I don't think flame wars are a result of being able to hide behind a pseudonym at all. During my many years on soc.singles and later ba.singles, we flamed each other because it's fun. Some people do lose it, but that's what alt.flame was created for.
People don't use a pseudonym on their con badge to hide behind - just the opposite. They are known online by that name, not by their legal name, and when they are at a con they want their online friends to be able to put a face to the moniker.
I'll use myself as an example. I have been known as howeird for 20+ years online and at cons. It's my name on my web page, I write and publish photos under that name for fanzines and online, and that's what I call myself at BASFA. I have no problem using my legal name - it's the name on the programs when I am in a play, for instance. But few con goers would recognize my legal name, where they would have heard my fan name.
People say things with less restraint online than they do in person for an entirely different reason than anonymity, IMHO. Several entirely different reasons. First, they have time to compose. Ads John Steinbeck wrote in Travels With Charlie, one thinks of the cutting quip well after the opportunity to effectively use it has passed. Not so online. Also, we have the research tool of the Web at our fingertips online. Not so in person. And in person, there is the possibility of being immediately hit, stabbed, shot or spit upon. Not so online.
Personally, I am put off when a con requires my legal name on a badge, because at the con, that's not my real name.
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People don't use a pseudonym on their con badge to hide behind - just the opposite. They are known online by that name, not by their legal name, and when they are at a con they want their online friends to be able to put a face to the moniker.
I'll use myself as an example. I have been known as howeird for 20+ years online and at cons. It's my name on my web page, I write and publish photos under that name for fanzines and online, and that's what I call myself at BASFA. I have no problem using my legal name - it's the name on the programs when I am in a play, for instance. But few con goers would recognize my legal name, where they would have heard my fan name.
People say things with less restraint online than they do in person for an entirely different reason than anonymity, IMHO. Several entirely different reasons. First, they have time to compose. Ads John Steinbeck wrote in Travels With Charlie, one thinks of the cutting quip well after the opportunity to effectively use it has passed. Not so online. Also, we have the research tool of the Web at our fingertips online. Not so in person. And in person, there is the possibility of being immediately hit, stabbed, shot or spit upon. Not so online.
Personally, I am put off when a con requires my legal name on a badge, because at the con, that's not my real name.