Alternative GUIs: GoblinX (TuxMachines) [LWN.net]

Alternative GUIs: GoblinX (TuxMachines)

Posted Jun 23, 2007 17:20 UTC (Sat) by njs (subscriber, #40338)
In reply to: Alternative GUIs: GoblinX (TuxMachines) by yootis
Parent article: Alternative GUIs: GoblinX (TuxMachines)

>[T]hey can only do bad things once under a real name. So there is an incentive to be trustworthy when using the real name.

One could just as well say: they can only do bad things once under a particular pseudonym. So there is an incentive to be trustworthy when using a pseudonym.

They can switch pseudonyms, of course, but on the internet they can switch "real names" just as easily, and with the same cost: the new name won't have a history of trust built up. We wouldn't be having this discussion if the author were using a realistic-sounding pseudonym like "Daniel Marnier" or something.

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Alternative GUIs: GoblinX (TuxMachines)

Posted Jun 26, 2007 19:16 UTC (Tue) by yootis (subscriber, #4762) [Link]

Probably true -- if the pseudonym sounded realistic we wouldn't have had this conversation. But we could check if it was real if we were going to run the distro and were worried about the person's history.