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Facebook Tweaks Its "Real Names" Policy (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Facebook has announced a US-based trial of minor changes to its controversial process of name verification, apparently in response to last year's controversy over LGBT and transgender users who were penalized for determining their own identity.
The post about the changes reveals that users who report someone else for using a 'fake' name can now provide more background information, and that users who have been asked to confirm their identity by uploading documents, such as a passport or birth certificate, can now also provide additional background information for Facebook to take into account.
This article argues that a frivolous social network should not be allowed to co-opt government-level identity checks simply because it began life in the university arena, and has telescoped the necessary supervision of teenagers transiting to adulthood into a far wider and more diverse network of users.
The post about the changes reveals that users who report someone else for using a 'fake' name can now provide more background information, and that users who have been asked to confirm their identity by uploading documents, such as a passport or birth certificate, can now also provide additional background information for Facebook to take into account.
This article argues that a frivolous social network should not be allowed to co-opt government-level identity checks simply because it began life in the university arena, and has telescoped the necessary supervision of teenagers transiting to adulthood into a far wider and more diverse network of users.
I repeat, that's not you participating. Them using your real name is not some dire issue to get upset about. Just don't participate. It's not hard. I've never done it. I know loads of people who haven't done it. My girlfriend is quite young and she's never had an account. If you don't want to play by their rules, don't use their site. Use another, ignore it, make your own, or complain - but don't participate.
This is not complicated. You can do it. You're like crack addicts or abused spouses or something... Seriously, from an outsider looking in, you guys are addicts. I'm a drug-addict, in recovery I guess, and used drugs my whole life - for like forty years. Y'all look like me. You'll find any justification to keep using. "My friends do it." "I need to." "It's going to get done anyways." I dare say, in one form or another, I've used the same excuses.
If you hit yourself on the hand with a hammer and it hurts, stop doing it.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."