I can't write good pomes, but I can Google purty well...

I found this musing on anonymity

for those who don't wanna click, it includes this:

"...Another point raised as a negative aspect of anonymity is that if we are anonymous, we are not accountable for our actions. This, too, is a red herring in my opinion. Since nobody can have any knowledge of who we "really" are anyway, without meeting us, since I never would have known that Jerry was Jerry if he hadn't chosen to reveal it, in what sense does the name I choose to represent me in Erato impact my accountability? Assuming that staff has never considered the option of actually hunting down and physically punishing people who act like idiots in the forums, then whether or not I reveal my true identity herein is irrelevant.

The name I go by is accountable, and that's as accountable as it will ever get, on the net. It doesn't matter what name I use: the name is "me" in here, and you may hold the name accountable for my actions, it's one and the same thing. If you ban me, by banning my name, you've held me accountable. If I manage to get back in by putting on a new name, we start the dance all over again. That's the net. Who I "really am" is irrelevant: I am what I do, in here, and that's the great thing about the net, and also the worst thing."

**MY** point in posting this is that, as most complaints about "guest" posts have noted, the major issue is keeping various 'guests' separate, and NOT in knowing their true identity. I can have a debate with "Termagant", whether I agree with him/her or not...but it is really hard to debate or reply to a set of words at "X" o'clock, and it is rude to expect us to keep track. Calling US rude and 'unfriendly' to guests, when the guests created the problem begs the question.

There are indeed reasons to not be a cookied MEMBER, and we have a number of regular posters who adopt a regular nom de plume and participate in 'almost' all the functions of the forum. I can live with that...I'm disappointed that I can't PM them, but I can shrug if that's the way they feel.