Journalist Laurie Penny recently found herself on the wrong side of Facebook’s real name policy and she wasn’t very pleased about it. Laurie, who is a contributing editor at The New Statesman and sometimes writes for The Guardian had been using a pseudonym and as many of us in virtual world circles know, this is pretty much a no no when it comes to Facebook.
Pseudonyms are an angle of the real name policy that don’t get raised very often. Whereas OpenSim and Second Life users like to use pseudonyms and would like to have Facebook accounts in their avatar name, the issue has largely been ignored by the wider media.
I’m a fan of pseudonyms, especially when it’s a pseudonym by which someone is widely known. Facebook should not need people’s real names to make their data attractive, they should want interests and probably locations, but names should not be so valuable.
Last September Jo Yardley reported Facebook is deleting avatar profiles… again, this is a story that has been told time and again over the years. However when it comes to Laurie Penny, she wasn’t using a pseudonym just for the hell of it, she was using a pseudonym because she felt it would help to keep her safe. Facebook have long argued that real names help to encourage civil behaviour. There is another side to this though, real names can also make people a far larger target than is comfortable.
Laurie Penny explained her concerns in a number of Tweets.
Just got suspended by Facebook because I’ve been using a pseudonym so I can hide from goddamned trolls.
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) June 24, 2015
Thanks to @facebook forcing me to use my real name, I am now at more risk of rape and death threats. But enjoy flogging that data, guys. — Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) June 24, 2015
Facebook suspended my account in the middle of a conversation I was having with my partner, who is on another continent. #nymwars
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) June 24, 2015
Now there are many reasons why people want to use pseudonyms, I’d like to use Ciaran Laval on Facebook because that’s the name I’m largely known as online, it makes sense. The people whom I know outside of online space, I talk to face to face or by phone. Ciaran Laval is exclusively an online name. However for some people, there’s far more to it than that and Laurie Penny pointed this out in her tweets too.
Since people seem to be using this as a news hook, please remember that queer people and those fleeing violence are MOST at risk. #nymwars — Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) June 24, 2015
When this happened to Salman Rushdie a few years ago, he then had to further complain that his account had not been reinstated as Salman Rushdie. Salman is not his first name, so Facebook had reinstated him as Ahmed Rushdie. Eventually Facebook relented and allowed him to be known on Facebook by the name he is globally known as. In the case of Laurie Penny, it seems Facebook have made some progress. Laurie sent her real life details to Facebook in order to get her account reinstated, the result was :
Facebook just reinstated my account under the name ‘Laurie Penny.’ Which is not actually my legal name, nor the name I sent them. Curious.
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) June 25, 2015
It should be noted that Laurie Penny was not the pseudonym Laurie had been using on Facebook, but it’s a compromise. Laurie Penny is an opinionated writer, I disagree with much of what she says and I’m politically on the left, there are many who disagree with Laurie far more than I do. In an ideal world, this would be a healthy situation, differing views, exchanging ideas, putting forth suggestions should be welcomed. This is why I will read left and right wing writers, I like to know what the other lot are thinking.
Unfortunately we don’t live in an ideal world and far too many people go beyond healthy disagreement and head right into vicious vitriol. I should point out that this isn’t new. I recently watched a documentary series on the BBC entitled Rude Britannia, which explained how poets would insult each other in some very graphic terms centuries ago. These days, with far more people able to write and publish their thoughts, there’s far more rudeness and some of it goes way too far.
Facebook’s real name policy remains problematic for far too many reasons. Facebook should make it far easier for people to use pseudonyms, many of those who want to use a pseudonym want to do so for the right reasons. Those who want to troll, can already do this on Facebook. Really, it’s time for Facebook to offer a much bigger hand of friendship to those of us who want to use pseudonyms and this is especially important for those who are far more likely to be on the receiving end of abuse.
I’ll finish by issuing my standard advice. Whether you like Facebook’s policy or not, it’s better to respect their terms of service. In the case of virtual world users we have the option to create a Facebook Page rather than a full account. Whereas Pages are restricted in what they can do, they do offer the chance for virtual world users to engage with Facebook on some level. I myself have a Facebook page. This isn’t ideal, but it is within the Facebook rules and this means you won’t face the disappointment of having your Facebook account deleted because you’re using a pseudonym.