Use your real name

[Ken Thompson]

Those of you that aren’t must not have read the forum rules since the change. Take a look.

 

Edit: Well never mind there as this rule has been changed. Read RJ’s post below for details.

 

 

[Ken Thompson]

Thanks for the not helpful vote. Keep me negative. Good thing one can vote on themselves.

[r m]

Thank’s for bringing it to my attention. The text in question, from https://backpackinglight.com/policies/#chat:

Contributing (posting) in our forums requires that you maintain an active, valid email address and real first and last names in your user profile. If you elect not to do so, your login and/or posting privileges may be suspended.

If you choose to participate in our community forums, your first and last names will be associated with your post. We discourage anonymity and encourage integrity in your communications so that your identity fairly reflects your reputation for appropriate communications.

I do not wish to expose my name on a publicly readable forum, which puts me in an unfortunate position.

[Ken Thompson]

Just initials then like you are. I personally see no harm in that.  But I bet there a quite a few r m’s out there. My free opinion is worth it’s cost.

[r m]

That there are quite a few r m’s. One shouldn’t assume this rm is the same as any other rm you might find on the internet.

Raises a good point though on the uniqueness of full names. Those with popular names inherently get a degree of anonymity. (Naturally with extra information such as location, that can cut down the anonymity greatly).

In terms of Google results, “Ken Thompson” is ~1400 times more common than mine (~420,000 vs ~300).

Of course I don’t mean to pick on you. Ryan Jordan has a much more popular name than either of us, if he were to sign up to some arbitrary forum, the difference between him using his real name vs a pseudonym is minor, since there’s faceless masses of people who go by the name Ryan Jordan he hasn’t done much to uniquely identify himself by using his real name.

[Dean F.]

My last name is very rare, such that it would be trivially easy to hunt me down via internet searching.  And that’s all I need- Rog showing up on my doorstep with a tomahawk.  There are only 300 or so in the entire country who have it in the same spelling and I’m related to all of them.  And no other Deans.  So I’d really rather not list it.  I’ll stick with a last initial, and if BPL insists then they have lost me.

[Stephen M]

I am in the same boat as Dan.

[monkey]

Same here – only this time both my first name and (especially) last name are quite unique. And my work involves being a sort of a public figure – university lecturer – which invariably leads to students googling you year after year. I’d rather keep my life outside of work away from their prying eyes :)

Ken T: Just initials then like you are. I personally see no harm in that.

Sure I could use the initials, if there is no harm in it. But what good would be achieved if another “rm” materialises on this forum?

 

[Ryan Jordan]

This has actually been in our terms & conditions for quite a while. It had good intentions at heart in the beginning – real names encourage accountability, and people tend to be more insensitive to others when they are able to hide behind a pseudonym. A real name encourages more positive forum communications in this regard.

However, there are disadvantages to it as well.

Some people truly value the need for privacy, for a variety of legitimate reasons. I’ve had discussions with a number of forum users through the years who have specifically addressed this aspect of the policy – for example, a woman who wishes to post under a pseudonym because she was fresh out of an abusive relationship where a restraining order was in place, or an attorney who has been assigned to a high profile case, or etc. etc.

At the end of the day, forcing real name display will discourage some people from contributing positively to our forums.

There will always be some folks who wish to hide behind a pseudonym as a license to exercise negative influence in the forums, but I don’t see a requirement of a real identity replacing the need for our forums to have good moderation practices in place.

In short, I’ve struck the real name requirement out of our terms and conditions for 2016, and have no intention of suspending any accounts before then just because you are not posting with your real identity.

[Gator Paddler]

Thank you, Ryan, for such a sensible response.

[Ryan Jordan]

Plus, Gator Paddler is an epic pseudonym!

[Stephen M]

Well done Ryan :-)

[Franco Darioli]

I’m, with my wife, the only one in Australia with my surname.

In fact I am the only one anywhere with that name and surname.

Is that rare enough?

[JCH]

Unfortunately, for those of age in the 1970’s, my real name is quite famous. Very long story (snicker). Hence the use of a last initial.

Now wondering if I can start using “Cletus P. McGillicuddy” instead?

 

[Monte Masterson]

John Holmes is a name to be proud of. There’s worse things than sharing a name with a guy who had a phalanx the size of  a bazooka..

[JCH]

Thanks Monte. It has always been interesting to note who notices my name, and what they say about it. Perhaps the most interesting was the Lutheran minister that performed a friend’s wedding.

I was actually very impressed with another poster’s name, Rusty Beaver, and wondered if that were his real name.

Yes…I have quite a juvenile sense of humor.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Dean said: My last name is very rare, such that it would be trivially easy to hunt me down via internet searching.  And that’s all I need- Rog showing up on my doorstep with a tomahawk. 

I’d be more likely to turn up with a bottle of something decent to drink.

[Ken Thompson]

.

[David Thomas]

I post under my real name, I’m not pretending to the dead Wendy’s guy.

I was managing a computer store in the early 1980s and some Zenith sales reps came by (yeah, lots of firms tried to get into microcomputers in those days).  And their names, for this futuristic product, were Tom Target and Rob Rocket.  We made them show us their IDs.  On their next visit, they brought their boss.  Tom Target’s and Rob Rocket’s boss?  Ray Commander.  Clearly, they were destined to work together.

I was at UC Berkeley the same time as “Rocky R Clark”, actually “Rocky Racoon Clark” if you pulled up his student file in Sproul Hall.  He had a reason to not use his real name – he was worth about $65,000,000 million at the time – Clark was his wife’s name.  When he bought a printer and a Apple II from me, his checks were embossed “Steve Wozniak”.

[Author]

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