by Doug Coulter » Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:55 am
I'll see about doing that Donovan, if this antiquated board software will let me - I hadn't noticed that function before, but I don't spend much time as admin either.
Just so it's clear, we use real names here. We are friends - friends don't hide behind handles (some are easier to remember than others, but as this membership grows, it'll just be impossible).
Anyone can claim to be the "real" qwertyuiop for example, and take any of your ideas or eye-pee for themselves, while there are laws about impersonating real persons and identity theft that often get enforced.
Many here are serious contributors of new, important stuff, and deserve credit and the rights of prior art for what they do. A handle can't claim that legally at all.
So I hope I'm making a case for "it's for your own good". Because it is, and it's one of the things that makes this place unique. Anonymity is for trolls, which we ditch faster than an eyeblink. If you've got something constructive to say, why not get the credit for it? If not, why be a member, lurking is fine, and most of our traffic is lurkers as is, which is fine. If you've got nothing to say, then don't say it.
Hopefully this is enough for people to see where I'm coming from on this. We are casting a net for the all too rare genious, and as an experiment I opened registration to some questionable handles just to see if one of them might be for real - there are too few real serious minds out there to risk missing a bunch of them - a bunch barely exists on the entire planet, after all, which should be obvious to anyone who lives a real life or even just reads the news. That's who we want - the real guys, not the fakers.
Edit - it worked. It's going to be a real pita to do it for the hundred plus newbs here, and Jeff - it may also have changed your login (PHPBB experts here know if it does?). I didn't change whatever password you used.
Posting as just me, not as the forum owner. Everything I say is "in my opinion" and YMMV -- which should go for everyone without saying.