Anonymity
- Thread starter Mr. Wilson
- Start date
Mr. Wilson said:
Chill out bro, unlike Al Gore you didn't invent the internet... nor did you invent chat rooms... Whatever the reasons for people to use screen names, it's really their own business...
Only reason I used a "Screen Name" is because that is what is done in 95% of all other chat rooms or forums I have checked out for one reason or another... If when I signed up for this site they said I had to use my own name, I woulda said: "huh, thats weird, okie doke" and used my regular name... It doesn't make anonymous posters any less honest...
Mr. Wilson said:
I have awalys been 100% honest in all my posts, but do have good reason to be annonous(SP?). I have learned that loose lips sink ships and there are alot of smart people here and i perfer my privacy-dosent mean that i'm not credible-I just cant spell, on PM's some people here know who I am and respect my wishes and I want to thank them-long time highly respect members. best wishes.
I think the original question posed in JoeyA's post was whether or not an actual identifier for each poster would reduce the volume of flaming. I think it would. In this proposition each individual could still choose to be anonymous.Mr. Wilson said:
In my case, oftentimes when I read a harsh or controversial post, and notice that the person who wrote it is totally anonymous --without even a geographical locale indicated-- then I tend not to give that post any credibility whatsoever.
On the other hand, this site seems to have acquired a life of its own, so few will see any reason for change.
Doc
Good topic here.. But I haven't seen any responses that fit my opinion on the topic..
Pool is a hobby, for most of us, not our profession. Our profession, however, is something we must protect at all cost. I for one don't want to show up at a meeting, disagree with a guy in said meeting, and have someone else pipe up with 'Yeah, but we all heard how you choked on the hill last night, so you're probably just taking it out on us'.
Any of you are welcome to, in a private message, my real name and contact info.. for some good reason of course. Any of you playing in my area would quickly recognize my cues at the hall and associate me with my posts. Folks at my work however, are not welcome to hearing about my hobby.. must keep a nice wall between work and fun, else it wouldn't be such a good escape (and therapy) for me to play.
I will say, that I've quickly found it weird to be called 'Bastian' when folks reply to my posts.. It's my cats name lol, nothing more.. So I will be adding my first name to posts from now on.
Thanks for reading!
-Joe
Pool is a hobby, for most of us, not our profession. Our profession, however, is something we must protect at all cost. I for one don't want to show up at a meeting, disagree with a guy in said meeting, and have someone else pipe up with 'Yeah, but we all heard how you choked on the hill last night, so you're probably just taking it out on us'.
Any of you are welcome to, in a private message, my real name and contact info.. for some good reason of course. Any of you playing in my area would quickly recognize my cues at the hall and associate me with my posts. Folks at my work however, are not welcome to hearing about my hobby.. must keep a nice wall between work and fun, else it wouldn't be such a good escape (and therapy) for me to play.
I will say, that I've quickly found it weird to be called 'Bastian' when folks reply to my posts.. It's my cats name lol, nothing more.. So I will be adding my first name to posts from now on.
Thanks for reading!
-Joe
antique thread brought back to life
This is an antique thread from several years ago brought back to new life so comparing it to a recent thread is confusing.
Timberly and the name thing did remind me of a chuckle. I once knew a girl named Neline. A pretty enough name for a pretty girl and I never gave it any thought until she told me where it came from. According to her dad, it was a combination of his name Bernel, and her mother's name Maxine. I told her to just be grateful she wasn't named Bermax!
Hu
This is an antique thread from several years ago brought back to new life so comparing it to a recent thread is confusing.
Timberly and the name thing did remind me of a chuckle. I once knew a girl named Neline. A pretty enough name for a pretty girl and I never gave it any thought until she told me where it came from. According to her dad, it was a combination of his name Bernel, and her mother's name Maxine. I told her to just be grateful she wasn't named Bermax!
Hu
I kinda like all the different screen names and I don't really have a problem making one up, or just using my real name which I still do on another forum....and I like avatars with hot chicks too 
I will say that I don't like idiots or trolls that like to flex their internet muscles.....ie, they go on a variety of personal attacks or say something they wouldn't normally say in person to a group of people....that bothers me to no end...
Quick example - on a jeep forum I belong, a guy goes off on a long-time forum member on the type of subject that would go 50/50 in that type of setting, with neither of them being right....well, he was extremely insulting to a guy who goes about 6'5", 250, solid biker dude.....anyway, my buddy gigantor happens to meet said genius about a week later in person at an event, at which point the guy trips over himself apologizing and mutters, "your much smaller on the internet"...
Point to the story - disagree as you must, but show some respect and handle yourself as if all of us are in a room having this discussion....stand by your opinions, but don't use the advantage of the internet to insult...
Jason
I will say that I don't like idiots or trolls that like to flex their internet muscles.....ie, they go on a variety of personal attacks or say something they wouldn't normally say in person to a group of people....that bothers me to no end...
Quick example - on a jeep forum I belong, a guy goes off on a long-time forum member on the type of subject that would go 50/50 in that type of setting, with neither of them being right....well, he was extremely insulting to a guy who goes about 6'5", 250, solid biker dude.....anyway, my buddy gigantor happens to meet said genius about a week later in person at an event, at which point the guy trips over himself apologizing and mutters, "your much smaller on the internet"...
Point to the story - disagree as you must, but show some respect and handle yourself as if all of us are in a room having this discussion....stand by your opinions, but don't use the advantage of the internet to insult...
Jason
Hu, once upon a time, I was going out with this stone babe.
....Just rockin!!!
Horrible name though. Parents must have been on crack to name such a beauty....Fredonna.
Grandpa, grandma.....Fred & Donna.
....Just rockin!!!
Horrible name though. Parents must have been on crack to name such a beauty....Fredonna.
Grandpa, grandma.....Fred & Donna.
This has been interesting ...
and a fun thread ... LOL
Timberly ... constantly ignorant is superfluous. If you are ignorant, it is always constant..... LOL
Chuck ... Your real name is 'Hard-to-key', right?
Bastian .... Shame on you using your cat's name. your dog's name maybe, but never a cat!!! .... LMAO
For those that don't know, putting in a user name will also pop up all your entries under that name, so if you associated your real name with your user name on any other forum, someone can find out your real name.
People only use anonymous names for 3 reasons - They sense danger from using their real name, they are go to break the law, or they are go'n sinning!
There are many ways to find out a person's real identity, most people just don't know about them, but the problem becomes when some deranged person carries a grudge against someone from the internet, goes through the hassle of finding out who the real person is and all they can about them, then exacts their devious revenge on this person.
Like I said before, it is not necessary for other posters to know another poster's real name, that is left up to each poster whether they care to reveal that, BUT IT SHOULD BE MANDATORY that the keepers of the forum
have access to the real identity of each poster.
One way I suggested, by requiring when signing up for the person to give their real name, location, and drivers license number along with their desired user name, and verifying their real name with a driver's license file which can be obtained by MIke or Mr. Wilson. Then, we can continue as before EXCEPT Mike and Mr. Wilson would know who, in fact, they were dealing with.
This information can also be used to keep the forum clean of 1 person having multiple usernames. The location can also be used for additional checks so if one guy has a user name with his real identity then another with his wife's real name and location, the second one can be eliminated.
And sometimes combining cross checks will reveal more potential problem
areas.
This puts communication on a 1-for-1 basis, and you know it is 1 real person you are dealing with, whether you know their real name or not, plus
the keepers of the forum know your real identity and can impose sanctions for those that break the rules.
I got a big kick out of seeing some many posts from people that were banned from here .... LMAO , but they did post some good thoughts .... Timberrrrrrrrrrr!
and a fun thread ... LOL
Timberly ... constantly ignorant is superfluous. If you are ignorant, it is always constant..... LOL
Chuck ... Your real name is 'Hard-to-key', right?
Bastian .... Shame on you using your cat's name. your dog's name maybe, but never a cat!!! .... LMAO
For those that don't know, putting in a user name will also pop up all your entries under that name, so if you associated your real name with your user name on any other forum, someone can find out your real name.
People only use anonymous names for 3 reasons - They sense danger from using their real name, they are go to break the law, or they are go'n sinning!
There are many ways to find out a person's real identity, most people just don't know about them, but the problem becomes when some deranged person carries a grudge against someone from the internet, goes through the hassle of finding out who the real person is and all they can about them, then exacts their devious revenge on this person.
Like I said before, it is not necessary for other posters to know another poster's real name, that is left up to each poster whether they care to reveal that, BUT IT SHOULD BE MANDATORY that the keepers of the forum
have access to the real identity of each poster.
One way I suggested, by requiring when signing up for the person to give their real name, location, and drivers license number along with their desired user name, and verifying their real name with a driver's license file which can be obtained by MIke or Mr. Wilson. Then, we can continue as before EXCEPT Mike and Mr. Wilson would know who, in fact, they were dealing with.
This information can also be used to keep the forum clean of 1 person having multiple usernames. The location can also be used for additional checks so if one guy has a user name with his real identity then another with his wife's real name and location, the second one can be eliminated.
And sometimes combining cross checks will reveal more potential problem
areas.
This puts communication on a 1-for-1 basis, and you know it is 1 real person you are dealing with, whether you know their real name or not, plus
the keepers of the forum know your real identity and can impose sanctions for those that break the rules.
I got a big kick out of seeing some many posts from people that were banned from here .... LMAO , but they did post some good thoughts .... Timberrrrrrrrrrr!
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Regarding internet anonymity:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 (NSFW)
As far as horrid names... I once heard about a Scottish (IIRC) girl. Her name was pronounced "Shi-thead". Mentally remove the dash and you'll see what I'm talking about. :/
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 (NSFW)
As far as horrid names... I once heard about a Scottish (IIRC) girl. Her name was pronounced "Shi-thead". Mentally remove the dash and you'll see what I'm talking about. :/
I never really thought about it. I've always looked at it as a "cool" thing to have a handle. 
Ironically, people that know me in the area have actually figured out that I am who I am based on the message boards. I almost freaked out the first time I walked into one of the spots and somebody yelled out Black Cat.
All I could do was smile
Although until you want to identify yourself to someone particular I think using the handle is sufficient.
Black Cat
Ironically, people that know me in the area have actually figured out that I am who I am based on the message boards. I almost freaked out the first time I walked into one of the spots and somebody yelled out Black Cat.
All I could do was smile
Although until you want to identify yourself to someone particular I think using the handle is sufficient.
Black Cat
Black Cat 5791 said:Ironically, people that know me in the area have actually figured out that I am who I am based on the message boards. I almost freaked out the first time I walked into one of the spots and somebody yelled out Black Cat.
All I could do was smile
Har
About twenty years ago (I've been doing the online thing since about age 15, I'm 42 now), I came up with a basic guideline on choosing handles, which was essentially "Never choose a handle you wouldn't want shouted across a crowded room."