I feel like Slate Star Codex and the NYT are coming at each other from a substantial expectations gap regarding risk management.
(SSC has temporarily deleted the blog because the NYT intended to use their real name, an action which is within bounds in some cultures but not all.)
(SSC has temporarily deleted the blog because the NYT intended to use their real name, an action which is within bounds in some cultures but not all.)
The culture of participating under one’s own name is normative for much of the professional class but not all of it.
Two of my jobs instructed me formally to not use my name, because the ordinary course of working queues would expose me to criminals, and criminals can Google.
Two of my jobs instructed me formally to not use my name, because the ordinary course of working queues would expose me to criminals, and criminals can Google.
In the financial industry we get around that most commonly by giving people “desk names.” If you’ve called and spoken to Sarah Smith, you are very likely not speaking to someone who answers to Sarah or Smith outside of work.
And indeed when I told one of those jobs “I think my working here is a matter of the public record, and therefore will send emails for this CS case under my own name”, the person administering the training was shocked with both that fact and my risk calculus given it.
