BS: Anonymity

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 04:18 PM

Is this the real Matt_R? How can you tell? LOL Cuz I'm listening to "Feel To Good" by The Move and basking in the glow of spastic woodwinds.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 04:06 PM

Let's see...I have posted at least twice under a "guest" moniker. Once as GUEST:Wynton Marsalis to post a humorous (I thought) comment on different members' posting styles, and once as GUEST:The Man from MCIC in a parody on a folk-version of the Man from Uncle. Therr may have been other times. Sorry, don't see a thing wrong with it, and I'll do it again. I have come down hard on people posting as guest in order to flame or take cheap shots, but that's another thing entirely.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Pseudolus
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 03:35 PM

I think it's the "guest" thing that might be at the heart of the occasional "inner clique" complaints. Ya see, after reading post after post by a certain individual they seem to take on a personality (in my mind) and I feel like I'm getting to know him/her. Consequently, I tend to respond to THEIR posts more often, calling them by (mudcat) name, etc., and sometimes it becomes a conversation. Not as many people responded directly to me when I first became a member but then again, no one "knew" me yet. Now, it's very different....I even got flamed in the flame thread a while back...I was so proud!! Anyway, it just occurred to me why we might occasionally hear the clique thing.....just a thought.

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 02:29 PM

Yup WISY, you can always do that, like you can with a normal post. But with a normal post you can also put the name down, and anyone who's interested can check back and see if what you've quoted means anything different in context, which it sometimes can.

So I'll just stick with scrolling right past unadorned GUESTs, since most of the time they are in fact just trying to stir things up in an unfriendly way, in my experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Katcina
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 12:07 AM

Oh yeah, hi Bill. You're so quiet over there in the corner that I keep forgetting you're here.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Troll
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 11:53 PM

'Spaw, who the hell is Bill?

troll *heh heh heh *

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST, WYSIWYG
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 11:00 PM

Yoo hoo... Bill.... over here... HI BILL!

I just have a suggestion. For those of you who are frustrated about not being able to address an unnamed Guest. It's simple. Just do like they do in newgroups-- where names may appear but are often just e-mail addresses, or the post is so far back that ya wantna bring the words forward. In YOUR post, copy and paste, italicized, quoted, the material to which you wish to respond-- and go ahead and respond to it.

Por ejemplo.

RE Guest post: "The constant identity I used seemed to CAUSE people to ignore it."

I can relate!!!

~Susan

(Hey. Bill? Bye!)

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 05:21 PM

hi, everyone...I feel SO recognized and acknowleged, I can barely stand it. Why, it's almost as good as having the railroad engineer wave to you as the train passes! Or having Mr. Rogers look right into the camera and tell me I am so special!...

;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 05:12 PM

Spud, I'm still thinking about what you said earlier:

After following some BS: threads and doing some thinking I have come to the conclusion that my purposes are served by what I say here more than by what I hear in response.

I noticed the same thing. Is it because no one ever asks a question? Everything I say is because I feel a need to say something (can't keep my mouth shut). Is it that no one really wants to know my opinion?

When I first saw this thread, my immediate response was: There are no circumstances which justify anonymity. Now that I've thought a bit, I still say the same thing!

Yes, I'm a hypocrite because I posted to the silliness thread where we all imitated somebody. But I felt so dishonest I wrote to the person I was teasing and told him/her it was me. Also, not using my last name is just another small layer of security which (like locking your car doors) doesn't really prevent deliberate crime, but in some cases makes stealing identity or stalking just a little more dificult.

I've always lived in small towns where your reputation tells who you really are. Sometimes it takes ten years to really see a person's true colors. I don't put much stock in what a person says but rather what they do over the long run. Some of the debates here are just unpleasant persons making a stir.

PS Hi Bill.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 02:51 PM

So far six posts from GUEST on this thread. Is that one person posting six times? Six people posting once each? Two people posting twice and two posting once? etc etc etc.

Does it matter? No. Everybody loook at me!!! I'm invisible!!! Hee, hee, hee...

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 01:34 PM

Sorcha said:

"...with no response expected, but always appreciated..."

Yeah!!!

That's what I tried to say in a previous post to this thread.

(I wonder why I didn't?)

Spud

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 07:42 AM

Susan, you've changed your user name here, but you've always been the same person, if that makes any sense, and I usually knew it was you (I think) writing the message. With you, for me anyway, the name hasn't been all that relevant. If you keep going to parties and wear a different wig each time, it's still you under the wig, but it can distract people who have to try to figure out what's so familiar about you. Now if you add sunglasses and an exotic accent, it might be more effective and more fun. :-)

I was mainly talking about the guest, no-fixed-name posters anyway. They seem to expend a lot of effort avoiding identification. I've think some of them may say that identity doesn't matter, it's the content of their post that does. If they think identity doesn't matter, why do they go to so much effort to mask it? Just say what you have to say and type in a consistant name. Otherwise, your posts in a thread come across as verbal strikes, not part of a conversation. (Swoop in, drop a message and go away, never to be seen again.)

HI BILL!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 06:51 AM

Well the moral seems to be (I found this on another thread) :-!

If you want an answer - post a message to the effect that you never get an answer. Seems to work every time from what I've seen. It does help to address just one person, they are flattered to know they are being listened to. Well I am!

Once done you shouldn't need to do it again, but I may just as the magic feeling is wearing off........

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 12:25 AM

Hi Bill...Hi Sorch.....Hi Praise/Susan/Wizzywig/etal....

Okay....takes care of that group........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 12:22 AM

Yes Bill, and that is why I am always Sorcha the Searcher. With no response expected, but always appreciated. The One and Only Sorch the Scorch........all issues duly searched, and some get scorched!

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 12:15 AM

well, I have been here long enough to sort of notice who is NOT posting much under names they once did..(and a few who seem to not be here at all....so I can hazard a guess or two about various 'guests', based on style and issues. I just wish they didn't let it get to them so badly.

Problem is, once you get into the 'anon' mode, you are sort of trapped there, as it become harder & harder to be someone again, and much of the response TO your posts begins to revolve about 'identity' rather than the supposed issue, whether you like it or not!

"Oh what a tangled WWWeb we weave, when first we practicedto deceive"

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 11:59 PM

This thread is about to get too long for anybody to read or care about, but, Praise/Susan/WYISYG....I am always Sorcha,even if the name my mother gave me is Mary. There are lots of Marys in the world, and damn few Sorchas. There are lots of Susans, but most of us know that it is always you.....~S~ and that is the point.

I have never changed my name here, and never will.So what if somebody gets mad at Sorcha? That is WHO I AM.THAT IS MY NAME. For whatever reason. Don't you realize that is not really the issue here? The real issue is:

Guests who intend to flame, take a new Guest name for every post, so that he/she/it is intentionally a different person with every post. Or, It never takes a Name at all. Guests who change the name with every post can also change arguments with every post, just to keep the game going.

Said Guests see this whole thing as a game, not as a learning or growing exercise. Said Guests don't care if any of the Real People here get angry or upset, or they just laff, that is the whole point to their exercise. I am NOT talking about Guest, sorchaout @hotmail. com and I think you know that.....I really do think you know what kind of A Nonny mouses I am talking about......

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST, WYSIWYG
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 11:25 PM

(Hi Bill)

Jeri, in my case, part of it was that no matter what I did most people mis-saw me so badly that I just got sick of it for a bit. I didn't think UP names.... I just had names pop into my head every time I posted, when I ran the thread on my name change. It was a way of unplugging from all the expectations... and a way of indicating the mood in which I was posting. I've said this before, it's a lot like flinging off your bra on a day when it's TOO DAMN TIGHT. Know what I mean, girls?

But I do know people like pegs to hang their hats on, and I am trying to remember to add a name when I am cruising around... and I would hope that people know I am no flamer, regardless.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 10:27 PM

Ah, and there's the rub. The constant identity I used seemed to CAUSE people to ignore it. I can only draw the conclusion that, at least at one point I must have offered up enough inane commentary that the very sight of my name heading a post CAUSED people to scroll to the next.

I suppose if one wears out one name he can always try another.

Oh yeah...hi Bill

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 07:41 PM

The problem is, we read the message for what it says, or we should, but there are human beings behind those words. Most people like to put some sort of identity to the words - it matters. If the personality isn't volunteered by the poster, we fill in the blanks. We're apt to be wrong about a person who has a consistent identity sometimes, but we're apt to be wrong about the ones who change all the time or don't bother with any most of the time.

On one hand we can argue that we shouldn't read anything into a message. On the other, we are people with personalities. The people who jump from identity to identity seem to not want us to know what those personalities are. Plus, it seems like an awful lot of work to have to think up something new to call yourself all the time.

I think for some people, it's a game like hide and seek. It's too big of a pain for me to want to do it, and I can't really understand the fun in it anyway. I kind of like meeting Mudcatters, saying "I'm Jeri," and having them reply "Oh, yeah - I've read some stuff you wrote."

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 06:53 PM

Hey!!! LOOK ....... ITS MR. BILL!!!!! Glad to see you Bill. We know its you from the .*grin*.... So how's tricks? Don't feel ignored here.........CAUSE ITS BILL!!!!

billbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbillbill

We love you Bill!

Spaw -- Resident Smartass

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 06:41 PM

*grin*........

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 06:32 PM

Hi, Bill!

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 06:11 PM

"Picture all of us logging out and coming in again as 'Guest'. "

Yes!...there's my point! Even two or three 'guests' in one thread can get crazy!....PLEASE...PLEASE...pick SOME name (for the duration of a thread, anyway)

whoever you are "my ego was getting battered "...if you are "Gilgamesh" for one thread, you ARE anonymous.....I know that posts from 'famous regulars' are more likely to get answers...have had MINE ignored, (or at least not directly replied to)..but I am still who I am, and **I** know I want it to be me who is quote, replied to, or ignored....(why, I was ignored in print, just the other day! ;>)
)

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 04:04 PM

Some people are just born to flame. It's just an automatic response to almost everything. Even when they pee it comes out napalm. It gets especially dangerous if there's a lot of sewer gas around.

Spud

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 03:27 PM

McGrath, sometimes there just isn't that much thought going into what you see. People are just being however they are in that moment, and to try to wring reasons out of it or impose change upon it is to try to influence it. Sometimes people are just thinking about something else entirely. Often, whatever they are thinking about is more important, long term, than what we might like them to focus on.

We can choose whether to evaluate what we see, or just sort of accept and deal with it. And I think our more accurate evaluations, if we choose to make them, are based on long-term interaction rather than short term. This is a good thing, since it allows us to make room in our thinking for the reality that all people are changing all the time. If someone chooses not to tag one moment of time with their name, then we just can incorporate that as one small piece of information about the universe on one short day.

I guess it boils down to intentionality. That's not a high value for everyone. But even among those who hold it dear, we don't always get it perfect. Nor do people looking on always "get" what we try to do from our intentionality.

Does it really matter in the big picture if I say I am WYSIWYG right now or if I say I was Droppped Cookie last time I posted? Because ya know either way, I am still just one meatball on a particular day in my life and yours, and though I change every day, I am still just:

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 02:50 PM

I'm still at a loss - I can quite understand not wanting to be tied in with the other things you've said on other threads. But I can't see the reason not to have what you could call a "thread pseudonym", a use-and-throw away name just for the thread, to make it easier for people to respond without misunderstanding.

I mean, it can get confusing already, even with names. A post annoys someone, and they draft a cutting response and post it. But in the meantime some innocent third-party has posted some inoffensive musing - and the next time they look, there's this angry reply that appears to be tearing them limb from limb, but is actually intended for some nameless person further up the thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 02:12 PM

Picture all of us logging out and coming in again as 'Guest'. The Mudcat wouldn't last more than two days, and it would be a very acrimonious two days at that. It would be so boring. Obviously, it isn't just seeing one's own posts that keeps us here.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Firecat
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 08:14 AM

I sort of use my realname, it just so happens to be spelt slightly differently and has "Fire" in front of it!! :-)))

Love, Kat

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 05:13 AM

GUEST

Wanting responses is normal. Communication is a two way thingy. Send and recieve with acknoledgements in between. If you are a songwriter you will know that others infer, interpret, and put words in your mouth based on there own context and influences. Then they judge you. ANd then they tell you what you are thinking.

But not all of us. It helps us "names" - gives fluency - to know which guest we are replying to and if we already have.

Mr Red is not my real name you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 01:22 AM

Guest: I'm only a chechako here myself, so I well recall the eerie silence that greeted my sparkling repartee the first time I posted on a non-music thread. Fortunately, I first came here to find information I needed, so I was already appreciative of the prompt, courteous attention that is a standard Mudcat response to serious inquiry.

After following some BS: threads and doing some thinking I have come to the conclusion that my purposes are served by what I say here more than by what I hear in response. I think that may be true for at least some others who are frequent posters.

Post for yourself and enjoy it. It's fun. If others don't react to your gems, tough on them. I know a lot of people that go through life, immune to all the snazzy stuff that surrounds them, never open to new ideas or viewpoints. A man (or womqn) having fun is hard to resist for long. And after a while, if no one else acknowledges us, maybe Joe or Mac or somebody will give us a thread of our very own, that nobody else can post to and we can just spend eternity acknowledging each other.

Have fun, my friend, and get a name.

Spud

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST, Dropped Cookie
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 12:41 AM

What I am still astounded by is that peope think they can make some kind of accurate assessement of one anothers' motives from whether there is a name indicated or not. Yes, I KNOW there have been problems in the past. But ya know... that was THE PAST. People with entirely aboveboard reasons for posting as guests get treated like they are the ones who did some horrible unspecified past harm... the message is, WE KNOW WHY YOU DID THAT.

You don't! You can't! I don't care how smart you are, people can't even really know what others are thinking and feeling in 3D. HERE??? Are you kidding???

You don't know when my computer is on the fritz, or when I forgot to sign in and haven't noticed the name missing in the From line, or when I might have used a name as a guest in one post and then just was so eager to say something later that I forgot to stop and tag on a name... or when I might have a hundred other reasons.

And does anyone remember that in some cultures, to give one's name is to grant an earned privilege? Some days, the tone of this place (and the posting habits of some who start threads or invade perfectly civil ones to derail positive engagement) says to me quite loudly that the privilege of addressing me by name has not been earned. On those days, I wonder why the regular Mudcatters aren't all dropping cookie for the day (like drop trou) just to indicate their distaste!

But the reality is so much simpler than all the assumed reasons. The reality is, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS why there's no name sometimes n a post. You can't control what someone else does, and you can't pin your discomfort on them and expect them to take responsibility for it.

One day I was cruising around without a cookie and a McGrath thread caught my interest. I posted and submitted, engaged in his topic, before realizing I had not even said hi to him, and he's a freind. And I had forgotten too that he has a policy of not responding to unnamed guests. But what I wrote attracted him to reply, and his graciousness caused me to go on to say why I had been cruising namelessly. And that was all there was to it.

The things some people read into what others do.... you just don't have to WORK so hard. Take a post, or leave it. So what!!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Hawker
Date: 16 Feb 01 - 09:53 PM

Hey,

Whats all the worry about being anonymous - look how many GREAT songs were penned by Anon.....

Really, having read most of this, does it really matter if you say who you are or not? if you were kind, that's nice, if you were offensive, you offended, and even if I know your name, you are still just a name to me, I haven't met you. Its noice to think we can trust each other, but life isn't that simple!

Live life, don't worry about it, you're a long time dead as some scottish chappie once said....

Nice thoughts, Lucy

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Feb 01 - 09:43 PM

I went back to mostly posting anonymously as my ego was getting battered at the frequency with which my extreme wit and wisdom was being ignored or trampled (another poster making exactly the same point and getting acknowledged).

It's one thing to know how things work here-- That most posts are ignored, that the nature of the threads is the showering of thoughts, not thoughts and replies, even that most kindness and helps go unthanked.

It's quite another to be strong enough at a weak point in life--like middle age--to take being ignored.

posting anonymously is just a safer way to participate. It's easier to accept the rejection of your anonymous offering than the rejection of your person.

If I write something controversial I still use my name. I'm not ashamed just a little fragile--and for that, I do not blame the mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Feb 01 - 08:47 AM

Insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results. -- Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Mr Red
Date: 16 Feb 01 - 08:09 AM

My alter ego wears a suit to work. And we are not schitzoid. Anonymous idiots are still idiots. We don't have to engage.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 08:44 PM

It seems fairly clear that in America keeping a modicum of secrecy is seen as necessary for a lot of people. Fortunately it doesn't seem to work that way back here, so far anyway, not for most people. "The right to bear names" still seems to hold, most of the time.

But in any case, pseudonyms, noms-de-plume etc aren't in any way complained about by anyone, so far as I can see, and they shouldn't, because it can be fun. The made-up name can represent the person more clearly sometimes than the "real" name.

But I still can't see the point of signing in as GUEST without an added handle of some kind, except when it's a way of being unfriendly. Most of the time it's done by people who are clearly pretty hostile, and I can see the point there - it's a way of adding insult to injury.

It's the difference between someone who goes to a party in fancy dress, and someone who chucks a note wrapped round a brick through the window of the place where the party is under way.

But every now and then you get some friendly soul who does it, like the GUEST on this thread (who may or may not be the same person at various appearances, but who can tell?). And no one has ever explained the reason for that. I have seen the suggestion that it's to focus attention on the message rather than the person, but the effect is completely the reverse.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Mooh
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 03:05 PM

When I first got here I thought it was virtually expected that everyone use a handle. I discovered otherwise almost immediately. My real name appears here in other discussions as does my general location and my e-mail addy. Btw, Mooh is pronounced Mike, and that story is here on a related thread also. Many of you know alot about me from my postings, just as I do about you. I think anonymity here only goes so far, eventually we give up too much of ourselves.

If I wanted total anonymity, I couldn't have friends or exchange information about events, two of the reasons I'm here.

Peace. Mike Crocker (my real name).

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: wdyat12
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 02:48 PM

Thanks again GUEST,guestguestguest(intruder)chuckling.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 02:33 PM

(In humble appreciation of Wavestar and people like her) .......

It's always under-appreciated when people act kindly and compassionately in the absence of any reason to do so - and perhaps as equally misunderstood when the caustic posts by other guests supply justification in some minds to do exactly the opposite. Any words typed here will not rectify either situation. It's enough knowing that occasionally one finds heaven's soul here on earth. Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST,guestguestguest(intruder)chuckling
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 02:25 PM

this is more than i ever expected...

::grinning:: and some of you even got the point i was making, which is...

one must always be civilized, even in those rare instances when you are exerting deadly force.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Katcina
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 01:48 PM

Clinton,

Thanks for the clarification. I stay invisible on ICQ, only allow a very few people to see when I am on, never more that 1 or 2 at a time and I still get the garbage stuff. It is irritating to say the least and I usually respond with "Get a life" or something much more graphic then I block them. It's not as bad now that I learned to stay invisible but they still come on an average of once a week. Since I am never seen on~line I consider that spamming but I guess that's okay with ICQ. There are draw backs to every program I have used but Mudcat has the best set~up I have run across yet. BTY, I block all on MSN unless I want to talk to one of them; I stay invisible on Yahoo IM; and I refuse to use AOL. I guess I'm a bit of an hermit at heart. I do love this place and the Pal Talk music rooms but a general chat with total strangers will have me sitting off to the side just watching what goes on.

Anyway, thanks again for the clarification.

Just got through a 2 hour de~frag session and wonder why I ever got this darn thing at the moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 01:25 PM

Katcina et al...

Yer not hearing what I'm saying... people using 'handles' on the net are not the people I'm even remotely talking about, for the Umpteenth time!!!! What I'm talking about is the gutless flamer, troll, or spam merchant flinging thier crap all over the net... If yer on ICQ I know you know the sort of stuff I mean...

On any other decent MB on the net, that's the kind of stuff that Moderators worth their salt take the time to delete, just to keep the place uncluttered... and it's not censorship... it's housecleaning!!

Given the wonderful creature that the human race is, I can fully understand why some people (To say 'women' would be incredibly sexest, but no one here seem to mind that little tid-bit!!) want to remain behind their avatars... but at least use it consistantly... Have a 'created ID' that you use online... that's one of the fun things about the net... the chance to 'reinvent' yourself...

Mudcat isn't really an 'avatar' MB though... Mudcat is first and formost a tool for song, tune, lyric ect searches... the 'community', the Mb, is not, as far as I can see, the major thrust of Mudcat... and I've met plenty of people who don't even know there's a MB here... They come here, like I used to, to use the DB from time to time, and that's it...

Ya, know.. some days I wish I'd never set cyber-foot into this place... this "nest of vipers" to quote Basil Faulty...

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 12:02 PM

I sign every post (well, ALMOST every post; I slip now ant then) with my full first and last name. As you can see from looking at it, below, it's a bit cumbersome to expect others to deal with, so I have the "handle" DaveO. I have no idea (nor do I wish to) how to assume a different handle for a particular message or thread. Read one of my posts and you KNOW it's from me.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 11:52 AM

I posted once on some thread as "Guest, God", then immediately afterward posted a rebuttal as "Guest, Satan". The intent was entirely humorous, in a farcical sense, and had to do with various other rather amusing comments on the same thread, where people had said that God said this or that, as I recall.

That's the only reason I would post anonymously (as other than "Little Hawk")...just to be funny.

There is a place in this world for humour, after all, and I often enjoy the crazy sense of humour of other regulars on Mudcat, Spaw being the absolute king at that. A good laugh is a relief from the pressures of the day.

Sometimes I might appear to be flaming flattop or Spaw...but that's just goofing around with people I consider to be good friends.

Okay?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 10:55 AM

I guess lots of people here know my legal name, it's difficult to send out tapes and xeroxes if I don't have a real address, and the PO gets a little sticky about just "Sorcha" for a return addy. My e mail is on the resource page, and a person could find my town faily easily by searching the Cat. It wouldn't be difficult to put it all together if some weirdo wanted to, but--

I live with a cop and a 160 lb. wrestler, so I'm not too concerned. Phone calls don't bug me at all. I kind of like getting calls out of the blue from another Catter! If they get crude, I would just hang up, and call the FCC!

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 10:32 AM

Thank you, Kat, for the welcome.

I'm glad I was born when I was. I'm sorry all of you couldn't have been born then, too, and know what it means to share hardship that really turns out not to be hardship in the end.

I couldn't spend my life hiding. I have a right to walk this world in freedom, and that means freedom from whatever so long as I don't infringe on someone else's freedom. I volunteered once to defend that right and I would volunteer again, regardless of my age, if it became necessary to do so. I will not allow anyone to cause me to walk in fear.

To the ladies: I feel for you most. I understand, as best as any man can.

Spud

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 08:59 AM

I do not post using my real name for a number of reasons. I think they are very good reasons. One of them is privacy. That precludes my discussing the others. I have what I think are very good reasons for my "obsession" (if you will) with privacy. But I don't want to discuss them in a public forum.

Russ (no evil intentions, just legitimate concerns)

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Gervase
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 08:48 AM

Maybe it's being a bloke wot does it, but I've never even been asked for a compliant cormorant!
Seriously though, the extreme weirdness and downright rudeness that some people display online when they think they're anonymous never ceases to amaze me. You only have to look at weblogs to see what bloody strange people there are out there. For example.
(Warning - may be offensive to some people)

Subject: RE: BS: Anonymity
From: Wavestar
Date: 15 Feb 01 - 08:04 AM

I'd just like to take a minute to point out that this guest, who actually has a consistent login, not too difficult to recognise, has always been polite, civilised, and even helpful. He's been civilised when no one can see him. Or her. Behaviour like that deserves recognition, at least as being different from the behaviour we've come to expect from Guests.

Another voice of a woman on the net - no one knows my last name, phone number, or things like that. I always give out my secondary email address. Here, most people could find out what state I live in, and likely what town, they could find out where I live in Scotland, but not my specific address. I SPECIFICALLY don't give out my last name, because that's all it would take for someone to know all of those. It's not common, and I'd be easy to find. Even if I don't get stalked, or have my identity stolen (it does happen, to someone I knew) It would make me uncomfortable to know that someone could call me, or some and find me. Frankly, I don't trust the world that much most of the time. Maybe it's the guys on BBS boards who asked me when they first met me 'how big you boobs?' or the man who sent me an ICQ message out of the blue saying he needed a willing s***. I'd just rather these people didn't know the real me, and that means that outside of email, no one else will either.

-J