Author: Paul Richards
Date: 13:35:57 01/23/99
Go up one level in this thread
I'd like to add my two cents here. I'm a pseudo-anonymous poster in that
I use a fake name, but don't try overly hard to conceal where I'm coming
from. My philosophy is to adopt the same level of anonymity as a potential
abuser could adopt for a given medium. Why? I don't mind giving my
real name and email address if everyone else on a forum does too, but
if they don't, I don't. The reason is that I don't want abusive
anonymous posters hounding me at my real address. For example, since
this forum allows anonymity, why should I as a anonymous person have
the right to know Robert Hyatt's real name, location, place of work,
etc.? I could become an obsessive Sean Evans and hound him ceaselessly
while hiding in comfort. That's not a level playing field. I choose
to level the playing field. Note that this is apart from being able
to post, the fact that anonymous people can read means that I could
become a Hyatt stalker too. ;) Given the state of the net I personally
have come to the conclusion that it is foolhardy to provide real
information about oneself in a open forum. This is not feasible for
Dr. Hyatt because of his role in the field, but for myself the only
forums where I use my real name and primary ISP email address are
mailing lists where everybody does the same, and those people who use
providers like AOL that could be abusive must provide some other
authentication to the list admin.
For a forum like this, perhaps an alternative authentication method
is possible. For example I would provide my real address to the list
admins in exchange for posting privilege, and be allowed to use a
"handle" so long as anonymous ("untrusted") people are allowed read
the conversation. In other words I have no problem authenticating
for those I choose to trust, like the admin of a list I want to
participate in, but I will not trust untrusted users.
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