i'm sure this person is cool but it is insane to have an about me page that is that long, but make me have to click through to patreon to learn what their first and last names are
Gwern has been around for ages. I remember citing a few of their pages during my postgraduate work over 15 years ago. At the time, it wasn't easy (or even possible?) to find their name at all.
I've always assumed Gwern was anonymous because the norm on the internet generally was to try to be anonymous, especially those who've done research around crypto, darknet markets and other spicy areas.
Maybe I'm just getting old and losing touch, but is the expectation now that you can only write long articles and ask for donations or contributions if you publish your real name somewhere?
people can do whatever they want! i just thought it was odd because i clicked on About Me wanting to figure out whose site it was and the answer was not there.
That's fair, I completely get that. I guess I was just surprised that there's an expectation that a website with content like Gwern's would be up front about their real identity. I'm trying to understand how widespread that expectation is now, because I'm concerned I'm becoming out of touch with modern web expectations!
I've always assumed Gwern was anonymous because the norm on the internet generally was to try to be anonymous, especially those who've done research around crypto, darknet markets and other spicy areas.
Maybe I'm just getting old and losing touch, but is the expectation now that you can only write long articles and ask for donations or contributions if you publish your real name somewhere?
Could I ask what sort of age group you are?