3 ms·
Your ability to conceal your identity on Reddit, and in public forums in general, is an illusion. Your identity can be revealed by your writing, regardless if y
by espeed 13y ago
Your ability to conceal your identity on Reddit, and in public forums in general, is an illusion. Your identity can be revealed by your writing, regardless if you use a nym or not.
Text analysis algorithms can detect and match you by your writing style and reveal characteristics about your personality that you have no idea you're leaking (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-language-code http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-...). Even your use of pronouns provide clues. It's like your fingerprint, or your gate (http://www.cs.umd.edu/~chiraz/icpr02.pdf http://www.cs.umd.edu/~chiraz/icpr02.pdf).
"The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us" (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Pronouns-Words-About/dp/1608194965/ http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Pronouns-Words-About/dp/16...), by Dr. James Pennabaker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Pennebaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Pennebaker).
- Dewie 13y agoWhat if one writes in English under a pseudonym but only in another language under ones real name?
- petera 13y agoTrue, but you need an identity and written material to compare it to.
- DennisP 13y agoSeems like it'd be reasonably easy to run those same algorithms in reverse and change your writing style to someone else's.
- LordHumungous 13y agoI think most people on reddit realize this, and it is actually not a totally bad thing- it prevents people from engaging in excessively nasty behavior (at least with their primary accounts)