Real Names

Report · Jul 20, 2010

I like this idea. What y'all think?

This is a REAL NAMES message board. You're welcome to browse anonymously and read and search all you want; but in order to post and interact with other members, you must register using your REAL NAME, in the form of "John Smith" and not "johnsmith" or "john_smith." Registration is always free!"

Report · Jul 20, 2010

What would be the purpose? It's difficult for me to see any advantage of such a scheme. And how should one prove that the name one is giving is one's real name? And, while we are at it, how does anyone know that the email address one gives now when registering is one's real email address?

Report · Jul 20, 2010

What would be the purpose?

Readability, for one. A sense of identity for another.

It's true there's probably no way to know whether or not a user's real name actually is John Smith. But at the very least, it's easy to read, and it's much easier to talk with "John" than it is with "wdfdwfa76".

Report · Jul 21, 2010

My real name is ドラえもん, but since this will display as ?????????? on many older computers, I just use the display name that is in my passport (when held upside-down).

Report · Jul 21, 2010

JSS1138 wrote:
What would be the purpose?
Readability, for one. A sense of identity for another.
It's true there's probably no way to know whether or not a user's real name actually is John Smith. But at the very least, it's easy to read, and it's much easier to talk with "John" than it is with "wdfdwfa76".

Do you really think that names written in Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, ... (with no transliteration, or they wouldn't be true names) are more readable than "wdfdwfa76"? Or that there there would be a stronger sense of identity associated with "real-like looking" but equally false names? I doubt it.

Report · Jul 21, 2010

I don't what other people use for Names They can use antidisestablishmentarianism as their name, for all I care. As for myself I want to take ownership of what I say and do, so that prevents me from saying things I shouldn't say, or would say if I could behind false Identity. so I prefer using my Real Name.Whether you use a false identity or not should be each person perogative, not dictated.

Report · Jul 22, 2010

JSS1138 wrote:
What would be the purpose?
Readability, for one. A sense of identity for another.
It's true there's probably no way to know whether or not a user's real name actually is John Smith. But at the very least, it's easy to read, and it's much easier to talk with "John" than it is with "wdfdwfa76".

Thank you for the explanation. I do agree that it can be somewhat offputting to be talking to someone like 3ii4MANABOUTTHEHOUSEgjhg$22, but I guess for me it's something I've just gotten used to over the years.

Report · Jul 22, 2010

Kami Bambiraptor wrote:
JSS1138 wrote:
What would be the purpose?
Readability, for one. A sense of identity for another.
It's true there's probably no way to know whether or not a user's real name actually is John Smith. But at the very least, it's easy to read, and it's much easier to talk with "John" than it is with "wdfdwfa76".
Thank you for the explanation. I do agree that it can be somewhat offputting to be talking to someone like 3ii4MANABOUTTHEHOUSEgjhg$22, but I guess for me it's something I've just gotten used to over the years.

Well, if someone like grafitti suddendly announced that he will change his screen name to Frank Sinatra -which happens to be his real name- as from August the 1st, my perceptions about what kind of person he is wouln't change a bit. As for 3ii4MANABOUTTHEHOUSEgjhg$22, the far from new copy and paste function makes dealing with his/her name much easier than some of the workarounds people have found for some of the bugs in the site...

Report · Jul 20, 2010

So, how do you know my real name ISN'T Kami Bambiraptor? It's a fine old Tlinglick name!

But besides all that, it is hard as Claudio mentions, to see what the real advantage of this, plus of course we'd soon end up with some duplicate names (not mine of course ), and then we'd possibly have to resort to things like "John Tiberius Maximus Smith" and "Edna Euphemia Eliose Smith" and so on.

What advantage did you think would be gained by people using their real names? If it were to encourage people to be more polite, I can't help but agree with the objective, but I don't think it would work.

Report · Jul 20, 2010

Kami Bambiraptor wrote:
...
What advantage did you think would be gained by people using their real names? If it were to encourage people to be more polite, I can't help but agree with the objective, but I don't think it would work.

Even if there was some relatively easy way to check whether the entered names are the real ones -which I very much doubt, as there are participants from all over the world- I absolutely fail to see how or why using one's real name could encourage anyone to be more polite. I would say that a sizeable proportion of the participants in these forums are reasonably polite most of the time, in spite of the anonimity provided by screen names.

Report · Jul 20, 2010

I never use my real name online for anything.

It's too easy for those you don't want to find you to track you down. And no one says you have to enter your real name. Most of that stuff in online forms is just so you can retrieve your password if you forget it. LOL

And I could see Adobe needing your real name for registration purposes, but other then that, use what you want.

Report · Jul 21, 2010

I see no reason for demanding real names. There is no way I want my identity known. There have been death threats in past discussions. And while being here as "Q Photo", please be assured, that I'm as civil and polite as I get. I've made friends here, some of which, I know their true ID and others I do not. Either way, I value them highly.

Report · Jul 22, 2010

jim simon, eh? IF that's your real name. so you say. can you prove that? sounds like a likely story to me!

(that was satire in case anyone needs a hint)

Report · Jul 22, 2010

Dave,

Thanks for the "hint." You had me going for a bit, but everyone knows how dense I am...

Personally, I have few issues with my "real name," but for a long time, the Adobe fora, decided that I could not use the name that I had for decades, and managed to give me one, that had never seen the light of day, "the_wine_snob," but after about a year, that disappeared and Bill Hunt (note that I was known as BILL HUNT for decades) surfaced. I use the same name on all of my video fora, plus my food and wine fora, and do not really care if people "find me." Others might well feel differently, and I have no issue.

When replying, I will attempt to use the OP's name, as a salutation, but in many cases, sometimes cannot figure out what that should be.

I have no issues here, and know of many posters, who "lost" their real names, and had to choose something else.

Hunt