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'heavy Weight Boxer' Etc Etc...


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Member "yankeeclipper" is an example... a Yank who clips (shears) sheep.

I would have guessed they were into fast sailing ships!

 

I've frequented other forums that had the same goofy-titles-based-on-post-count feature and I've never paid much attention to them. I think the original idea was that the titles for higher post counts should sound more 'prestigious' therefore encouraging people to post more often in order to 'level up'. That probably doesn't work if the titles are puns and it's not obvious what they mean or what order they go in. I think it's useful when one first joins a forum to be able to quickly identify who are the most frequent posters, but the post count does a clearer job of that than the title or the row of dots. I think if the feature bothers some people and nobody finds it particularly useful, it would be better if it quietly went away.

 

As for real names vs pseudonyms, personally I use my real name everywhere on the Internet but that's just my own preference and I will defend the right for others to use a pseudonym if they choose. Sometimes it's a matter of safety (avoiding stalkers) but I think a lot of people use them on forums to keep their personal lives separate from their professional (e.g. teachers may not want their students to find out what they get up to at the weekend). It's sad to say, but in some very male-dominated forums women sometimes feel they need to use a pseudonym in order to be taken seriously and avoid sexist/creepy behaviour (I hope this is not the case on c.net). Also bear in mind that just because a name sounds 'real' doesn't mean it couldn't also be a pseudonym.

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I think my point was that the internet is no longer the private realm of a few enthusiasts but is used by everybody of all ages and background, and increasingly people are questioning and discarding some of the habits of the early online community. I certainly have no objection to people using pseudonyms if they wish, and of course in the real world people may be known by nicknames, variants of their name, or something else entirely which doesn't appear on their birth certificate. It is entirely up the individual how they wish to be known, and as Jim points out some may have practical reasons for wishing to conceal their true identity online. Provided this isn't done for dishonest reasons I'm fine with that. However, it seems possible that the rise of cyber-bullying and trolling is because the perpetrators can hide behind anonymity and the belief that they cannot be traced, and while in the early days using pseudonyms may just have seemed a bit of fun it now seems less justifiable in most circumstances.

 

As a Jones I know better than most how similar names can cause confusion. Fortunately Howard is a less common name, but I have worked alongside other Joneses (iat one time there were 6 of us in the same office, including two other H Joneses) and there was actually another Howard Jones in a different part of the same company (and yes, we did get each other's emails and letters). As in the real world, you deal with it, preferably with good humour.

 

I always post under my real name, partly because I see no reason not to, partly because using a pseudonym feels a bit silly, but mostly because I wasn't imaginative to come up with a sufficiently witty name that I would wish to be known by.

 

(I too had also assumed that "yankeeclipper" referred to sailing ships)

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...it seems possible that the rise of cyber-bullying and trolling is because the perpetrators can hide behind anonymity and the belief that they cannot be traced.....

Thanks to Paul and Ken, but also to everyone here, concertina.net is an environment where that will never become a problem.

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