Google+ names and death threats and stuff.

I already wrote about deciding not to join Google+ on the basis of their naming policy, but coincidentally, two things just crossed my online field of view close together that refer to this.

The first, via Maymay's "Maybe Days", is a rather charming cartoon about Superman's issues with Google+ (Superman is a pseudonym, Krypton, being an extinct planet, is not recognised as having legal documentation to support the name Kal-El, and of course nobody believes that Clark Kent is Superman's real name!)

The links that Maymay provides with the cartoon included Who Is Harmed By a "Real Names" Policy? (and I tick multiple boxes on that list, btw). I linked to this before in my earlier post (see earlier link), where I noted:

Banning pseudonyms puts those whose lives are on the boundaries of what is accepted or tolerated, at risk. This can be ... simply being female and online (and what does it say about so many online communities that being female and in them should be seen as on the boundaries of what is acceptable and tolerated?)

Which leads directly to the second thing that crossed my radar, a post called Death Threats and Hate Crimes, Attacks On Women Bloggers Escalating @ IttyBiz - the author asks us all to share. She writes:

Mean Website 2 got pretty excited. The owner submitted an article for Mean Website 1, and not content to leave it at that, started his own hate campaign on his own website.

First it was about me.

Then it was about my business.

Then it was about my sexuality.

[snip]

But I was okay with this, because I have a strong support network, and when I chose this path, I had a fairly clear idea of the consequences. I chose to be a semi-public figure.

I just didn’t expect the death threats.

I planned to post the link to this anyway, because the author asks people to do so, to boost the signal and make sure people know about this stuff.

The overlap with the Google+ story reminder just made it all the more important to note.