Can I use my pseudonym?
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Can I use my pseudonym?
In the terms and conditions it says:
By making Content available, you represent and warrant that:
your blog is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your blog’s URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own;WordPress do a good job of not making their terms and conditions too detailed and voluminous. But I have a problem with this one and am wondering if I should just interpret it in the ‘spirit’ that I guess it is meant. My guess is that it means ‘passing off’ as someone else is not acceptable. The first part (your blog is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company) seems to make sense and is, essentially, the same as the law regarding passing off as some other person or legal entity but the second part (For example, your blog’s URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own;) seems to be illogical, is impractical and is problematic.
It is impractical because two people can have the same name. In the case of a company it makes sense because in order to register the name of a company it must not be the name of another company. But this clause prohibits anyone called Joe Bloggs naming their blog Joe Bloggs because it IS “the name of a person other than [them self]”. This is where the problem gets a bit sticky. It clearly is not meant to exclude someone using their own name just because thousands of other people have the same name (in spite of the fact that that is the literal stipulation). But it would be too prescriptive to insist that people MUST use their registered birth name as their blog name. (Otherwise only the first Joe Bloggs would be allowed a WordPress blog.) So it seems that people have to be allowed to use a pseudonym (and that is perfectly acceptable by law provided it does not significantly impact on someone else) but these terms literally prohibit that.
In my case I have a pseudonym “Sam Spruce”. I chose that name (some years ago) for a variety of reasons including the fact that it had no other presence on the internet (at that time). I want my blog for the persona (my pseudonym-ed persona) of Sam Spruce who is well known as the owner of Toxic Drums (which is me). But strictly speaking I cannot accept these terms and conditions because they exclude my use of the name Sam Spruce.
Not wanting to labour the point: That “For example” clause is not logical and is therefore problematic. Having thought on this at some length it strikes me that, in the spirit of simplicity and not ‘over complicating’ terms and conditions, it would be better to remove the “For example” clause because it doesn’t add clarity and does introduce a problem and complexity. It seems to me that this issue is well covered and explained in the first part without the “For example” and quite adequately covered by British Law (I can’t speak for other countries – but I expect they deal with this too).
In summary: To Mr WordPress: Would you consider changing this phrasing by possibly removing this illogical (or at least unsupportable and somewhat irrational) “For example” part. And can I assume the ‘spirit’ of the terms and conditions and use my pseudonym of Sam Spruce?
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If, as I type this, I am adding a ‘comment’ or ‘response’ to my own post I will say that that was not made clear at the time. I suspect this is what I am doing but have so far not been assured that I have actually ‘posted’ my post. So WordPress isn’t perfect after all – close – but not quite perfect. (… and no ‘preview‘!?)
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This above all- to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Polonius in Act I Scene III of Hamlet by William Shakespeare(unless you are a forum spammer…)
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Krikey that was weird. So is ‘1tess’ your real name? I just get such a bad feeling from your post; Like it is judgemental, insinuating and criticising. Why the parenthesised comment? Anyway I didn’t find that very helpful but thank you for trying.
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It just means that you can use whatever name you like as long as you are not impersonating someone else. If you are true to yourself, then whatever name you use will be you.
Don’t you like Shakespeare?
How about what Juliet tells Romeo?
“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;”I see no problem with using the name samspruce!
As for my name, Tess was already taken when I signed up for WordPress.com.
(unless you are a forum spammer…)
Just means that folks who spam these forums get marked as spammers. -
Thank you Tess. You have allayed my paranoia. :) I do like Shakespeare but don’t know enough about his plays.
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Do be aware that use of a pseudonym online does not make you anonymous. Non one online is anonymous. We all leave digital breadcrumb trails and we can all be tracked by those who have the skills and determination to do that.
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2011/11/28/blogging-real-name-or-pseudonym/ -
Indeed.
My family and I are watching Hamlet with David Tennant, in short bits over the past few nights, thus my renewed interest in our friend Will…
Are you planning a blog on wp.com or are you using the name for JetPack and a self-hosted site?
http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/If the former, then you can link your name to your wp.com site:
How to make your name link to your blog:
Go into your dashboard -> Users -> Personal Settings -> then scroll down to ‘Account Details’. In the spot where it says ‘website’ fill in the address of your blog and save the changes. -
A lot of users have a pseudonym on WordPress.com that relates not one bit to their real, in person, identity.
So if you’re not claiming to BE Shakespeare, or David Tennant, or anyone else like that, you should be fine. :)
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Well, there is a http://shakespeare.wordpress.com/ but I cannot imagine it is really our good friend (long departed) Mr. William S., nor can I think anyone is deceived by that claim to a name.
At any rate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All%27s_Well_That_Ends_Well
≥^!^≤ -
To timethief: Yes I am well aware of that. In fact I am probably a little closer to one who follows breadcrumbs than one who is followed :) And I do not try to hide my real identity I just have Sam Spruce as the front man (or tree) for Toxic Drums.
To Tess: I am not planning to use JetPack on the grounds that it is too pre-formed for me and I am considering simply blogging but as to whether or not to bother owning samspruce.com I am not decided yet. I don’t think I can be bothered at the moment. The idea is to have a more serious and informative blog in addition to the current erratic and dramatic one on Google Blogger (http://www.toxicdrums.blogspot.co.uk/). And thanks for the tips.
To jackiedana: Yes – As is so often the case few people actually read the terms and conditions and so they break the rules that are impossible to stick to thereby providing any malevolent authority the wherewithal to shut them down with the pretence of legality if they so wish. Hey – who needs a reason nowadays; Governments just shut you down if they wish anyway.
And thank you all for your replies :)
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Hi samspruce,
Yes, I did look you up, though not whether samspruce.com is still available or not. Whether you use it or not, it might be a good move to claim it… The non-profit I work for has not purchased all the variations of our name, and someone else (a for-profit business) claimed a very good one. We often get irate calls from their customers as a result. I’m just sayin’ here…
Whatever you end up doing, accept my best wishes. The conversation has been interesting.
Tess (or 1tess, if you prefer) -
Get the name – only $5.– / year here to hold it (no need to use it right away) good insurance just in case
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I’ve had dinner and a movie now, and again I am thinking about your words:
To Tess: I am not planning to use JetPack on the grounds that it is too pre-formed for me and I am considering simply blogging
JetPack is in no way “pre-formed.” It only allows you to do a number of things quite well without having the headaches of using other wp.org plugins and dealing with some of the problems they can cause.
I spend much time for the wp.org site I maintain for work (and as a result, I neglect my own personal blogs) and had the whole thing crash because of a popular plugin. I really, really, really did not want to go through the learning curve it took to bring the site back up. Yes, I had a backup, but couldn’t use it because the crash wouldn’t even allow me to get to my wp.org dashboard… IMO: don’t write off JetPack with too wide a brush.
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Ok Tess I’ll have another look. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed your dinner. :)
To auxclass: Thanks for the thought but I do have too many ‘just in case’ domain names. Not too too many but more than I want really. :)
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Yes, daughter cooked, husband cleaned up: even Will would say, “It’s just the way I like it!” (or may be: as you like it)
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