patrick.net

Oh sure, PatNet gets all hacked up and you blame me just because it's usually me doing this shit. Profiling!

Dan you're quite the interesting read as a number.

28658, your insane posts give you away as TPB.

Not hacked, just an experiment to see if it cuts down on personal attacks.

See the comments in https://patrick.net/1308342/2017-07-25-end-of-thunderdome

rando says

Not hacked, just an experiment to see if it cuts down on personal attacks.

Well it's not going to help me because my username contained my user ID since always. Not much obfuscation there.

This change is rather artistic, it has hint of postmodernism. Age ain't nothing but a number and we ain't nothing but a number!

Yes, that's a good way to look at it! It's minimalist and abstract.

Dan8267 says

Well it's not going to help me because my username contained my user ID since always. Not much obfuscation there.

Dan8267 is saying that his user_id in the database is 8267 so he is still easily identified even when we just show user_id's instead of names.

rando says

Not hacked, just an experiment to see if it cuts down on personal attacks.

It will confuse the hell out of newcomers.

I feel like your jewing us.

I have never felt so humiliated since bending over and coughing at my draft physical.

Patrick should be forced to smell Trumpligula's fingers and sig heil him for 24 hours straight!

I don't understand what this is suppose to do, you can still click on name and see who it is.

rpanic01 says

I don't understand what this is suppose to do, you can still click on name and see who it is.

The point is to stop focusing on the messenger, and start concentrating on the message.

Gossip and carrying on about one another is pre-teen girl shit. You can get that everywhere on the web.

I think Patrick is trying to provide something valuable here, and to do that, he may need to castrate the feminism out of some of you wimps

Yes, if you put in that little amount of work you can still see who it is.

But maybe that's the best system. You still have an identity, but people are tempted to judge your current words instead of seeing them only through the lens of what they have decided they think about you.

Maybe there will be some agreements between users who think they don't like each other.

well, the avatars and usernames were always an open invitation to slander...

Interesting...

Online communities are built on recognizable personalities, not academic anonymous arguments.

------------------

What do you classify Reddit as?

1641 says

Online communities are built on recognizable personalities

I used to think so, but Reddit does well by minimizing individual identities.

1641 says

unless you're quoted and then you're identified

Fixed that.

For now. Everything can easily be reverted.

is that I am to you all? A number? Can I at least choose a good one? Say 314159?

1641 says

errc says

What do you classify Reddit as?

Dunno but Reddit has easily recognizable users.

Not really. I never look for the usernames, just read the comments.

Are these prison numbers?

For the love of god make it stop!

HEY YOU posted this comment.

Fucking odd number bastards! Long live the evens!

How about a random name generator?

11736 says

For the love of god make it stop!

I feel the same lol

1641 says

For the love of god make it stop!

This.

Agree.

I know, I need to know who it is that is posting so I can emote over the messenger, and the message itself can fuck off

Nothing is more important than my preconceived notions. The last thing I want is to be duped into agreeing with someone's POV, that I already hate because they are a librul

1104 says

The last thing I want is to be duped into agreeing with someone's POV, that I already hate because they are a librul

Or because they voted for the great satan Trump.

If I know you love Trump then I hate you, and will automatically oppose everything you say! Like a Real American!

This is all super-interesting to me, after years of trying to get people to concentrate on the message and not the messenger.

So it is possible. Attention to the message is gained, but something is lost as well (a sense of having specific friends and enemies online, and the ego-feedback pleasure of caring for one's own reputation).

It's kinda like walking around on the street and not being able to recognize anyone's race either. You don't know whether they are likely to be friend or foe. It's the end of prejudice. It's the utopia of everyone being just citizens.

One important question: will such a forum gain new users, or will it simply lose the old ones? I don't want to piss anyone off, but I do want to let this run a bit longer and then see if there is a bump up in new users.

BTW, I just noticed that you can simply mouse-over the user number and you'll see the user name in your browser's footer. Works that way in my browser anyway.

1 says

BTW, I just noticed that you can simply mouse-over the user number and you'll see the user name in your browser's footer.

I noticed that right away, but I didn't tell all the trolls for a reason. Geeze...

You should implement the per thread pseudonym mechanism I described.

8267 says

You should implement the per thread pseudonym mechanism I described.

So everyone gets a random but more human-readable username per thread?

So it is possible. Attention to the message is gained, but something is lost as well (a sense of having specific friends and enemies online, and the ego-feedback pleasure of caring for one's own reputation).

-----------

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

I like it.

Go back to the way it was.

Gimme a bit of time to see what the effects of semi-anonymity are.

Does it cut down on the flame wars?

Is '69=666' taken?

1 says

Gimme a bit of time to see what the effects of semi-anonymity are.

Does it cut down on the flame wars?

I think it will cut down on the flame wars initially. It'll also cut down on people's interest to post here.

Eventually people may learn the number of their most and least favorite user.