Hey what about Dreamwidth?!

[firecat]

So Facebook is targeting certain individuals for not using their legal names, and as a result a lot of folks, especially queer folks, are signing up for other social media sites, especially ello.co. And some of them are saying they're going to go back to Livejournal. I signed up at ello too because I feel compelled to stake out my preferred name everywhere, and because a lot of my friends have joined. But I am really sad and annoyed that no one seems to be considering Dreamwidth as an alternative social media site. I trust Dreamwidth a lot more than ello.co (nothing against them, but I don't know the people running it) and more than LiveJournal (although I'm still cross-posting to LiveJournal).

Comments

[stefanie_bean]

OK this is probably a dumb question, as I'm not a FB user, but how does FB even know if you're using a real name or not?

[firecat]

They don't, but if someone flags you as using a false name, they will turn off your account until you prove that it's a legal name.

[stefanie_bean]

OK, got it.

[bibliofile]

Oh, and sometimes they don't believe in your real name and demand a photocopy of ID. Author Owl Goingback was the most egregious example I heard of.

[stefanie_bean]

That's unconscionable. So if your name isn't WASP-y, it's not real. Got it.