[Sergio Tapia]

http://www.zdnet.com...ear-answers/567

Apparently you can't use a fake name or your account gets suspended. Not only that, you're banned from any other Google services you use.

What's terrifying for me is GMail, what happens if I lose my account to that address?

This is really off putting for me, how do you guys feel? Almost none of my friends on facebook use their real name, do you think they'll switch to G+ after this shit sandwich? I don't think so.

[RudiVisser]

You don't use your real name on a social network?

lol, good on Google!

[Programmist]

Yeah, that's pretty f-ed up. -1 for Google.

Why wouldn't someone use their real name for a personal page? I'm sure there are reasons (you're being stalked, hiding from police, etc).

[biggerB]

Its on their main site..

Quote

Right now, we're testing with a small number of people

They are in beta with it.. You should see any well respected program in beta version and you will think this way of it.. You should have seen facebook in beta.

Google has gotten a lot of users in a very small amount of time, maybe it just isn't ready to hold such massive traffic yet.

[Sergio Tapia]

How does that have any bearing on the original point of this thread? :S

[codeprada]

I really don't blame them. I have a hard time finding people on facebook with all the Swaggerific and Sexii names on there. It's gotten out of hand. Google+ in my opinion is a more mature environment. If you're hiding from the police then shut your accounts down.

[baavgai]

It is a profound misunderstanding of both social networks and society in general. In different contexts I might be "Brett" or "Mr. McNamara." Pretty much everyone follows these kind of distinctions. I have a Chinese cooworker who uses an "American" name, mostly for clarity. I know several expats who follow this in the States.

In many online venues, I'm "Baavgai." For 10th century historical reenactments, "Wystan." Various online games... I've had several aliases over the years, all appropriate to the environment in which I was functioning. None an attempt to deceive so much as conform to the venue.

The thing is, "Brett" is pretty useless in those other places. Worse, the friends I most want to be "social" with aren't going to identify me by it. That the smart guys at Google can't figure this out is absurd.

[tlhIn`toq]

Go down to your local city clerk and register your fake name as a legal AKA. Then if any group such as G+ or Facebook shut it down you can send a copy of the registration for showing it is legally your name.

[BetaWar]

I for one agree that they shouldn't care what name you display. It if your account after all.

In many cases I don't want my real name and picture shown around the net. I can set facebook to make my profile "invisible" to most people (including search engines) which is nice. It keeps me off google for instance. But in g+ I can set things invisible yet they still show my name and profile picture in search results regardless of my other settings. I much rather not having an image of myself on the web associated directly with my real name. At the moment I am pretty invisible to the world - you know what, I try to be that way. Looking through the first 20 pages of Google results I only found one link that was actually me, so I think I am doing a pretty good job at staying out of the spotlight (at least when using my real name).

In contrast looking for "BetaWar", again on the first 20 google results pages, I found 13 links to something actually associated with me (oddly enough none of them were DIC).

Basically, it all comes down to people wanting to protect their privacy. I definitely want to protect mine, so any website I can use an alias on I will. I don't see why social networks have it in their heads that people won't be able to find me if I don't use my real name. It is actually quite the opposite - people will find me better if I am using an alias.

[raziel_]

codeprada, on 24 July 2011 - 06:42 PM, said:

I really don't blame them. I have a hard time finding people on facebook with all the Swaggerific and Sexii names on there. It's gotten out of hand. Google+ in my opinion is a more mature environment. If you're hiding from the police then shut your accounts down.

and yet your using nick name for programming community which is pretty much a mature environment. i agree with BetaWar maybe i don`t want all the stalkers that i wish never to contact again with to find me on some site. Anyway it dose not matter what your nick name is what matter is what this person under the nick is.

This post has been edited by NoBrain: 24 July 2011 - 03:53 PM

[supersloth]

they choose to base the system on real names, so uh, if you don't like it don't use it?

[fromTheSprawl]

They say one reason for only allowing real names is to stop trolling. That would never work.

[Raynes]

Mostly, I just don't like how easy it is for them to take away my gmail.

I am all force using real names. That said, I used to go by the last name 'Simpson' (my mother's last name). That isn't my legal name. 6 months ago, that name would probably have costed me my gmail account because I had no clue they were forcing real names until I saw this today.

[codeprada]

NoBrain, on 24 July 2011 - 07:51 PM, said:

codeprada, on 24 July 2011 - 06:42 PM, said:

I really don't blame them. I have a hard time finding people on facebook with all the Swaggerific and Sexii names on there. It's gotten out of hand. Google+ in my opinion is a more mature environment. If you're hiding from the police then shut your accounts down.

and yet your using nick name for programming community which is pretty much a mature environment. i agree with BetaWar maybe i don`t want all the stalkers that i wish never to contact again with to find me on some site. Anyway it dose not matter what your nick name is what matter is what this person under the nick is.

Dreamincode doesn't fall under the category Social Network does it? And you're confusing the terms username and real name.

This post has been edited by codeprada: 25 July 2011 - 04:36 AM

[gabehabe]

edit:
And because it's not on the comic (and it should be), Twitter:

This post has been edited by gabehabe: 25 July 2011 - 05:17 AM