What's in a Name?

For Nozzgard!! Its Wednesday, July 27, 2011, the Nozzsleep is upon me, and this is The Side! I'm jealous of Odin. Not because he's powerful, got a six-legged horse, or was played by Anthony Hopkins in a movie. The guy sleeps for a week. Gives the old "I must replenish my power or the realm will fall" bit and its off to dream land. I wish I could sleep for a week and replenish my power.

Actually, a day would be probably do it.

I'd probably settle for just sleeping in one of these days.

THE NAME GAME

Google+ is stirring up a bit on controversy among its users with its policy of having to use your real name on your account. This isn't sitting well with a lot of people. This policy wasn't around on Google Buzz and people got known on there by their internet handles. Some people have had these nicknames for a long time. This is causing quite a stir.

By insisting on users using their real names Google has a better control over things. I can't create a "Justin Bieber" account and troll the blazes out of people. There have been cyber-bullying cases in which people have created false accounts for people in order to humiliate them. So, in this case, its a good thing. Also it cuts off those goof that'll create a blatantly offensive screen name just to be an e-troll.

On the other hand many people come online to get away from being ourselves a little bit. We have an online identity. How our family sees us is different than how our co-workers see us. We act differently around different groups. Similarly, how we act online is different than in real life. Often our screen names reflect this. Some people roleplay characters. Some just don't want their real name out there, and wish for interact with a bit of anonymity. There's nothing wrong with any of this.

Yes, there is a case for making people use their real names, but that's out weighted a bit by the case for allowing screen names. To make it even stickier, the folks that work on Google+ often have use screen names, so its a bit embarrassing for someone who is working hard on an application to get bumped from the service.

Google has a great product and its one I really like using. Ultimately, its their product and they make the rules. If we want to play in their sandbox, we have to abide by their rules. But, they want and need people to play in their sandbox, so while there should be rules, they need to be agreeable to the users. There are plenty of other social media sites out there.

Personally, I do hope Google changes this policy. Google+ is a top notch social media tool and those of us on there have no trouble policing the joint a bit to keep it nice. We just want our cool names is all.

MUSIC!!

I don't think "Rob" is his real name.



That's it for me today. I'm going to go over to G+ now and how no one's outed me for using my pen name yet. See y'all Friday.