User talk:AxelBoldt/Real name proposal

See The overuse of anonymity at Wikipedia and a proposal. --Ben Houston 04:59, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

-What is the purpose of the real name proposal? The purpose of the proposal is to increase the validity, standing, truthfulness, or accuracy of the encyclopedia – or have some other similar beneficial result (one might hope that it would be beneficial in the sense that the clearest form of truth is conveyed to the greatest number of those who require to know it/express an interest in it by searching for articles on wikipedia).

- With this in mind, it clearly does not seem necessary for someone's real name to be known by an organisation. Only that the person has some type of qualification/background/experience which would reasonably stand that person in good stead in regards to providing expert knowledge or some meaningfully good contribution to the encyclopedia article/articles. For example, one imagines that one would have had to study mathematics to degree level to be able to reasonably convince others that one is able to make meaningful contributions to mathematical articles (assuming niceties such as exam and lecture structure are assumed to be universal).

This can be achieved without someone providing their full identity to wikipedia (or even to a third party organisation). I will leave the mathematically oriented to think about a system for how this could/should be done. For example, random unknown numbers could be provided to someone who shows their mathematics degree certificate (and perhaps passes a basic aptitude test also) so that each number corresponds to a certificate, but no-one knows which. Clearly the cryptographic hash commitment to one's identity is a more sophisticated way of getting things done in relation to identity – but my point is that someone can indicate their expertise in a subject area without compromising their identity. This seems like a very reasonable way of avoiding vandalism as most vandals wouldn't go far enough to forge a degree certificate to indicate their expertise.

There are other ideas/points which I could raise, but perhaps some feedback for this point would be forthcoming.

KeenestBean (talk) 21:03, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Contra argument: your real name will make you target of trolls, police, paramilitary organizations or even the government
While most people in the West assume they are safe...many ppl in the rest of the world know that adding info against the official narrative of those in charge, will land you in troubleland, at least. Cinadon36 17:39, 22 January 2024 (UTC)