Anonymity vs Privacy on the Net54baseball

mdschulze · #1 04-06-2011, 08:42 AM

I agree with Clayton's post above. Can a person's true identity really be confirmed upon signing up as a Net54 member? If the answer is "No", then requiring everyone to post their name wouldn't make sense. If a member signs up knowing there is probably a good chance they'll piss someone off, the chances of them disguising their identity increases.

Leon, a decision will have to be made one way or the other on your end... either everyone posts their name or no one is required. I don't see a middle ground that will free up time on your end. If you start setting guidelines to justify when a person should post their real name, you'll find yourself spending more time defining and explaining to people each individual guideline.... my suggestion is to keep it simple.

Whatever decision you make, you'll surely catch some negative feedback.... but once the storm blows over, everything should be fine. This is sort of like being the coach of a team. You may have a handful of parents in the stands who criticize your every move and think they can do a better job than you, but given the chance to volunteer and takeover the team... no one raises their hand. Make your decision, one way or the other, and I'm sure 95% of the members here will back you. Thanks, Mike

Leon · #2 04-06-2011, 10:20 AM

So here we are on this rule. It seems obvious to me (and should be to the rest of the board) we will never have 100% agreement as there are too many good reasons to have names be known or not.

I think what I am going to do is leave the rule the same as it is now BUT put in a few more lines at the end of it to try to take me and the other moderators out of the "back against the wall" issue, with mandating so much in each thread. When someone in a thread says "But their name HAS to be in the post" it puts us moderators (mainly me) in the uncomfortable situation of having to be involved too often. Most folks on the board, that know me very well, know my pet peeves and so forth. NO one is going to be able to hide behind a user id, and not be known, if they are making heated or disparaging comments. Hopefully the risk of having your full name exposed, but not mandating it (for the reason above) will be good enough to take care of the issue. Here is what I am proposing. I don't see how it can be made better but am still open to ideas. At the end of the day members will either trust my judgement on the matter or not. As many members have rightfully said, they can post or not...no one is making them do it. regards

"Anonymous, where this board is concerned, implies that you are not known to the moderator or anyone else. That is not permitted on Net54baseball. However, you may remain private on the board; otherwise, as long as your post is not argumentative, controversial, confrontational, accusatorial etc.�For example you can discuss attributes of cards, sets or memorabilia and stay private. You can not say someone is an imbecile, hard to deal with, gave poor service etc�and remain private on the board. In addition to that if your opinion is that you dislike someone, hate them, can�t stand or don�t like anything about them, and you want to tell the world about it on Net54baseball, then your full name will need to be in your post. The moderator may put the posters name on the board or delete their posts, at his sole discretion, when this rule is not adhered to. *Heated debates will require first and last names to be known, and made public, on the board. Contact information will be given out for legal reasons or under extraordinary circumstances at the discretion of the moderator. **The moderator has the authority to not require full name disclosure at his discretion, especially for well known members. This does NOT mean members can hide behind a user id on the board. Please be aware that your full name may be made public or given to participants privately."

Big Six · #3 04-06-2011, 11:23 AM

In my few months on the board, it's obvious Leon does a wonderful job running Net54...it's also obvious that it can be an overwhelming and thankless job. I've learned so much from reading all the posts and seeing many things I've never seen before...and I am glad to be a part of this community, albeit a small part.

That said, I would really encourage everyone to think before they type and try to put themselves in Leon's shoes...at the end of the day, we all have to be personally responsible for our own actions. We shouldn't have to rely on Leon and the other mods to be our conscience...

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