On Identities

Image credit: Accoutrements.com



The Internet's always been a bit of a wild place, where people can lose themselves in strange identities that they can't assume in real life. That's fun and, if not taken too far, healthy. There's a point at which it's no longer fun, though. Today Taylor Marsh wrote this over at her site:

As many know, my name is showing up all over the web. The latest is on a petition to encourage Clinton to "withdraw now." ... As I've said before, but will repeat again, I'm not making comments or signing anything on the web these days. But it's obvious some think I'm so powerful that it's important to have my name show up in all things anti-Clinton. Don't believe it.

All Eyes on Pennsylvania

While I'm sure some people are just poking fun, using someone's identity to post obnoxious, false, or libelous comments isn't a laughing matter. Nearly everyone who has a blog of any size nowadays has an OpenID identity that's assigned by the big blog sites whenever you log into one of them. If someone's logged in, a link to his Blogger, Wordpress, or Typepad identity is placed under his name. If it's not there, assume it's not that person unless I tell you otherwise.

Any comments purporting to be someone they're not will be removed, unless I think it's blindingly obvious that this is what's happening and the purpose is only lighthearted humor.