Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: 2L5D on September 09, 2013, 10:08 pm

Title: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: 2L5D on September 09, 2013, 10:08 pm
so i have my alias set different than my username

but i would like to know if i could change it to hidden? and how?

Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: convergedlight on September 09, 2013, 11:18 pm
so i have my alias set different than my username

but i would like to know if i could change it to hidden? and how?

This isn't possible.  The reviews that say hidden are from feedback left under the old system.  I asked about this before because I didn't like a systemwide alias being available (since it makes purchases easier to track if you find out someone's alias).  DPR said that it needs some kind of name there so many purchases from 1 person can't be used to pad the feedback without it being obvious.  I suggested an alternative system already, hashing the alias/username + vendor name to create a system generated name that is the same for one user within a vendor's page (to prevent feedback padding) but different across vendors (to prevent user tracking), so I hope something like that is implemented eventually, but I don't know if there are any plans to actually do this or not.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: Hitch on September 09, 2013, 11:34 pm
  What if I never choose a new alias? Surely then I'll remain hidden?

   What about that info display on how many orders, how much btc spent, how many vendors - is it and the alias a complete package, or can I have an alias without actually displaying to the world my general stats?

   I've been around for a while, and I noticed that the feedback for the last order I placed, which was over a month ago, was in the top 3 for this vendor due to the "weight" of my account stats. It made me a bit paranoid... 

   I've only just jumped back on SR yesterday after a month long hiatus, so am researching recent changes now. It's great to see the team making improvements, though!

   I can see already a seachange coming in terms of having a more flexible ranking for vendors in the future, not as much pressure to rate every vendor 5/5, hopefully. Hitch
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: convergedlight on September 09, 2013, 11:42 pm
  What if I never choose a new alias? Surely then I'll remain hidden?

   What about that info display on how many orders, how much btc spent, how many vendors - is it and the alias a complete package, or can I have an alias without actually displaying to the world my general stats?

   I've been around for a while, and I noticed that the feedback for the last order I placed, which was over a month ago, was in the top 3 for this vendor due to the "weight" of my account stats. It made me a bit paranoid... 

   I've only just jumped back on SR yesterday after a month long hiatus, so am researching recent changes now. It's great to see the team making improvements, though!

   I can see already a seachange coming in terms of having a more flexible ranking for vendors in the future, not as much pressure to rate every vendor 5/5, hopefully. Hitch

No, I think without an alias it defaults to your username.  It warns you before you leave a note the first time "Hey!  You don't have an alias set yet, you should do that." or something of that nature.

The stats privacy issue was already discussed in a previous thread, and that's why it was made very vague now.  It only shows powers of 10 (1+, 10+ 100+, 1000+, etc) which I think is impersonal enough to be OK were it not for the user-specific alias.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: 2L5D on September 12, 2013, 04:39 pm
blehhh

Im beginning to prefer the old system where you had to be smart research your vendor and trust eachother
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: JohnTheBaptist on September 12, 2013, 05:25 pm
All you can do is change your alias. But cant hide the stats.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: Haisenberg on September 14, 2013, 10:55 am
I tried to change my alias many tmes. When i push the "update profile" button i see "username taken" but my alias is still the same.
What am I making wrong?

Greets
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: kimlee on September 14, 2013, 04:56 pm
I tried to change my alias many tmes. When i push the "update profile" button i see "username taken" but my alias is still the same.
What am I making wrong?

Greets


Uhhh, pick a name that hasnt been taken.  I had to go through 4-5 names before I got one that hadnt been used.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: Buzzer on September 14, 2013, 08:14 pm
would really like to be able to hide my alias/name... come on this is a blatant security risk
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: happyhippy on September 15, 2013, 05:02 pm
would really like to be able to hide my alias/name... come on this is a blatant security risk

Its a blatant security risk if you don't change your alias , you can change your alias each time if you wish destroying any link to previous purchases/feedback
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: Buzzer on September 15, 2013, 10:31 pm
would really like to be able to hide my alias/name... come on this is a blatant security risk

Its a blatant security risk if you don't change your alias , you can change your alias each time if you wish destroying any link to previous purchases/feedback

no... when you change your alias it changes all of your past feedback to the new name.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: spectrum on September 15, 2013, 11:08 pm
no... when you change your alias it changes all of your past feedback to the new name.

Are you serious? Fuck that. Guess I'll leave reviews only for the best and worst vendors to reduce the number of visible reviews I have.

Not much point in writing "good packaging, good product" on everyone's feedback anyway.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: 7Kz2 on September 15, 2013, 11:28 pm
It's common sense to not let anyone know your alias on there, do not use an alias you use anywhere else, and do not use a real descriptive name.  If your last name is wilson and you were born in 1990, do not put Wilson1990.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: nodialtone on September 16, 2013, 10:29 pm
It's common sense to not let anyone know your alias on there, do not use an alias you use anywhere else, and do not use a real descriptive name.  If your last name is wilson and you were born in 1990, do not put Wilson1990.

Then again, if your name is not Wilson and you were not born in 1990, Wilson1990 might be a perfect name. :)

Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: convergedlight on September 17, 2013, 04:23 am
It's common sense to not let anyone know your alias on there, do not use an alias you use anywhere else, and do not use a real descriptive name.  If your last name is wilson and you were born in 1990, do not put Wilson1990.

The problem is if you are active on the forums comparing products and discussing them and writing reviews on the same products under an alias, you might inadvertently use a unique phrase to describe said product in both places, and it might even be at about the same time.  Even if you don't use the same phrase, just the timing could give it away if the vendor does not have a high volume of sales.  This could provide strong circumstantial evidence linking a forum name to a buying account review alias, and with this info someone could scrape the site to identify everything else you reviewed under the same alias.  Until this is fixed it's clearly an incentive to not review in some cases.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: Dingo Ate My Drugs on September 18, 2013, 12:59 pm
so i have my alias set different than my username

but i would like to know if i could change it to hidden? and how?
Well changing it to a random name under an alias is pretty much the same thing as being hidden.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: strangemagic on September 18, 2013, 03:00 pm
so i have my alias set different than my username

but i would like to know if i could change it to hidden? and how?
Well changing it to a random name under an alias is pretty much the same thing as being hidden.

Nonsense. The alias links together all reviews from a particular buyer, across any number of vendors, and allows anyone to see exactly what that buyer has bought, and when and from whom.

Under the old system (until a month or so ago) that was not possible. And now, all of that information could be used as evidence in case of a busted buyer.

That is why I have not written any reviews since these changes were made, despite having completed a couple of orders with two different vendors. (If those vendors are reading this, now you know why. And I suppose you'll have to take my word for it that I left you a 5/5 rating).

Also I've heard it said that the main (or only) reason for the inclusion of a pseudonym in reviews is so that we can tell when a vendor is padding his own feedback. But as convergedlight and others have said, there are other ways of achieving that without linking all reviews to a buyer. Some have been suggested already, and I have at least one other suggestion which I'll be posting shortly in the relevant thread.

But for now, the only way to hide your alias is not to write any reviews.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: j1m1th1ng on September 18, 2013, 04:16 pm
I fail to see how this is better for the community in any way over the old system.
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: A1pha on September 18, 2013, 07:43 pm
the system wasn't broke and didn't need fixing.  I fail to see how it is a security risk though. maybe im just a stoned hippy. I
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: happyhippy on September 22, 2013, 06:00 pm
would really like to be able to hide my alias/name... come on this is a blatant security risk

Its a blatant security risk if you don't change your alias , you can change your alias each time if you wish destroying any link to previous purchases/feedback

no... when you change your alias it changes all of your past feedback to the new name.

OH !

Thanks for setting me straight , I made a ( wrong ) assumption
Title: Re: Changing your alias to hidden
Post by: gn0ssos on September 23, 2013, 03:00 pm
It's common sense to not let anyone know your alias on there, do not use an alias you use anywhere else, and do not use a real descriptive name.  If your last name is wilson and you were born in 1990, do not put Wilson1990.

Then again, if your name is not Wilson and you were not born in 1990, Wilson1990 might be a perfect name. :)

This is what I did. :D