Okay, so perhaps an assessment is in order, due to the number of stated reasons why nameless GUEST posts are discouraged:

What looks like a compliment can be a putdown, and the reverse. We can normally tell the difference easily enough, when we have a context to put it in - in the case of the Mudcat that means previous posts from someone with a "name" we can recognise. (Or for that matter, just a push of the button, and we can see the previous posts they have made, to give us that context.) --McG of Harlow, 24 Jan 04 - 9:15PM.

McGrath wants a "history" that goes with a consistent name so he can suss out the kind of "spin" a regular contributor normally puts on his/her remarks. Point taken. But if a contributor is worth his/her salt, s/he will be conscientious in crafting his/her post so as to avoid any misinterpretation or confusion. Experience - and sometimes unfortunate mistakes - are the best teacher in this regard. It's sort of akin to reading a book for the first time by an unknown author: without any prior experience, you have to rely on the writer's expertise in conveying irony, satire, etc. If the writer is no good, the audience misinterprets these elements. If the writer knows his/her stuff, it won't be hard to discern when irony or satire or sarcasm is being used. Often, GUEST postings are so direct there's little or no room for misinterpretation. Ultimately, the burden of responsibility lies with the originator of the post to convey precisely what it is s/he wants to say. That's something no one else can control.

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It is rude, presumptive and selfish to refuse to use ANY name! I DO NOT CARE if you are a 'member'...just adopt some way to keep guests A-Z apart!!!!! ...(oh, did I mention?, it pisses me off royally?!) --Bill D, 24 Jan 04 - 11:59PM

Bill D doesn't care about the what; he just cares about the who. He wants a way to tell one GUEST posting from another, and thinks it's ill-mannered to type out something without signing a name to it.

The poem "Beowulf" was written by an anonymous poet; knowing or not knowing who wrote it doesn't have a direct bearing on one's own opinions of the poem. Nor is it necessary to distinguish it from other anonymous works. And it is fruitless to ponder whether the short stories "The Pipe" and "The Puzzle" were or were not written by the same person. What does it matter? Knowing or not knowing who wrote something - eventually what one winds up responding to is the what.

Not that I'm comparing an open forum post to a work of art such as a short story or poem, but obviously unnamed GUESTs don't care who writes what. Maybe Max could get a university grant from a sociology department to study what would happen to the group dynamic if no one signed their posts, as you suggested. One other GUEST posting I'm aware of, has made the same suggestion some time ago. It would be interesting to see what form of "chaos" evolved over the course of time. Of course, GUESTs, like cockroaches, would survive it. ;-)

And Jesu' Christo Bill, did you have to announce to the world how much it pisses you off that GUESTs don't sign a name? If they didn't before, every troller and flamer has got your number now. I thought long ago you had sworn off acknowledging this anonymous crap anyway.

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It makes no difference until you start slinging invective from the shelter of namelessness, which poisons the whole atmosphere because it feels like it could be coming from anywhere. It's quite destructive enough to sling vitriol and ill-formed antagonism, but to do so namelessly is twice as destructive. --Amos, 25 Jan 04 - 11:11AM

and

No -- Amos finds rude postings rude. I have seen hundreds of perfectly decent and interesting anonymous postings. Why don't you get this straight? --Amos, 25 Jan 04 - 12:21PM

Got it, Amos. Probably Amos would rather a GUEST sign a name, but if the post follows the guidelines of civility, he's not going to lose sleep over an anonymous, unnamed contribution.

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Three different people, three different reasons why anonymous postings are frowned upon. My point is GUESTs aren't going to stop posting anonymously on their own, regardless how many reasons there are to do so. And painstakingly illustrating this must mark me as the penultimate example of insanity that Einstein defined - you know... about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

"May no portent of evil be attached to the words I say." --Anonymous

Peace, goodnight.