I sent Owen a private response yesterday as I prefer to avoid writing publicly about this topic, but seeing that there is some confusion about the importance of my pseudonymity I’m sharing an adapted version of it below.
--
No, I am not comfortable disclosing my identity to a trusted party because I want to minimize the chances that Torres succeeds in doxxing me, and any disclosure involves risks. More fundamentally, I fail to see how my identity affects the credibility of what I said. I merely pointed out that Torres had accused me of “stalking, harassing, lying about, impersonating, and threatening [them] with physical violence”, and that this was a complete fabrication. If these accusations were True, Torres should be able to provide solid evidence. But Torres can provide this evidence regardless of whether my identity is known, or who it is known to.
The only scenario in which I can see Torres being unable to publicly back up their allegations is if (1) they are in a position to show that a specific individual did all of those things, (2) they know that I am this individual, but (3) they are unwilling to reveal the identity between that person and myself out of respect for my privacy. However, I am more than happy to waive my privacy rights in this case: I know I never contacted Torres or posted anything about Torres other than in my Substack or Twitter accounts, so I know that (1) is false (as the only conceivable way in which (1) could be true is if I had done those things).
--
Owen then clarified that his comment was not about Torres’s accusations of my harassing etc them, which he found unconvincing. His actual concern was that knowing my identity would help readers gauge if I am “as much a disinterested observer as is implied”. I agree that this is relevant, so feel free to re-read my essay on the assumption that I am not the person I claim to be. It might be useful to ask yourself how your conclusions would change if the essay did not include a “My story” section but was otherwise identical to the present one.
I do not plan to engage further, but if anyone wants to contact me, you may do so at wmarkfuentes@proton.me. Though note that I check this email rarely.
I sent Owen a private response yesterday as I prefer to avoid writing publicly about this topic, but seeing that there is some confusion about the importance of my pseudonymity I’m sharing an adapted version of it below.
--
No, I am not comfortable disclosing my identity to a trusted party because I want to minimize the chances that Torres succeeds in doxxing me, and any disclosure involves risks. More fundamentally, I fail to see how my identity affects the credibility of what I said. I merely pointed out that Torres had accused me of “stalking, harassing, lying about, impersonating, and threatening [them] with physical violence”, and that this was a complete fabrication. If these accusations were True, Torres should be able to provide solid evidence. But Torres can provide this evidence regardless of whether my identity is known, or who it is known to.
The only scenario in which I can see Torres being unable to publicly back up their allegations is if (1) they are in a position to show that a specific individual did all of those things, (2) they know that I am this individual, but (3) they are unwilling to reveal the identity between that person and myself out of respect for my privacy. However, I am more than happy to waive my privacy rights in this case: I know I never contacted Torres or posted anything about Torres other than in my Substack or Twitter accounts, so I know that (1) is false (as the only conceivable way in which (1) could be true is if I had done those things).
--
Owen then clarified that his comment was not about Torres’s accusations of my harassing etc them, which he found unconvincing. His actual concern was that knowing my identity would help readers gauge if I am “as much a disinterested observer as is implied”. I agree that this is relevant, so feel free to re-read my essay on the assumption that I am not the person I claim to be. It might be useful to ask yourself how your conclusions would change if the essay did not include a “My story” section but was otherwise identical to the present one.
I do not plan to engage further, but if anyone wants to contact me, you may do so at wmarkfuentes@proton.me. Though note that I check this email rarely.