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back to article Facebook arrives at commonsense 'real names' policy

Facebook has announced a revised, and some would say commonsense, version of its "real names" policy that introduces a little grey into its previous black-and-white efforts. Having taken six months to come up with a solution, the social media giant has outlined what most policy wonks would have written on a paper napkin within …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't want to use your real info for a good reason? Give us more info about that.

    21 0 Reply
  2. Tromos

    I wouldn't dream of using a fake name on Facebook.

    Then again, the same applies to my real name.

    18 0 Reply
    1. KA1AXY
      Reply Icon

      Re: I wouldn't dream of using a fake name on Facebook.

      I use my real name, but all the information I supply is false

      8 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        I use my real name, but all the information I supply is false

        Well I use someone else's real name, and everything else is false.

        Anonymous obviously.

        [ Actually I don't use Myface at all. Coz the more they know about the people that know me, the more they know me. ]

        3 2 Reply
  3. Steven Roper

    One little error

    "... telling users that it knew what was best for them: an approach that started to annoy its larger product base and even drew the attention of the authorities."

    FTFY.

    9 1 Reply
  4. Ole Juul

    some would say commonsense

    Frankly I think it is a mistake to use that term in the context of Facebook. Commonly people aren't nearly that evil.

    4 0 Reply
  5. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Wow, calling people queer? Come back the 70's, Facebook wants to get off.

    1 8 Reply
    1. a_yank_lurker
      Reply Icon

      70's

      Which 70's 18 or 19?

      1 1 Reply
      1. Steve Knox
        Reply Icon

        Re: 70's

        No, the 70's. 70 AD to 79 AD.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE9fN79Q0-Y

        1 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Some people self-identify as queer. Its meaning has been reclaimed from being 'outside society', to being outside within the LGBT umbrella, as a rejection of heteronormativity.

      Seriously brah, you need to keep up with this stuff because being more progressive gets you more puss.

      8 1 Reply
      1. Pompous Git Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Seriously brah, you need to keep up with this stuff because being more progressive gets you more puss.

        Dunno about progressive, but back in the mid-70s I used to share a flat with a homosexual bloke called, improbably enough, Bruce. He was funnier than 99% of the stand-up comics I've seen on TV. There wasn't a situation that he couldn't wring a laugh out of.

        Funnier still were all the women who assumed I must have been a homo as well. I was converted every weekend :-) The old bed flute did get a workout! Happy times...

        7 0 Reply
      2. Steven Roper
        Reply Icon

        "Seriously brah, you need to keep up with this stuff because being more progressive gets you more puss."

        Eh, what? Given the tendency of modern progressivism to oppose sexual objectification, I would have thought "being more progressive" and "wanting more pussy" were mutually exclusive conditions!

        0 0 Reply
    3. chivo243 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      @Your alien overlord - fear me

      I think the term queer is quite quaint... Seriously, queer? Isn't that either a total homophobe term or an endearing term for the old guy down the street who walks his dogs in an out of date suit?

      3 4 Reply
  6. Gene Cash Silver badge

    Another option

    How about "YES THIS IS MY REAL GODDAMNED NAME, and no, I'm not sending you 20 pieces of ID to prove it"?

    7 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best solution

    Don't use the shite, and similar.

    No?

    10 2 Reply
  8. TonyHoyle

    I have a friend who has been forced to use a fake name because of this policy.

    The name that everyone else knows him by was unacceptable to facebook because it isn't on his birth certificate, so he made up an obvious bullshit fake name and apparently that's fine...

    3 0 Reply
  9. no-one in particular

    "They're using a name that they don't go by in real life"

    So, just because someone has never heard me being called that, they have the right to assume that nobody else knows me by that name?

    3 0 Reply
  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Culture clash

    This is a cultural misunderstanding.

    In Murica, the government *owns* your identity. If you want to change it you have to ask the states permission.

    In the UK and other countries you can wake up one day and say "Fuck it! my new name is...", then create a self-signed legal document expressing your intention, and all other government documents must fall into line. But it's not the legal paperwork that changes your name, it's the "My name is ... because I fucking say so" part.

    Anyway, that's the problem with using Murican online services. You have to accept the Muricanization of your culture. So no nipples for YOU.

    7 3 Reply
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bah!

    It's all PR and SJW bullying.

    FB aren't serious about any of this. If they were, they would have popped the two sock puppets I created ages ago to send resources to myself in Zynga games. They both sport pictures of my cats which can be found in my real name profile.

    OK, OK. I admit it's been at least 6 months since I've logged into any of those accounts.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Trixr
      Reply Icon

      Re: Bah!

      I have no idea what you mean by "SJW bullying", but yeah, I don't see FB shutting down accounts made for pets. I have at least half a dozen of them in my feed.

      0 0 Reply
  12. Michael Thibault

    Doesn't "Other" (meaning: 'else') in the second list not subsume the second and third categories? If not, what is the reason for that level of granularity?

    Oh, wait... Never mind; it's FaceBook. Ok, never mind.

    1 0 Reply

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