Anonymity

[Bonearzt]

Hey All, just a little bitch & moan for my Thursday night.

I REALLY wish people would put their real name in their posts! ESPECIALLY in private messages!!!

I don't like starting a conversation with just "hello" or "hey" or using a nick-name.

End of rant.

Eric

[Burgerbob]

Who is this guy?

[BGuttman]

Who is this guy?

Says the guy who has neither Burger nor Bob in his real name

[afugate]

Who is this guy?

Says the guy who has neither Burger nor Bob in his real name

--Andy in OKC

[PhilipEdCarlson]

Wish TC used real names.
That's one thing FB got right! (except when it's fake)

[hyperbolica]

One of the things I learned early on with the internet was that people could wreck careers instantly by making a joke and being misconstrued or saying something innocent that gets twisted into something else. And it happens every day. Some of us have public careers and don't want to trust reputations to strangers. There isn't a good way to separate professional and personal information, it all gets linked by your name, and I just want to sever that link. I don't have any reason to be secretive, and at the same time no one here knows me from Adam. Or Mark. Or Ricky. Unless I've bought or sold something from/to you.

I don't use Facebook specifically because it doesn't allow professional separation. People on TTF, and I assume here as well, are very disrespectfull when posters speak with their professional hats on. Quite honestly, I don't want to give a layman in my field any sort of influence over my professional reputation.

If you are dilligent, I'm sure there is a way to link my nickname to my real name, but I doubt you will get any benefit from that information.

(a guy who might as well be called)
Hyperbolica

[Matt K]

Yes, this has been suggested by others as well and I actually tend to agree with it (thus my nearly real name as my handle). It's much closer to 50/50 from what I can tell, but there are a lot of complicated reasons why one might be in one camp or the other and they have larger, systemic implications for how a message board "should" operate.

I can definitely see it both ways. The anonymity may artificially increase the amount of contention because one might be less couth about something behind their monitor, for example. But of course, it's easy to be taken out of context or to have someone find a lot about you otherwise.

I think we've struck a reasonable balance. We've tried to keep things from getting too heated, thus the policies that we've laid out. I'll keep these suggestions in mind; particularly for PMs. There may be a reasonable solution that can help keep the 'balance' so to speak, especially for personal interactions.

[ghmerrill]

This is one of those classic "trade-off" problems, and currently is unsolveable in the general case -- by which I mean that the genuine verification that your claimed name is in fact your real name, and that you're a "real" person, is indeterminable. I think this is true even for national/international military and security organizations, though they could make at least better hypotheses about such connections if they put enough resources and effort into it.

Many sites/applications are content to go with a simple method for verifying that the "individual" in question is at least human -- though I'm pretty sure that almost all of these can be beat by a reasonably designed AI.

So in that sense, trying to enforce that "people use their real names" can be done only on a kind of best effort basis by the administrators of a forum. Most places don't even give it a serious try. For example, I have an "identity" on both Google and Facebook which could be traced to me only by fairly intense IP address sleuthing, and is linked to me in no other way. The name used is based on (but not identical with) that of my maternal grandfather. You could -- with enough effort, and being very good -- probably find his name. But it wouldn't get you to the name of these accounts. I could use it to register here (or any number of other places) and no one would be the wiser. In truth, I've created this identity and these accounts for purposes of testing in certain circumstances and for a place to receive automated response email that I don't want going to my own ("real") accounts. Nothing sinister. Just practical and "private".

I confess that I don't care for the widespread use of pseudonyms on forums like this. Often (we can look at some other forums), the pseudonym is used to protect the real user from being identified as the hurler of insults and abuse -- a social media phenomenon. But it doesn't bother me a lot. I also feel that people are a bit paranoid about what will be "exposed" to the world about them, but we each have our own limits on that. And it's understandable that certain kinds of "professionals" wouldn't want their clients to be dredging up various informal remarks or discussions involving them on a trombone forum. My professional life (er lives) has been an open book (as Google will testify), but had I been in different professions, I'd have been more careful. Anyone who works in a regulated industry needs to at least think about internet exposure -- especially if your job involves licensing, or legal or fiduciary responsibility.

What I DON'T like at all is the circumstance (very common on virtually all of these forums and sites) where even the administrators don't know the "true identities" of the members. With some added effort, this COULD be verified at registration time -- or at least could be verified pretty reliably in most cases. But it's almost never done. Until that problem is widely addressed, using "screen names" and not exposing your "real name" is just a minor facet of the whole affair.

Trade-offs.

[Matt K]

That's exactly right. The trade-off we made when we started is that we could either get rid of the source of the thing that we don't like or the thing itself ("it" being rude behavior and other symptomatic things you get when pseudonyms are used). We elected for the thing itself and the software makes it relatively easy for us to handle that. And so far there have been very few instances where we have to intervene. Seriously, the community has been great so far.

We could spend a lot of time verifying identities and whatnot but I don't know if we'd get a highly different result specifically for that aspect of avoiding troublesome behavior.

The other 'problem' is the credibility of the information. Eg who is anybody here and why should they be trusted with what they say?

To some extent, that's a good thing. "Trust, but verify." Better that verification be done than not be done generally. But then it also puts everybody largely on the same plane whether deservedly or not!

[Neo Bri]

I don't want real names. I don't use mine in any public forum, and I'm also not on Facebook. I generally like my anonymity (though many on here know me and know I'm not shady).

The way it can work is this - don't enforce real names, but use yours by choice if you want to.

[Neo Bri]

I should also add that it's a person's prerogative to be nice or be a jerk online. I choose to (try to) be nice online - even nicer than in real life (whatever that says about me), but I won't enforce my ideals over everyone. When it becomes too much, though, or abusive, the moderators on THIS forum have the ability to make judgement calls and take action.

[Jimkinkella]

I have an obvious opinion, but don't judge other options.
In a private message at least a first name would be polite, though...

[greenbean]

I think it is okay if some posters what to have a low profile on the forum. But in a PM, I think it is a courtesy to use your name.

Just my 2 cents.

Sincerely,
Dr. Greenfield Bean

[greenbean]

I would also be wary of forum members who, for some strange reason, refer to themselves as food... I can think of pineapples and hamburgers, off the top of my head.

[Jimprindle]

A few years ago, as an observer, I noticed that even on a trombone site there were people attacking other people's posts, vicious personal attacks even by (allegedly) "pro" musicians, trolls, etc. So when I enrolled I wanted to protect myself and my family from these horrible posts so I just used my initials as a username for self-protection.

Even so, these negative souls made personal attacks on me without knowledge of who I am and what I do. I was glad I had some anonymity at that point.

But, through moderator diligence on the TTF, a tempering of mood of opinionated posters, and maybe the passage of time (and hopefully maturation even with those that should be mature) I have noticed decency, respect, and tolerance return.

So, here I am, with my real name.

To echo someone who knows adversity, "Be kind to others".

[Driswood]

I use Driswood as my login name for a number of websites. It was the name of my Dad’s farm, and was chosen as the name for the elementary school that was built on the front field of the farm - Driswood Elementary

It has sentimental significance to me. But, I always sign my posts with my real name.

[doctortrombone]

Totally against forcing the use of real names.

I maintain separate "personas" both on the internet and in my real life. Several years ago, some unpleasant little git on "The Forum that was Broken and has yet to be Forged Anew" took issue with something I said about his ethics as a trombone entrepreneur. He tracked down my actual name and proceeded to create a false review of my performance of my "real" job--something that could conceivably have caused me a lot of trouble. And that came after I was careful to maintain distance between who I am on this forum, and who I am in meatspace. We tend to get to know one another here. I don't think anyone had problems calling me "Euph" on the other forum. Does that count as a name?

[BGuttman]

I remember when you were looking for a "stage name" on TTF. Someone suggested a name that meant "death by euphonium" and it was a great idea. Sorry you didn't choose to use it here, but I'm glad you have chosen to share your expertise on this site. Not to mention there is another Classified for you to sell your "experiments".

[imsevimse]

I don't think real names should be required for reasons covered by others but I think there could be a need of a CV or description about yourself in the profile. Today it is only the field "stable" you can use. I guess you should use it to list your horns. It is not very interesting information and lot of people leave that blank. I filled it with some personal info. I always checked people on TTF. It helped in conversations to know a little about the person you talk to. Of course a profile information could be fake but I think most people are honest and if profile information states one thing and posts shows something else that is also information.

/Tom

[Neo Bri]

I don't think real names should be required for reasons covered by others but I think there could be a need of a CV or description about yourself in the profile. Today it is only the field "stable" you can use. I guess you should use it to list your horns. It is not very interesting information and lot of people leave that blank. I filled it with some personal info. I always checked people on TTF. It helped in conversations to know a little about the person you talk to. Of course a profile information could be fake but I think most people are honest and if profile information states one thing and posts shows something else that is also information.

/Tom

That's really a good idea.

[AndrewMeronek]

I believe that while real names shouldn't be required, using them is generally a good idea. We, as musicians, need every bit of marketing we can muster. Plus, using one's real name adds incentive to say things that you're willing to own up to. You know: being adults.