URGENT!! Protect your girls!

Alright I am a little late to the discussion here but I wanted to add my two cents .. though to be honest it will probably be more like 25cents lol.

First let me state clearly - I do not wish to see anonymity added. I LOVE the connection, and while I have not connected with anyone in world due to primfeed, I feel way more connected than I ever did using flickr.

2nd - As others have stated, harassment is gonna happen in SL. I have not had one person contact me "due to primfeed" - however I have had people message me in when I sim hop, shopping, and in -hidden- groups. It happens…. Anonymity is not protection. However I think it will open a doorway for more people to post/reply or behave in a manner they wouldn't with their identity being shown to all. If you can be anonymous, so can the douche canoes.

I am a grown adult woman, I do run in the circles more guided by the sexual side of SL, Now perhaps I am ugly (lol) or unappealing to the creeps of SL but honestly, I do not get that many inappropriate IMs in SL, I have had a share - it happens, but its also gonna happen whether I am being sexy, or just shopping, whether i post naked pics (which I haven't yet and probably wont) or just pretty sunsets. Creeps are gonna be creeps. Does that make it ok? no but it is easier to block them, than to have Primfeed full of anonymous artists. If I like your art, I wanna know who you are.

((Side note- I do not think someone messaging me to tell me how "hot / beautiful I am or that they like my work, to be a harassing or inappropriate message)) <--???

with that beings said…Soapbox time: (lol)

I do not understand the concept of posting "art/pics" and then not wanting people to know who you are… I do not get it at all. Do you just want a bunch of people boosting your ego and hearting your stuff? Does that make you feel good? I really do not understand this idea at all.

If i see an artist stuff that I like, I try to comment, I WANT to know them so I can see more. If I went to an art gallery IRL and everything was by an Anonymous artist, I would be like , "well that was nice but what was the point?" "remember that beautiful capture by…. oh crap well I dunno who took it" - - Seems silly to me shrugs

Also remember that Primfeed is not only pictures, This is a social outlet for SL accounts…It's already somewhat anonymous from your RL anyway …People can make posts, and share their thoughts, etc. which if being SL anonymous is allowed, I feel like is gonna ensure a whole new slew of problems (think SL secrets)

So while people on here are stating their claims that if they can't be anonymous they will stop using it.. I say: "Bye! Take care, Flickr will take you back I am sure!" . Perhaps that sounds harsh, but its your preference not to use it, Do not try to threaten the creator with your "business".

If I like your art, or posts, then I want to KNOW you, maybe I want to make contact with you. Maybe I think we could be lifelong friends….shrugs - and I think that may have been the Primfeed teams original intentions or ideals - I love it!

And now here is my own threat - to anonymous users… I will not follow, like, comment, or share anyone who is "anonymous". and if this suggestion is implemented or becomes a feature then I would like to suggest another feature - A filter that allows a user to NOT see pics/posts by anonymous users.

~picks up her soapbox, and opens her wallet to toss in her 2 cents and pulls out a 5 dollar bill instead (lol)

I don't mind that my system name is here for all to see.

If someone decides to fixate on my inworld presence because they found it here, I have inworld tools to deal with them (I can block them, derender them, kick them off my land, even AR them if the offense is egregious enough).

If someone's the type of person to 'stalk' people based on social media, then hiding your system name here isn't really going to slow them down all that much. There's always clues.

I WOULD like Primfeed to have some method of disciplining abusers of the service, which should include inworld stalking. The person being stalked should have to bring proof, perhaps screenshots or logs, the same as if they were filing a harassment report with SL, though.

I’d like to leave a reminder of some tools available to us.

You can make your name unsearchable on SL, something you set in preferences on any viewer and it should apply across the board. They can still access your profile though through other methods such as someone linking them in-world, they go through your partner’s profile, or they open your profile clicking you in-world. This helps the flow of people finding you from Primfeed to SL.

Primfeed also has an option to not make your profile searchable. Ofc, they are likely finding you from photos you post on public, but if you are a more private person, they won’t be able to find you from SL to Primfeed directly.

You can also make it where only friends can message you on SL, so you’d need to accept their friend request or add them yourself before their messages reach you. So even if they do find you, it won’t go through unless you accept their friend request first. This sounds like the best safeguard in your particular case. Ofc, you will lose out on being messaged by other random strangers or an acquaintance of a friend or a working relationship that hasn’t added you, but it’s a strong, bold safeguard.

Now as for a new suggestion, what if Primfeed allowed a user’s display name to be private UNTIL you follow a person? If you follow them, your username becomes visible. Seems kind of like a fair trade off considering you are subscribing to see their content, that they should know who you are.

But I would try to stop disconnecting SL from Primfeed. It is THE secondlife social media. You might as well pretend Primfeed can be directly viewed from your in-world profile. Thinking of it like this might help digest this accountability of posting. The photos you post are of that avatar. If you want to be private on Primfeed, the same privacy should be sought on SL, like synonymous.

That is my opinion on the matter.

I like the link between SL and primfeed for accounts. People can always make alts to get around it if they want, but it's nice to be able to see who is posting. It makes it so no one can impersonate anyone from SL, you can always see who their account is. And SL has a block feature just like primfeed does.

I love that it is the Avatar names, that are showing. This way nobody can hide behind anonymity.

Something that might be possible (I don't know the details of the interface between PrimFeed and SecondLife) - but cross-platform blocking? i.e., if you block someone in-world, they'll be blocked here on PrimFeed and vice-versa?

So i have read through all the comments and replays so far. i am glad that we can be civil and try to understand one another :3 Here is my take on this. While yes people might be able to find you on Primfeed by your SL Username. its kind of what you signed up for. honestly that is the charm of Primfeed to be able to properly connect with others without being judged by people on the outside of Second life. will we get harassment? yes it happens. I've been on SL for a long time and even before primfeed creeps were asking to give them some. its kind of the risk you take in general even when you sign up for a second life account. but the best thing you can do is Block. de-render and move on. Primfeed is still growing as well. and its being shaped but "Us" the users. i think thats fucking amazing ^.~ who knows maybe it will happen down the line. but right now lets enjoy it as it is.

Please, please, PLEASE implement this! My content is very safe all things considered, and I get IM's from strangers frequently now. I don't post porn, nudes, or overly sexualized content. (Not that I'm against it, its a personal choice out of respect for my SL partner) But I still get messages regularly now "Hi, wow!! You're so…." "I found you on Primfeed and just had to message you!" Sometimes it's tasteful and polite. Sometimes its someone wanting to tell me they appreciate my photos. Sometimes it's a fuckboy trying to get it in. Regardless, I think the only people having access to our inworld names should be the Primfeed devs/admins/Gods. It should be -optional- to hide our inworld info for our own privacy. And if someone is going to be an asshat thinking they have anonymity because of it, they can still be reported and the admins can still take action as they see fit.

 And yes, we could all just make an alt account and use it as our primfeed account. But that feels like a very poor solution to the problem. Thats less of a solution and more of a cheap work-around. And my biggest problem with that is nobody should have to. We've all been here since launch day trying to rebuild our following, gain traction here, find our favorite photographers again, reconnect, and rebuild. Telling someone to just delete and start over and post from an alt username is really not a fair or reasonable solution.  I'm also attaching an image just to show a little bit of what we're talking about. I blurred out this persons name because I respect everyone's privacy. And having our own privacy respected is the whole point of this topic. This is all just my own opinions and feelings/concerns. I know a lot people will agree and disagree for their own reasons. And thats totally fine. I'm only here because this is a very valid concern and it's something I've really been hoping for since the start of Primfeed.  Again, I'm not asking that our legacy names be removed entirely. They should still be linked to our account "behind the scenes" so that people can still be banned/blocked/warned/whatever and held accountable by Primfeed if they are doing something they shouldn't. But we desperately need the option to make them private.

The option to make a Primfeed account using an alt in Second Life is already the best way to protect yourself if you want anonymity. Just choose the option on an alt's inSL Preferences to not receive messages from non-friends and you'll never have to deal with IM harassment on that account too. There is no need for a Legacy Name hiding function here on Primfeed because of the fact that you can just create a free, totally unused, empty inventory alt in SL for this exact reason.

The fact that this site holds people accountable for what they post by keeping Legacy Names visible is a fantastic feature and I hope it stays this way. It makes people here honest and prevents filling up this site with a bunch of irrelevant-to-SL shitposters.