@xChaos I agree, we should all be aware of AI. But I think I can still tell, when a profile is real. For instance, som people who share their faces also share situational photos of themselves with the same face and being next to other real people in real environments.
The consistency across their posts and photos is also a good indicator. Some AI profiles flunk because of inconsistencies.
Theoretically an elaborate profile could be faked too, but I do not think that is common.
@randahl well, I definitely don't want to discourage anyone from using their actual face as avatar.
But using real names was norm on Facebook and it was one of the reasons I left. I am on Internet much longer, than Facebook, and the pseudonymity was one of the things, which was amazing about these early online communities.
On the other hand, in the #Fidonet, using real names was compulsory and Mastodon, with it decentralisation, local rules, moderation policy and unencrypted netmail resembles #Fidonet, in a way.
So if #Fidonet had avatars, I can imagine using photos of real faces would be compulsory there.
