A Case for Pseudonyms

After reading the article, it brought forward some thoughts on pseudonyms. Personally, I think that using pseudonyms is a great way to protect your identity. In today’s society, it is drilled into our heads to watch out for what we post on the internet, from pictures to personal information. Just it says at the beginning of the article, pseudonyms do not have to be tied to a person’s offline identity. Just like an avatar, you can create an entirely new identity if you wanted to, or you can express your opinions without having to worry about those who know you judging you. On a different note, an anonymous name can also protect one from identity theft, which I believe is becoming more and more common in today’s society.

Contrary to that, I do believe that using your real name can have its benefits. Again, as mentioned in the article, using your real name can be an advantage when avoiding things like stalking. However, I think that one should be able to decide whether or not they use their real name or not. I think that Facebook is ridiculous for having a policy that states you have to use your real name. That is a personal choice and is up to the user.

When it comes to ethos, I do not think that it matters whether you choose to use your real name or not. I think that it really depends on the person and what they are writing or talking about. When you think about something like Youtube, they use usernames and that does not affect whether or not they know what they are talking about. I also think that if they do use a different name other than their own, the reader or listener should use their own judgement as to whether that person is credible or not.