this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Not at all, it's perfectly fine to have accounts on multiple instances.
Do you mean the same username or different usernames? I may be misunderstanding your point.
I'm not who you're replying to, but I have accounts on a handful of instances for this very reason. Sometimes things go down or get laggy, and I just hop to a different instance.
It's a strength of the fediverse.
That's entirely up to you, it can be the same username if you want. Speaking as an instance admin, there is no problem with users creating multiple accounts across instances, even if they're the same username.
Spam would be creating as many usernames as you can on any given instance (e.g. trying to register 100 users on lemmy.world because reasons) - there's obviously a problem with that. Creating you@instance1, you@instance2 and you@instanceN is perfectly fine.
I thought that you had to have the same username to identify yourself.
each instance has its own user base, charlie@instance and charlie@otherinstance are not guaranteed to be the same person any more than @charlie at twitville and @charlie at ig.
That's actually likely to cause some issues down the line with people impersonating other users, but for now It's fine
I mean, it'd be similar in validity as [email protected] pretending to be [email protected]. Yeah, it'll fool some people, but easily checked if you keep your head about you.
The difference is that ActivityPub clients currently only display the username part and hide the host for some reason. This can lead to confusion, I don't get why the full address isn't displayed by default.
Email does that too. It's even worse, you can make "[email protected]" show up but it's really [email protected]. Granted, many emails hosts are getting better at flagging these, but one can still click the name to confirm on Kbin or Lemmy.
On liftoff for android I see always the full username.
It's already happening. I saw a sh.itjust.works user impersonating a lemmy.world admin and presenting opposite positions to what that lemmy.world admin believed. I use keyoxide to help provide confirmation that yes, @[email protected] and @[email protected] are the same person, both of them are me, don't panic.
It's literally like thinking [email protected] and [email protected] is the same person. :)
I mean slightly bad example since Microsoft migrated a bunch of their hotmail users to outlook addresses hahahaha. But yeah. I especially feel that way about people who want all !news communities to just be aggregated together when that doesn't actually make sense when you think about it for more than a second. [email protected] and [email protected] don't actually have much in common, in terms of what they're about. I know [email protected] doesn't actually exist, but it feasibly could exist as a community for discussing table top role playing game news, like if Dungeons and Dragons has a big new release of material or something
Oh they did.. Yeah I don't know about microsoft these days, I don't follow what they are doing. :) But yeah, just making a point.
I think it makes sense to use the fediverse in a semi-anonomous way and not strive for centralized login systems since it will lead to being tracked.
There are no requirements, and they wouldn't be enforceable even if somebody tried. The admin of instance1 has no way of knowing that you already have an account on instance2. Your identifiable details (IP address, e-mail address) are private to the instance that you sign up with and it would be a violation of privacy (and inherently scummy) for those to be shared between instances - they're not.
You can be anonymous on the fediverse, just like the Internet in general used to be before Facebook.
I choose not to be. I like to have a clear breadcrumb trail for myself and not confuse people.
I get that, I've been "SoNick" or some variation of it for a few decades now. However, a friend of mine uses different - but thematically similar - usernames for different services, when I asked her about it she explained that as a girl on the internet she has attracted more than a few stalkers; changing up the username makes it harder for them to find her on different services.
That makes sense then.
That's fine too, the short of it is it's entirely up to you.
I personally don't understand why people feel the inclination to pose as multiple accounts under different names. I used to use anonymity as revenge before I learned that it's a way to hide your accountability for things that you may have said or done controversially. I didn't make fake accounts after that. Use your name; claim that responsibility, restore your trust, and move forward. But that's my opinion and may be unpopular.
Pseudonymity has been a thing on the internet for a long time. And while it can be used to “hide from accountability,” as you put it, it can also be used for a lot of other things.
For example, I can use the platform formerly known as Twitter under one account name to follow and interact with nerdy interests, while I can use it with a different username to follow and interact with more mainstream interests. A huge benefit to this is that I can prevent the algorithm from muddying things up (too much, and at least on my end), but also, I get to separate my circles in such a way that it's a lot easier to navigate. It can be argued, however that it's at the expense of having to juggle multiple usernames which makes it way harder, but that's the price I'd gladly pay.
I wouldn't want to go through the trouble. I want people to know who they're talking to.
Yeah, I get that.
I'm just pointing out that there are ways to do that without sacrificing privacy (by using one's real name for example). The way I've personally settled on is through the use of persistent pseudonyms. And that a person might use more than one of those.
Dismissing such behavior (using more than one username to access a site/platform) as “hiding from accountability,” just seems unfair to me.
If there is abuse, impersonation, or whatever wrongdoing committed then let it be dealt with by the mods and admins with the powers they have.
Furthermore, you are free to branch out Lemmy source code, implement the features you think are needed (say, restricting one IP to one username and vice versa), and fire up your own instance using that fork. And if there are many others who share your view on things, then not only you could find others to code the features, you also could find people willing to share admin and other front-facing work with you.
The only times when I have created a fake identity were out of spite or revenge against others which I no longer condone.
In the Fediverse it isn’t possible to reserve your username. I could host a server and get something like
[email protected]so it’s unreasonable to expect that users keep the same username across instances. Reddit is more anonymous than Facebook. The Fediverse is more anonymous than Reddit.But I do.
Then you should drop that assumption/expectation.
Why?
Not at all. You don't have to identify as yourself on every instance you have an account. It's literally a different account. You can keep a backup of all your subscriptions/follows/etc from one to the other or you can treat them as two entirely different identities. Just don't have them generate a lot of pointless traffic between each other (like arguing with yourself on a post or something).
Wouldn't it be easier to be the same person across all of the communities and instances rather than split your personality?
It would be easier but would remove anonymity and allow user tracking.
Depends on the person. The point is, it's entirely up to you. And keep in mind you're not guaranteed to get the same name on every instance you create an account.
I would add a sequential number like 0 or 1.
Ok? I honestly can't tell if you get the point yet or not though.
I do, but I disagree with the premise.
What premise? It's not a philosophy. It's an outright technical observation. You can do whatever you want. I didn't say you have to like it. What is there to disagree with? You can say the idea isn't for you, but it's still correct.
If I can choose to not believe in its viability then it's a philosophy.
That's fucking stupid. I'm done here. Someone in the thread even already posted their two different account names. I guess you think that's just an illusion. Fucking idiot.
@fediverse why are you boosting this shit? 🤨
Haven't found an easier way to bookmark something I'm following. And I boosted the original post which was well before they revealed their idiocy.
I have accounts on about 6 instances with the same username. I don't see why that would be a problem.
Don't use the same username (although you can if it's available). But try to be a bit anonomous here.
I don't know why I would want to not use my username though.