ROFLMAO at Giok's wonderful (& disturbingly accurate...) post!

Joe - I'm sure I've noticed some of you N.Americans having a right bitch at each other (usually over politics). Admittedly, if I can identify you as being NA, it means you weren't hiding behind the anonymity of Guestdom, but you do make it sound like it's only (& always!) us Brit's that squabble!

I am not against non-members being able to post on this board. Quite the reverse - I can see where it's both useful & desirable (e.g. in being able to post queries about songs/music, etc). What gets right up my nose is people who cower behind "Guest" to post controversial, or highly opinion-based (often both), views (usually in the BS section), particularly when internal evidence from their posts suggests that they are almost certainly Mudcat members without the spirit to admit to their views.

I admit that Raedwulf is not the name on my birth certificate. Someone can come in as a Guest & impersonate me (I do post occasionally without logging in), but no-one else (I hope!) can post simply as "Raedwulf". I am identifiable by that, if by nothing else. You can argue with me on the basis of having one obviously identifiable characteristic.

The problem I have is that I can never be sure if "Guest 5:00 AM" is the same someone that posted 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 days ago! In most cases, I can never be sure that one "Guest" & another "Guest " are the same person, which makes life very awkward in replying to them.

If it is technically simple to implement, there is a simple solution - make all guests adopt some handle. Many of you, I'm sure, remember "Guest, A Dreaded Guest"? He started as plain Guest, even if he was pretty obvious. Several of us (me included) badgered him to adopt some handle, & he even managed to demonstrate a sense of humour when he did! I doubt anyone thought any more of his opinions because of it, but I think most people appreciated the fact that he had made himself immediately identifiable.

If a stranger comes up to me & tries to start an argument, I can identify them by their face. If they were to phone me ditto, I could identify them by their voice. But on Mudcat, my only chance is a very tenuous "that looks like that Guest's style..." If this is not outright cowardice, it's certainly crass bad manners towards every named poster on the board. It isn't that Guests are unwelcome, but some of us would like to see you making some effort toward allowing us to recognise you, even if on a relatively anonymous basis!

Can we not make Guests offer some label beyond easy anonymity, Joe? I can understand why you want freedom to post on Mudcat, but freedom can also be abused, particularly on the Net, & it often seems to be here, sadly.