How would you define the set of circumstances that are not in the “vast majority”? My initial reaction is vaguely along the lines of: lack of good faith + clear falsity of at least the main thrust of the accusation + lack of substantial mistreatment of the psuedonymous person by their target. But how does one judge the good faith of a psuedonym?
Whistleblower protection is necessary when Abe provides evidence that Bill harmed Cindy; otherwise, Abe lacks incentive to help Cindy. It is less important when Abe defends himself against harm caused by Bill.
There’s something to this, but I don’t think the incentives argument maps neatly onto the presence/absence of third parties. It’s not entirely clear to me what tangible incentive “Alice” and “Chloe” would have to tell their stories to Ben with permission to share with the broader public. The financial payment seems to have not been anticipated. Having proceeded under pseudonyms, the bulk of any sympathy they might get from the community wouldn’t translate into better real-world outcomes for the individuals themselves.
In these kinds of cases, the motive will often be psychological. People in this position could be motivated by altruistic motives (e.g., a desire for others not to experience the same things they believe they did) or non-altruistic motives (e.g., a hope that the community will roast people who the pseudonymous individuals believe did them wrong). In the former case, a default norm of respecting pseudonymity is important. Altruistic whistleblowers aren’t getting much out of it themselves (and are already devoting a lot of time and stress to the communal good).
There’s a unilateralist’s curse issue here—if there are (say) 100 people who know the identities of Alice and Chloe, does only one of them have to decide breaching the psuedonyms would be justified?
[Edit to add: I think the questions Geoffrey is asking are worthwhile ones to ask. I am just struggling to see how an appropriate decision to unmask could be made given the community’s structure without creating this problem. I don’t see a principled basis for declaring that, e.g., CHSP can legitimately decide to unmask but everyone else had better not.]
Whistleblower anonymity should remain protected in the vast majority of situations, including this one, imo
How would you define the set of circumstances that are not in the “vast majority”? My initial reaction is vaguely along the lines of: lack of good faith + clear falsity of at least the main thrust of the accusation + lack of substantial mistreatment of the psuedonymous person by their target. But how does one judge the good faith of a psuedonym?
Whistleblower protection is necessary when Abe provides evidence that Bill harmed Cindy; otherwise, Abe lacks incentive to help Cindy. It is less important when Abe defends himself against harm caused by Bill.
There’s something to this, but I don’t think the incentives argument maps neatly onto the presence/absence of third parties. It’s not entirely clear to me what tangible incentive “Alice” and “Chloe” would have to tell their stories to Ben with permission to share with the broader public. The financial payment seems to have not been anticipated. Having proceeded under pseudonyms, the bulk of any sympathy they might get from the community wouldn’t translate into better real-world outcomes for the individuals themselves.
In these kinds of cases, the motive will often be psychological. People in this position could be motivated by altruistic motives (e.g., a desire for others not to experience the same things they believe they did) or non-altruistic motives (e.g., a hope that the community will roast people who the pseudonymous individuals believe did them wrong). In the former case, a default norm of respecting pseudonymity is important. Altruistic whistleblowers aren’t getting much out of it themselves (and are already devoting a lot of time and stress to the communal good).
-13 karma from 5 votes for a comment that doesn’t seem to break any Forum norms? Odd
Even if the whistleblowers seem to be making serial false allegations against former employers?
Does EA really want to be a community where people can make false allegations with total impunity and no accountability?
Doesn’t that incentivize false allegations?
Has there been a suggestion that Chloe has made serial false allegations against former employers? I thought that was only Alice.
There’s a unilateralist’s curse issue here—if there are (say) 100 people who know the identities of Alice and Chloe, does only one of them have to decide breaching the psuedonyms would be justified?
[Edit to add: I think the questions Geoffrey is asking are worthwhile ones to ask. I am just struggling to see how an appropriate decision to unmask could be made given the community’s structure without creating this problem. I don’t see a principled basis for declaring that, e.g., CHSP can legitimately decide to unmask but everyone else had better not.]