If I use SSB under a pseudonym to talk about dangerous or controversial topics, I don't want my friends announcing my real name or merging me with my other account.

how do you deal with this problem in the real-world? what is your strategy to handle when somebody calls you by a different name than you prefer, against your wishes?

personally, i never chose the name Mikey. my roommate at university called me Mikey, against my wishes, when at the time i preferred to be called Michael. eventually, i realized that fighting against my friends was silly, and accepted that names are better given in love than controlled in spite.

similar to real-life, Scuttlebutt's decentralization means we can't control who says what and who hears what other people nearby said. regardless of how Patchwork implements this, any other client could choose to implement it differently. what is our strategy to handle when somebody implements a Patchtroll client with every feature we disagree with?

i like @matt's proposal because it provides a simple way for uxers to be in control of their subjective identities, using the same logic as we already have for nicknames. it doesn't mean we are in control of the subjectivity of others. but i think this respect and support for inter-subjectivity is what makes Scuttlebutt so beautiful, especially in a world of polarizing factions.