Including real names in signatures

[MStarke]

As suggested by Matthew Walker/hornbuilder in one of the topics, I would like to encourage use of real names, e.g. in the signature.

While some people may not like the lack of anonymity, this could contribute to avoiding some unpleasant discussions and behaviors and simply having a better understanding of who is contributing and to a degree also interpreting their contributions.

In my opinion especially anyone who is representing and maybe also partly promoting e.g. an instrument or accessories manufacturer or dealer, this would make sense in my opinion.

I can imagine that this will not be made a general rule, but maybe it is something to at least encourage through the moderators.

I myself switched my username and adapted my signature when I started my mouthpiece business. And now also added my full name in the signature.

[harrisonreed]

You can't take my anonymity away! I'd be too scared to post divisive opinions otherwise.

[Matt K]

We've been cognizant of the tradeoff since the site's founding and gave this quite a bit of deliberation. Doug Yeo wrote about this topic very eloquently all the way back in 2006 as well: https://www.yeodoug.com/articles/text/w ... pened.html; and I mean specifically online discussions about trombone, not just generalized anonymity.

I use a similar handle to my name, but obviously it is not particularly difficult to figure my full name from context clues (like looking at my email address, which indeed contains my full name, but is *not* exposed to search indexes... you need to have at least 3 approved posts to be able to see my email).

Obviously, I continue to think the policy that I'm largely responsible for enforcing is the best compromise and that is attempting to stop the negative behaviors you mentioned earlier by limiting scope of discussion to what are mostly non-contentious topics. We don't always catch everything right away, and everyone has different tolerances for that, which is clearly a weakness.

I would prefer not to discourage the use of pseudonyms, personally. Perhaps in the future if we decide to prevent the site from being seen from anyone who isn't registered it might make sense, but I would not be comfortable requiring or pressuring people to post their names publicly unless we did that.

That said, the profile sections of the site are off-limits to anyone not registered and w/ 3 approved posts, so encouraging people to fill out those sections is likely reasonable. Given the nature of what we do, most of us have some degree of public persona, and clearly if one's profile is filled out, it will lend more credence to your claims, opinions, and comments than if not. So perhaps we should think about ways of encouraging or augmenting that (it's easy to add fields).

[Matt K]

Actually, I might have an idea. I'm going to run it by the other mods to see what we think before proposing.

[hyperbolica]

I understand why some people want to see real names, but let me explain why I don't do it. Anyone using the internet in 2023 needs to be aware of the power of social media (yes, I include forums like this in the social media umbrella) to do harm, and the likelihood of that harm crossing over between your personal and professional lives. Anything you put up here on TC is accessible to anybody anywhere. Forever, or until @mattk stops paying the bills.

It seems important to separate personal and professional to the extent that it's possible. I'm in business for myself, but it's not a music related business. If I were engaged in a music related business, I would either have two separate accounts here or I wouldn't venture into personal issues.

Some people don't know where to draw the line when it comes to disagreements. I've seen forum arguments spill over into real life, and get insanely focused on doing harm regardless of the cost. I've seen people I know destroy both personal and professional lives by sharing the wrong kind of information with the wrong people. The risks of trusting the general public with your personal stuff are just too great. I share personal info with people that I talk to via email or PM, or have some sort of financial transaction with because you can't do that sort of stuff without it. But you can very easily give your opinions and experiences on instruments and music. My personal details don't have any bearing on any topic imaginable here on TC.

I actually run a forum (and a blog) like TC in my professional field, and in those places I don't talk about music or any aspects of my personal life, but there I do use my real name. My business pretty much trades on my name. If I had been smarter 30 years ago, I might have handled things differently. It's not that I have anything to hide, it's just that you never know who is out there, or who will be out there in the future. Especially since you don't necessarily control the longevity of things you type into social media.

Anyway, if you're offended by someone's use of an alias, it's not that they necessarily have something to hide, it's just that there are some people out there in the connected world who have bad intentions, and as small as the gesture is, you have to do what you can to protect yourself. If you have a legitimate need to know who I am, PM me. Even then I doubt very much you'll be enriched in any way.

[Mr412]

If I was in some aspect of trombone business, I would NOT be posting what some may interpret as incendiary comments in what some may interpret as incendiary threads and then clearly giving a link to my business!

Real names should always be optional. Managing, directing and controlling conversations in this forum is what moderators get paid the big bucks for (LOL!).

Yours truly,
Robert Delblanco of Sacramento

[BGuttman]

Nice reply, Hyperbolica, but I just want to point out that it's not Matt K paying the bills (or me) it's Neo Bri. Neo Bri is not as big a presence here as Matt or me, but he is the site owner.

it seems that there are some people, whether operating under pseudonyms or not, who are incipient bullies. There are others who are ultra sensitive. I know I have offended some of the ultra sensitives from time to time, even though it is never intentional.

I have nothing to hide, but I'm from an older generation and we operated in a different space.

[norbie2018]

How will knowing a person's real name limit their rude behavior? If a person is violating rules then reprimand them according to policy. If you cannot because all they are doing is being rude, then understand that rude speech is not limited by the US Constitution and hopefully peer pressure will make them conform. I agree, real names should always be optional.

[BGuttman]

I should point out that this is not a public street corner, and the US Constitution does not apply. The Management has the option to limit speech here. Most often we don't (or try not to).

Also, we have members from outside the United States, and these folks are not under US law.

[imsevimse]

As suggested by Matthew Walker/hornbuilder in one of the topics, I would like to encourage use of real names, e.g. in the signature.

While some people may not like the lack of anonymity, this could contribute to avoiding some unpleasant discussions and behaviors and simply having a better understanding of who is contributing and to a degree also interpreting their contributions.

In my opinion especially anyone who is representing and maybe also partly promoting e.g. an instrument or accessories manufacturer or dealer, this would make sense in my opinion.

I can imagine that this will not be made a general rule, but maybe it is something to at least encourage through the moderators.

I myself switched my username and adapted my signature when I started my mouthpiece business. And now also added my full name in the signature.

I agree sort of...

I once asked a question that really was about encouraging people to write more serious about who they are; skills, experience, educations and so on. I did this because I felt I wanted to know more about the people I disscuss with. To read the profile could then give a better idea how to respond.

I understood from the answer from the board as well as from others that this was not a good idea. It led me to completely rewrite my own more serious profile to something "lighter" that harmonize with the intentions of the forum.

The people who are interested will know me through my posts anyway and this is also how I do it when I try to analyze posts. If I don't understand a post I read a lot of what that poster has posted and then I get a picture where he/she is coming from and I decide if/what I'm going to write.

I still think it is a good Idea to encourage serious info in the profile but I have to accept how things are. Most people like to be totally blank. If we are ever encouraged to write our cv I will update my profile to something more serious and interesting.

/Tom

[norbie2018]

I should point out that this is not a public street corner, and the US Constitution does not apply. The Management has the option to limit speech here. Most often we don't (or try not to).

Also, we have members from outside the United States, and these folks are not under US law.

True, a privately-owned site can limit speech, and we do have non-US citizens who peruse the site. How does that address the question I had re how knowing a person's real name will limit their rude behavior?

Michael

[hyperbolica]

I once asked a question that really was about encouraging people to write more serious about who they are; skills, experience, educations and so on. I did this because I felt I wanted to know more about the people I disscuss with. To read the profile could then give a better idea how to respond.
/Tom

I think i remember that post, and it encouraged me to fill out my profile. So if you look at my profile, there's a lot of information there to help put my posts in some sort of context. Just not my name.

[BGuttman]

I should point out that this is not a public street corner, and the US Constitution does not apply. The Management has the option to limit speech here. Most often we don't (or try not to).

Also, we have members from outside the United States, and these folks are not under US law.

True, a privately-owned site can limit speech, and we do have non-US citizens who peruse the site. How does that address the question I had re how knowing a person's real name will limit their rude behavior?

Michael

I was "staff" going back to the Online Trombone Journal Forum. From the beginning we had people who would be obnoxious and bullying even when they posted under their own names. Probably just like there are professional players you don't want to play with because of their attitude.

All we can hope for is that our (collective) parents taught us that part of civilization is being polite toward others. Sadly, this is not always the case.

[SimmonsTrombone]

Another consideration is some people, me being one, have rather common names. Back in the telephone book days, there were 58 listings for my name in my then city. Thus I always pick some username on forums to individualize myself.

[GGJazz]

Hello all.

I am a professional musician , living in Italy . I think that may be many others ways to show informations about us ( if we want to do it) , besides including real names in signatures.

For example , when I joined TC , I made a post in the " news & announcement" section , introducing myself with my first and second name . Then , in my Profile , I wrote about the Small Groups/ Big Bands/ Orchestras I am working on currently , and the Schools of Music where I am teaching . More , I posted on the "media" section some YouTube' videos about my playing . So I think that if someone wants to get an idea about me , he can quickly check these things . I also put my first name on the bottom of my replyes .

Anyway , I will prefer do not include my real name in signature , on every post I write.
Also , I think that if someone prefer to stay completely anonymous , that' s fine to me .

Furthermore , I don' t think that including your real name in signature is guarantee about the kindness of conducting an argument .

Regards
Giancarlo

[JetMech]

This is a tough one. On one hand I can definitely see how putting your real name in there could lend itself to better behavior(there are still people who behave badly in public, so not a sure thing there). On the other hand, I can sympathize with people who want to keep some things separate from their professional life if this is a hobby. I've seen people in my line of work get canned over social media debacles. Most of those were over divisive political opinions, and the forum I visit for trombone goodness isn't really the place for that.

-Lane W