gotcha” based on some remark I made years ago. All in all, I personally feel like it is a good thing to cycle through usernames throughout life.
- orange_fritter 4y ago
  I'm dropping some hot takes on hacker news tonight, so I agree. Although the idea that you can stay anonymous is probably naive. Between database leaks and AI text analysis, good luck.
- paledot 4y ago
  > I’ve been a part of fandoms that are now seen as cringey or toxic. —BuyMyBitcoins Joking aside, there's definitely value to rotating usernames frequently. I've started using random strings on various sites because I really don't see an up side (for me) to being trackable from site to site and definitely across time. (I use very long random strings for my banking usernames because I don't trust them to have enough bits of entropy in their passwords.)
dolmen 4y ago
What about the case where (s)he's the one that posts the dirty things?
antifa 4y ago
Seems like the solution is built-in to their strategy. If you get accused of being racist because a racist on twitter uses the same handle, just make a new handle and start over.
oceanplexian 4y ago
It’s not so much of a benefit, as that some of us simply don’t care what others think. Actions speak louder than words and all that. A Internet comment from 10 years ago might cost you a job, or it might cost a friendship. But at least I’m not living a facade about being a perfect and flawless individual, and that helps me sleep better at night.

BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago

I look at it differently, even if someone isn’t going around posting racist/horrible things, people and tastes change over time. I’ve been a part of fandoms that are now seen as cringey or toxic. I’ve also grown up more as a person and I look back at a lot of my old comments as sophomoric. I write differently, and my opinions on things have changed as well. I’ve had people dig through my post history on sites like Reddit to try and find a “gotcha” based on some remark I made years ago. All in all, I personally feel like it is a good thing to cycle through usernames throughout life.

orange_fritter 4y ago
I'm dropping some hot takes on hacker news tonight, so I agree. Although the idea that you can stay anonymous is probably naive. Between database leaks and AI text analysis, good luck.
paledot 4y ago
> I’ve been a part of fandoms that are now seen as cringey or toxic. —BuyMyBitcoins Joking aside, there's definitely value to rotating usernames frequently. I've started using random strings on various sites because I really don't see an up side (for me) to being trackable from site to site and definitely across time. (I use very long random strings for my banking usernames because I don't trust them to have enough bits of entropy in their passwords.)

dolmen 4y ago

What about the case where (s)he's the one that posts the dirty things?

antifa 4y ago

Seems like the solution is built-in to their strategy. If you get accused of being racist because a racist on twitter uses the same handle, just make a new handle and start over.

oceanplexian 4y ago

It’s not so much of a benefit, as that some of us simply don’t care what others think. Actions speak louder than words and all that. A Internet comment from 10 years ago might cost you a job, or it might cost a friendship. But at least I’m not living a facade about being a perfect and flawless individual, and that helps me sleep better at night.