Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter made a tweet that story hungry journalists interpreted as meaning that he is considering requiring users to use their real names.

At the least, Musk now has access to any private information in your stored messages in your Twitter account. Delete while you can.

I know in the past some Twitter knockoffs were made specifically for SWers.

Anyone remember what they are?

If Musk's impulses override his intelligence to require real names with accounts where will you migrate to?

I would stick with Twitter. Most widely used emails require a phone number to verify and google voice isn't an option to use. It's likely to be connected.

Alot of people in 2020 disagreed with stuff that businesses required. One side pointed out that they are private businesses and can require whatever they want and that you should just comply.

Same thing could happen with Twitter and I recommend that you not be paranoid and just comply. There's no need to assume the worst is going to happen or that the government is out to get you. The government cares about you and Elon Musk is not going to do anything nefarious. I would accept the new normal of having less privacy and consider it good for society.

I wouldn't worry too much about Twitter requiring the use of an actual name, I think people are overreacting to Elon Musk buying Twitter and making it seem like it's gonna be horrible. Most likely the platform will stay relatively the same and maybe some notable names will be allowed back on.

I keep two Twitter accounts as I imagine a lot of us do. I’ll probably give it a bit to get a better sense of where this is heading, but will likely ultimately delete the account I use to follow SWer Twitter.

I suspect Musk is going to want to retain/grow the advertising revenue on Twitter as a key priority. All the smoke and mirrors aside, I can’t imagine any other reason he bought Twitter other than thinking he could make money. Not buying his, “save the world” bs. Unfortunately, I could see him thinking less privacy does that but I also think he may make relatively slow changes as to not upset the apple cart.

I don’t think the SWer Twitter knockoffs really caught on, but it’s possible this drives more adoption. Idk, so hard to tell right now where this is heading.

Very curious on others thoughts.

It probably doesn't hurt to have the algorithm and collective conscience of the human mind via Twitter for use with his Neuralink brain implant chips. The free speech stuff is just a cover story.

SWers don't use their real names for a reason.

That is why I created the thread. The rule he is thinking of would require that accounts have real, verified names on them.

Agree with your comment. Would just build on it that a lot of us clients like to have an account not associated with our real name as well. It’s why I keep a second Twitter not linked to a phone #, linked to an email that’s separate from everything else. I’m sure it’s not completely untraceable, but more difficult. If Twitter required real names, I would delete mine 100%.

I would recommend using Truth Social as an alternative to Twitter.

Lol.

Totally agree

In fact, I'm guessing this thread came out of an exhange Soapy and I had on Twitter specifically about this subject.. after Ibposted your exact sentiment.

What... Wait... You only have two?

I have to have at least a dozen, not even counting the ones that got banned :p