Post
this is your yearly reminder about the difference between unmasking an anonymous or pseudonymous person to reveal their name, vs doxxing someone's home address.
Deleted
from me from 2018: blacksky.community/profile/did:...
Liz Fong-Jones (方禮真)
@lizthegrey.com
· Jan 13, 2025
Doxxing vs. unmasking:
* Doxxing = publicizing highly specific personal info of an individual (& freq. facilitates intimidation/threats).
* Unmasking = publicizing name/identifying photo/city-level location for bystander accountability for someone's pseudonymous behavior.
and as I said in the thread, unmasking is not necessarily harmless! if you out someone as gay, yeah, that potentially has risks for them! saying "closetedMrSpy" on grindr is "James Bond" does not doxx them unless you also included their home address, but could get Mr. Bond fired. It's situational!
11:46 PM · Oct 13, 2025
Other important distinctions people missed:
- boycott <> censure
- criticism <> hate speech
- free speech <> diffamation
- civil disobedience <> vandalism
And as Liz pointed out, context is important to interpret all of those properly.