[jhvh1134]

I've had a clearly fake name on Facebook for years. A couple weeks ago I got message from one of their reps, letting me know that there was an issue about my name, and that it was currently being reviewed. I had no intention to link that account to my real name, as it was mostly political whining and interaction with a few close friends. I basically told them that I wouldn't change the name and that they should just delete the account. A couple days later they responded by telling me that my name did not break TOS and that I was free to use my fake name. So I'm not even sure that policy is even enforced, steered... maybe.

[atomi]

Because real name policies are like putting a band-aid on a cancer patient. The biggest difference is that anonymity on the internet is a feature not a bug. If your service relies on having real names to prevent TOS violations you're going to have a bad time.

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

[kevingadd]

It's enforced if people choose to report you, and 'proving' your name to them can be somewhat involved

It's also more likely they will hassle you over it if your name isn't white. Maybe those sorts of names tend to be fake more often, but probably not.

[jhvh1134]

I'm pretty sure I was reported by someone I disagreed with in the comments of a political post. My point was that I bypassed "proving" because I refused to comply to their rule.

I've seen no evidence of different treatment based on race. Would you mind citing your source?

[gweinberg]

I've been told Native Americans often have problem with the "real names" policy because they often sound "fake" to people used to European names.

[sverige]

Yes. For example, Begay is a common Navajo surname. Others use traditional names (such as Standing Bear, for example). Odds are the people at facebook making these decisions have never known anyone with such a name.

[walshemj]

Well odds are that these people at not even in the USA and would have even less idea or impose there cultures pov - this may explain why the is real name policy seems to be targeted at LBGT people.

[kevingadd]

Some people have their (foreign) names outright banned on Facebook because they happen to be offensive in other cultures:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/f...

At least if the real name policy wasn't required they could go by an inoffensive alternate name... but I think it's also unfair to police real names like that.

An interesting footnote is that one of the examples in that article was a Facebook employee and the company still treated them like shit.

[boznz]

The wifes got 4 profiles for 4 different groups of friends.. Dont see anything wrong with that (except it bumping up the facebook user count)