Here we go again

[supergee]

A social network cannot enforce a Real Names policy consistently because nobody wants to sign up for a virtual police state. One big reason Google + lost to Facebook is that it pretended harder. Not of course leaving well enough alone, Facebook has decided to make its own pretense a teense more convincing by picking on targets of opportunity: people whose Facebook names don't match the gender they're supposed to be. (Bad laws are always enforced against the most obviously defenseless.) Queerty has the story.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Entirely aside from the name Lee, which should be giving them conniptions, and the Leslies and the Lynns and the Tracys and Terrys and the female Michaels and the male Gales, one of my cousins gave all his daughters masculine names. I'd think they have better sense than to be on Facebook, but if they are, Facebook is going to get terrorized good and proper. You don't mess with my cousins.

[onyxlynx]

And yes, I should have read the article first. But Facebook is still intrusive and stinky.

[marahmarie]

So what happens if your Facebook name doesn't even have a gender? Because it's just, I don't know, hmmmm....made up of nonsense words? It will be interesting to find out, that's for sure.

[weofodthignen]

The sad thing is how many people are willing to sign up for both, and then attempt to drag their friends into them. If only more people would refuse to use both, they might have some incentive to back down from the more obvious abuses, or be replaced by something better.