Quote:
Originally Posted by thrawn_aj
Well, for one thing, if you've seen the heated debates elsewhere on the forum, one does see the wisdom behind remaining somewhat anonymous. The internet's full of weirdos who love to carry over their grievances and vent their spleen "IRL"  . I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with that sort of stupidity outside of the screen.
Besides, a real name (and even photo) is simply a different kind of anonymity (unless you're famous). The world is a big place (and MR, more than most fora, is pretty heavily international). It's hardly likely that you're gonna see someone and go "Hey! I saw that dude on the bus today  ". So, what next? Do we expect work data? Marital status?  What would it take to truly become non-anonymous? A phone number? Street address?
As for the myth of civility through recognition, I know tons of people who misbehave quite efficiently in the full glare of publicity. I believe that being honest online has more to do with representing one's beliefs and opinions as truly and completely as humanly possible. Names and photos contribute nothing toward that end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them of course (and they can even be pleasant at times), but I just don't see them as relevant to online discourse (and they may frequently, in obvious ways, be roadblocks to honest debate). In fact, that's the beauty of the internet - even a distinguished scholar may have to enter into a debate on the same level of credibility as others and may find that he can't simply appeal to the authority he enjoys in the outside world. Some grow as a result (learning valuable pedagogical lessons in explaining complex concepts to the uninitiated); others emphasize their credentials to a laughable degree. Anyway, before I ramble on, these should give you a few (of many) good reasons why people may not want to use real names or photos on an online forum . The bad reasons of course include trolling and flaming (which kinda covers it all). |
Great answer.
For me, sometimes stepping outside the box makes life more interesting, for me this is outside the box.
I do not suggest anyone else change their avatar to their own picture, thats totally up to each and everyone on this forum and others. I'm sure some of you have blogs, someplace where you interact with people you know or maybe don't know having that open to the public is far more open that your mug on this forum.
I am a very quiet member of an adventure riding forum dedicated to adventure motorcycle riding, and there are a lot of people on that forum that share their photos from rides, their ride diaries with their real names, their addresses and pictures and i have never heard of a single person on that forum being hassled "IRL".
So I put it to you, a bunch of bikers are a better, safer, more courteous and honest community than a bunch of book worms?
Just a thought
