Real Name Warning To Users

This is a warning to users who have logged in since the transfer and not inputted their real name in accordance with the forum rules. Go to your profile and enter at least your first initial and your full surname/family name. If you do not, you will be suspended from the forum, whether you're a new user, a donor or a moderator.

i understand they are the rules but is there any reason our names our needed? just wary of giving out more info than needed on the internet.

btw why did our post counts reset but mods stayed the same? transfer problems?

chris_dishmon said:

i understand they are the rules but is there any reason our names our needed? just wary of giving out more info than needed on the internet.

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For security issues. The only people who can see it are you, me and the moderators. It's not publicly visible.

chris_dishmon said:

btw why did our post counts reset but mods stayed the same? transfer problems?

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Theirs was reset too but I manually updated them. I am not going to manually update 1000 other profiles - only those who ask for it.

More people signing up, agreeing to the rules and not entering their real name in the private field....

okay, thanks for the heads up. and keep up the good work.

I think another good reason for us to have people use (or at least record) their real names is that this tends to encourage good netiquette. People do some pretty strange things when they feel they can hide behind a shield of total anonymity.

To anyone who's concerned about listing their real name, I would make the following points:

1. If you choose to hide your name, only the moderators can see it. The mods here are a small group of honest, carefully-chosen people. We never give out this kind of info (except, I suppose, in the highly unlikely event that it were requested by law enforcement).

2. In real life, you take far greater risks with giving out your real name every day. Every time you use your credit card, write a check, or fill out a form, you are passing off your real name (and often your address, credit record, etc.) to a whole bunch of people you don't know. These people live near you, and are far more able to misuse that information than we are.