[OT] Posting under ones full name (was: How to uncompress a VOB file? (Win XP))

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 7:12 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn
<PointedEars at web.de> wrote:
> Probably you were asked that so that your postings could be distinguished
> from that of the other potential Marks around here.

I have my surname in my From address, but I tend to sign my posts
"ChrisA" (no relation, btw, to DaveA, though our surnames are
similar). That's generally been sufficient for distinguishing
purposes, though if anyone wants a truly unique handle for me,
"Rosuav" is more effective than my real name.

> Some people, including
> me, also consider posting under real name a basic act of politeness... People
> tend to hide behind pseudo-anonymity; they tend to write impolite things
> *intentionally* which they would not do if their real name was known and so
> their reputation IRL would be at stake.

Agreed. Sometimes that's a good thing; there are places where
anonymity protection is important. But with these sorts of lists,
there's the potential to acquire a strong positive or strong negative
reputation; people who want a positive reputation usually want it
associated with *them*, not with some pseudonym.

Though I'm now not so sure about your name, PointedEars. Are you a
Vulcan or an elf?

ChrisA