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What’s in a Username?

On the internet, a username is often an unchangeable name that you choose to present yourself to the world. What you choose can say a lot about yourself. Maybe you choose to name yourself after a band you really like, or a franchise you enjoy. On social media, a username is typically used instead of a personal name, and I’m sure we have all seen some interesting username choices that we end up remembering all too well. According to research, a username can actually tell you a bit about a person, in particular their likelihood of being toxic. Urbaniak et al used algorithmic detection on the social media site Reddit and investigated the question of whether username toxicity is a useful predictor in online profiling. The sample used two large data streams with 329k Reddit users.

Defining Toxicity in Usernames

  • Offensive – contains words or phrases that are generally recognized as racist, homophobic, or overly nationalistic.

  • Profanity – contains words or phrases generally recognized as profane, typically in the form of curse words.

  • Sexual – words or phrases referring to sexual acts, sexual activities, or intimate body parts.

  • Inappropriate – words or phrases that refer to controversial topics that lack the vulgar component.

Types of Online Toxicity

  • Personal Attack – an intentionally rude comment made to another user with the intent to abuse or demean them.

  • Sexual Harassment – a sexual related comment with the intent to violate another user’s dignity or to humiliate them.

  • Threat – a comment made towards another user with the intent or wish to cause harm or misfortune upon them.

  • Rejection – a comment made towards another user with the intent to exclude them from interacting with others.

  • Profanity – a comment made that contains words or phrases generally recognized as vulgar or offensive. This category can be broad.

  • Sexual Remark – A comment that includes words or phrases that are linked with sex or sexuality. This category can be broad.

Key Findings

  • Around 3% of users have usernames considered toxic.

  • 14% of content found is considered toxic.

  • Users with toxic usernames produced more toxic comments compared to those with neutral usernames.

  • Given a user with a toxic username comments 20/50/100 times a week, they are predicted to create 4k/10k/20k more toxic comments compared to their equally active neutral named users.

  • Active users with a username considered sexual or include profanity created 50% more toxic content weekly compared to users with neutral usernames.

  • Users with profane usernames generate the most profanity, personal attacks and rejections.

  • Users with sexual usernames generated the most sexual harassment and sexual remarks.

  • Overall a moderately active user with a toxic username is expected to create 38% more toxic comments in a year, and a highly active user is expected to create 37% more toxic comments than their respective neutral counterparts.

So to answer the age old question: what’s in a name? Well it turns out a name is a good indication of how likely a person is to be toxic. As an avid redditor myself, these results did not come as a shock to me. I had always known Reddit to be a toxic place depending on the subreddit you are on. However, after writing this, I will pay more attention to peoples’ usernames, which is typically something I would disregard completely.


Source:

Urbaniak, Tempska, P., Dowgiałło, M., Ptaszyński, M., Fortuna, M., Marcińczuk, M., Piesiewicz, J., Leliwa, G., Soliwoda, K., Dziublewska, I., Sulzhytskaya, N., Karnicka, A., Skrzek, P., Karbowska, P., Brochocki, M., & Wroczyński, M. (2022). Namespotting: Username toxicity and actual toxic behavior on Reddit. Computers in Human Behavior, 136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107371

Jordan See, Writer


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