Seems to me that one of the great services this site offers is the chance for those of us who care about this industry/hobby/avocation to share ideas,our experiences and comments on how things might be made better for everyone.
It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of personal attacks/flames and other negative,non-productive comments are posted by people who hide behind a pseudonyme? Am I alone in thinking that we would be doing a great service to this wonderful site if we were to convince the Editors to eliminate this issue?
I don't know about you, but I've long felt that anyone who is not willing to own up to what they're saying, isn't worth wasting time on!
Please share your opinions on this.
Thanks, Ross Rowland

I concur.

John Bohon

There is nbo way to validate identities without a massively more serious login and authentication system. It goes without saying we won't be putting any such system in place.

Absent a way to determine that people actually are who they say they are, requiring names is a Potemkin village measure--anyone can represent themselves as being any name and we have no way of checking. Requiring names is thus an unenforcable rule.

We have always been philosophically opposed to inventing rules that cannot be enforced--we feel that unenforcable rules invite contempt for all rules.

If posters would review the guidelines and take them to heart we would have no trouble. Flame wars begin when people ignore these guidelines in pursuit of their own selfish ends.

Ross, you have a very valid point, and I agree with you entirely. However, I must mention that the only reason my username on this forum is "Strasburg_fan" rather than my actual name is simply because I am also "Strasburg_fan" on a number of other railroad forums, and I wanted to use the same username on this site so as to be more easily recognized by others.

Perhaps if everyone included their name in their signature, or signed each of their posts, more confusion could be avoided? Then again, on the other side of the coin, each of the respective members of this forum are also entitled to their privacy, and do not have to disclose any personal information if they do not wish to do so.

Just my thoughts,
Christian S.

I really had not noticed. Maybe I will pay more attention to the signature line.

1.) There are those of us who have professional responsibilities that demand that we retain our independence. This may be difficult to fathom for some but in some walks of life-notoriety-good or bad is not a good thing. I see no reason to imperil my occupation or profession to satisfy the unreasonable demands of people who have an axe to grind on an internet chatboard. Actually, I suspect that this is merely a ploy to silence critics.

2.) Erik's point about enforceability. If I called myself "Richard York" you'd think nothing of the name-unless you happened to realized I had appropriated the name of the first "Darren" on the Bewitched TV series.

3.) I let my words speak for me-my legal name is unimportant. My identity here is consistent. I respond to all private email. If I trust you, I reveal my identity.

4.) The internet is a haven for various identity predators.

5.) Employers are now screening prospective employees by "googling" their names. If you plan on seeking employment in the future, I suggest you adopt a pseudonym.

6.) If you feel this is disingenuous, fine. I feel it is disingenuous to not disclose any conflicts of interest arising from previous relations with various entities, but that is similarly unenforceable.

I just re-read the guidelines for this forum and lo and behold one of them is an admonition to use "real names" when posting. It says that posters using phony names will be given extra scrutiny.
As for all that employer poppy-cock, it's just that! If your employer doesn't want you on here when he's paying for your time I agree with that. Then join us on your time-not his dime. If you're in a professional situation wherein your not allowed to participate in a forum like this as the real you, then I pity you.
I think I'm on solid ground stating that 99% of the posts that get erased come from phony names. If that's correct then the solution seems fairly obvious!
IMHO-Ross Rowland

It's long been my opinion that an unsigned opinion isn't even worth the paper it was written on or the bytes that were wasted typing it, or at best is worth the BTU value of the paper in the furnace. It's probably because I grew up in a newspaper office--literally. (Mind you, I'm also keenly aware of a long British tradition of "pen names" and pseudonyms for professionals in awkward situations.........)

Having said that, I understand bloody well that some positions--such as government positions--mandate the appearance of mental neutrality and lack of controversy. That's actually why we seldom hear from some former denizens of this board--one has privately confessed to me that he trembles at the thought of some superior using the opinions posted here as fodder for negative reviews or even dismissal.

And to the so-and-so that spent fifteen years of his career trying to convince me to get a government job--that is why I never did, and never expect to. And any employer that would reject, say, my employment with their firm or agency based on my writing online is an employer I don't want to work with anyway. (Heck, I've *gotten* jobs from my online spiels.)

I know several career government employees, and all the ones I know are/were good and honorable people, and they all bristle at the blanket stereotypes of government employees as second-rate, inefficient, ineffective employees (though one just jokes badly about it and proves the point in several ways).

"Superheater" has claimed in the past to need that degree of anonymity in his commentary, but no matter how lucid and thought-provoking his comments may be (at least compared to some young pups on other forums with a clueless historical perspective), as long as he hides his identity he enters the debate with two strikes against him, in my opinion.

In my case the email address that I use has my name in it, so you all know who I am

You may not agree with what I have to say, but you know who is saying it!

and yes I get a lot ofp positive feed back. Thank you all!

Ted Miles

I agree with you totally on this, Ross, but I think the very nature of the internet precludes anything that could be done about it. When you have 40-year-old balding men masquerading as 13 year-old girls online, how can you make them use their real names? Besides, what would keep someone from making up a name anyway? If sites made folks use real names, there would suddenly be a LOT of “John Smith” types online…

As for me, I use "P51" as it's part of my e-mail address. My name is Lee Bishop, I'm certainly not hiding anything...

There is a basic difference between the use of a "login name" for convienience and hiding behind a pseudonym for the sole purpose of attacking other people. I have no problem with login names though I admit I prefer to know the identity behind the name.

Any user who posts an attack without signing their name should be treated with utter contempt.

But the reality is that we know that Superheater is not that particular poster's real name. If a man posts using a famous name from literary history, for example the name of one of Robert Burns' closest friends, there's no practical way to know if it's his actual name. And had I gotten here first and registered the name Gavin Hamilton, you'd have been stuck.
I don't think it matters, really. I enjoy the forum and the people. The "names" are a convenience.

I see both sides here. If I were president of a major railroad, say CSX, and wanted to express some opinion, I would like to see the President Washington restored someday. Next thing you know it being taken as an "official statement" of the said railroad and everyone thinks CSX is going to restore a heavy pacific.

Another example is you see someone you know is selling something from a museum locomotive on ebay. You want to put some heat on this person and you don't want to be in the middle of a rift in the organization to which you both belong.

But on the other hand I have seen people here make more or less personal attacks, while hiding behind a ghost name, against someone else who is man enough to use his name. This is why we have moderators and I trust them to moderate

Focus on the content, not the name. If the
content is that of a uninformed foamer,
let it go. Just because you are a 'somebody'
doesnt mean your comments will always
be pearls.
Flaming is of no import, let the moderator
deal with that if need be. Better to
let opinions flow without the need for
'full disclosure'.
Let the market decide! :-)

This thread brings up several interesting issues. I agree with Ross that using your real name is the most forthright way to present yourself. However, there is a universally stated admonishment to not use your real name on the Internet because of identity theft and other types of fraud. I go back and forth on this, never resolving the issue. On some boards, I use my real name, and on some I use a handle. Travis is my middle name.

I would speculate that the first thing all human resource managers do when they receive a job application is Google the name of the applicant. That may work for or against you, but it falls into the same category of the advice to not list your hobbies on a resume. Of course, connecting your Google hits to your identity depends on how common your real name is. My name is not common, and due to using it on forums, I have several Google listings, from which a prospective employer or customer could probably determine my politics, which is probably less advisable than listing hobbies. But my biggest concern about my Google listings is one that shows a photograph that might tend to get me stereotyped, especially by a human resource department. Oddly enough, the photo is not me, but someone else who has the same, uncommon name as me. Wonderful.

I am not sure about the risk of identity theft. The value of your identity equals the value of your credit rating. I assume that if your identity is worth stealing, and you publish your name, address, and social security number, your identity will be immediately stolen. The SS number is the most guarded element of a person’s identity, but even though we are told to never give it out, most people go through life giving it out whenever a form asks for it. So giving any secondary identification on the Internet risks that a linkage to your SS number may be found, thus completing the fatal revelation.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this topic is the contention that if someone does not use their real name, their position in a debate is diminished or disqualified. In my opinion, it is a red herring to claim an advantage in a debate because your opponent did not disclose their identity. The truth of the debate rests exclusively on the merits of the positions, regardless of their origin. In fact, a debate might be judged more objectively if none of the participants were identified.

RTK