I have noticed most everybody on the site uses their full name as their screen name. I choose to kind of dupe the system by putting my nick name in for my first and last on the addresses.

Ya'll realize that using your full name catalogs that on the internet and makes every post searchable? In other words if someone googles your full name they can see every post you made, the date and time of your post, all the chaff/political stuff, everything.

Personally I don't like that.

Maybe this is just a re-hash of an old discussion. Sorry if it is.

For $19.95 someone can get any information on me they want. I'm just not worried about my posts in the BPL forums.

Besides, when I really want to post something bad, I hack into Nick Gatel's account and post under his name.......

>Besides, when I really want to post something bad, I hack into Nick Gatel's account and post under his name.......


I had a sneaking suspicion. Or what if Doug and Nick are the same person?

When I created my account I didn't know that the info was going to be used like it is. It doesn't bother me too much though. There's a few guys walking around with my name anyway!

Edited by cobberman on 01/24/2012 13:10:35 MST.

Or what if Doug is really Nick, and Nick is Doug?

Years ago I was camping in Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona with my pop-up camper. A friend of mine drove down from Boulder with his camper and we spent a week together with our wives. From a tent trailer forum, we knew a couple from the Phoenix area, but not in person. So they came up to have dinner with us one night. I introduced Bart as Nick, and myself as Bart since they had never seen pictures of us. Interesting, it did not take long for them to figure out the ruse, as our personalities did not match the personas on the Web. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, I am not worried about anything I post, unless one of you find out who my wife is and "rat me out" by sending her links to my posts :(

This should be moved to the swingers forum.

Ty,

I suppose that is good to keep in mind. I've run for office (and won) and anyone who wanted to tie me down on particular issues has (1) only to ask, (2) google anything I've written as a letter to the editor or (3) read my canidate statement. I'm pretty adament about human rights and progressive causes in all venues and everyone knows I like to blow things up, so I don't think anything I put on-line is going to be news to anyone.

I've also run for office and lost but since I just put myself out there, honestly, and collectively they wanted someone/something else, I'm cool with it.

Now if I was a 14-year-old girl portraying myself as a nerdy, 50-year-old backpacker, then I might have a concern.

Full user names are BPL policy.

From the Policy page:

If you choose to participate in our community forums, your first and last names will be associated with your post. We discourage anonymity and encourage integrity in your communications so that your identity fairly reflects your reputation for appropriate communications.


A past post from Addie Bedford:

Hey all! Addie here, and I just wanted to let you know that we post username and full names on forums to avoid the abuses of anonymous posting that we've experienced in the past. When your name is displayed, you are generally more accountable for what you post - less likely to flame, more likely to be thoughtful, etc. We've made a few exceptions for those very concerned about privacy, which is why you'll find folks with initials only...but both the intials and their usernames are displayed. Changing your username is fine, but the catch is that I have to do it for you, so just write me a customer support issue and let me know what you want the new name to be.

Have a great day!
Addie

Hope this helps answer your question,
Lance-

Edited by Lancem on 01/24/2012 14:35:45 MST.

David, re: ". . . everyone knows I like to blow things up"

Well, that'll certainly get you some attention from DHS!!!

Haha.

Yeah I think a lot depends on your career path and point in life. My career has nothing to do with anything I discuss on any forum really so I'd rather just keep private interests private. If an employer googles my full name I want them to see where I have worked, that I have a family, maybe my licenses and a couple other details. My personal beliefs/thoughts are not relevant so don't need them affecting me professionally one way or the other.

Edited by TylerD on 01/24/2012 15:28:58 MST.

Well, news to me. I guess I skipped over the fine print. If that is what is required I will likely close my account. I understand the objective behind the rule so no hard feelings, I just don't like that.

Lol...I go by the theory that I say what I mean. Not everyone likes it, but that is OK. I don't hide behind a fake name. But for me...I am self-employed so my boss can't get too mad if I make stupid posts.

:-P

Not worried about it. I don't post anything on the web that I wouldn't say to someone's face.

Nothing to hide / worry about.

Edited by chadnsc on 01/24/2012 16:58:49 MST.

Tyler,

I would suggest going with your initials, as that appears to be an option "within the rules". I too was concerned with the "full name" showing, particularly as usernames are present and somewhat of a de-facto convention online.

A reason often given to support "real name" policies is that it promotes civility. I would argue that not only is this an argument made without good supporting data, but that effective alternate measures (removing comments, blocking IPs) are available that do not have the side effect of discouraging speech.

As this site is indexed by Google, threads often turn up prominently in search results. I accordingly take care to tailor my (few) posts for a wider audience. This means that items I might discuss more casually with friends or colleagues are "sanitized" for a much wider audience, or most often simply not posted.

The ability to post pseudonymously allows posts to be accounted for on their own merits, and provides a modest buffer against those who may take offense at the contents of a seemingly innocuous post. At a further extent, what may be a normal and appropriate comment in one area may be a prosecutable offense in another. More probable is the chance that sensitive negotiations could be affected by prior posts. (One may assume that anyone involved in such would have the good sense not to live-blog such deals.) In an ideal world, we could all speak our minds without concern, but the sad truth is, many countries, businesses, and people do not respond well to criticism.

Quoting from the second link below: In the midst of the civil rights movement, the NAACP challenged an Alabama statute requiring the organization to reveal the names and addresses of all its members. While ruling unanimously in favor of the NAACP, the Court avoided any explicit recognition of a right to anonymous speech in favor of an alternative, more general constitutional theory. The Court noted “the vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in one’s associations.” (Emphasis mine.)

Additional reading: (the first not too long, the latter more comprehensive and semi-tangential)

The Curse (Blessing) Of Anonymous Speech
http://finemrespice.com/node/63

Publius and the Petition: Doe v. Reed and the History of Anonymous Speech
http://yalelawjournal.org/the-yale-law-journal/content-pages/publius-and-the-petition:-doe-v.-reed-and-the--history-of-anonymous-speech/

ed: added hyperlinks

Edited by requiem on 01/24/2012 18:33:33 MST.

Yes, I should post with my screen name. Paul Mags (or even Mags) would be sure to hide my real life identity of Paul Magnanti. :D

If someone Google searched me, they would find I am outdoors. A lot.

Oh, and this link too:


The Other Paul Magnanti

:)

Edited by PaulMags on 01/24/2012 19:15:12 MST.

>Lol...I go by the theory that I say what I mean. Not everyone likes it, but that is OK. I don't hide behind a fake name. But for me...I am self-employed so my boss can't get too mad if I make stupid posts.<

Do you not have clients, customers? Ever thought about running for political office? Ever wanted to join the PTA? Volunteer for some organization? Are you 101% sure you will NEVER have to get a job? Spouse that works? Do you hold any professional licenses? Want to go to graduate school? Want spouse to get into a graduate school? Have kids that want to get a job? Kids that want to run for political office?

You really want to be accountable for every single sentence you ever write on Backpackinglight for the rest of your life for yourself and your immediate family?

This site is well indexed by google and google has VAST servers. Ya'll know it sticks around for a long time. If this site went away tomorrow, Ryan closed it, deleted all his files it would be indexed on google potentially as long as the internet is around.

There is no more real privacy...electronically.

>There is no more real privacy...electronically.

I completely understand that if somebody really wants to investigate or pay money to get information that it is easy but making it as simple as googling my name...no thanks.

You just never know what a casual person in an innocent situation might think.

Let me see if I can come up with an innocent example...

You want to volunteer at your kids school for field day. You sign up on a list. Some nosy lady googles your name, she stumbles on a post on BPL talking about bringing toilet paper or not and the alternatives. She scrolls through the posts, appalled at your comments and questions. She closes the page, scratches your name off the list and thinks to herself 'what a wierdo'. She never tells you and you never find out why you didn't get invited you just never got a call back.

There are a million examples and scenarios. It doesn't have to be some offensive political opinion or insult it can just be 'you are weird to me, quietly or subconsciously move on to the next candidate'.

Edited by TylerD on 01/25/2012 07:39:39 MST.

Ty Ty, you're way too paranoid and I can now see why you're so worried about your privacy.

You are WAY too worked up. Seriously. I built my business in the outdoor industry based on that I actually interact with people. I am a real person and my readers know it. I post on MANY forums. I write TWO blogs and THREE websites under my real name. I volunteer for non-profits. I have children. I have a husband who works. His boss knows what I do for a living and thinks it is cool. I have worked for actual bosses and frankly, I get hired because I can do the job. If I have burnt bridges over the years I am not crying.

My political leanings would get me into far more water treading territory than my comments on backpacking and hiking forums (I am a stanch supporter of the second amendment). Even to the point I will write letters to non-profits I support financial with my business if I feel they are going too liberal. I have no issue signing my name on those letters. I also vote conservatively and have no issues telling people what I think. Frankly, my writings on my PERSONAL blog about childbirth and pregnancy would be the the thing to make men blanch than what I write here.

Anyone who thinks they are that important is thinking too highly of themselves IMO - when it comes to Google. Always makes me think of my of Dad, who was super paranoid about the gov't. My old man had so many conspiracy theories - his favorite being the tapped phone and the gov't listening to one's conversations through a phone, hung up. My take on it? Since I have nothing to hide, if they were doing it....my life would be pretty boring to listen to :-P My Dad never saw the humor in that.

PS: As for politcial aspirations? Lord, you must not live where I live. We have many people who run for office who have odd backgrounds. No one overly cares.

PS2: I met my husband on the Backpacker.com forums :-P He kind of "knows" what type of person I am. Snort.

Btw, if you have kids and want to volunteer at a school, you have to have a background check done at the start of the year. In our state you apply and it is proccessed by the Wa State Troopers. The school has NOTHING To do with it. Once cleared and vetted you can do whatever - work in a classroom, go on trips, etc. Schools don't work exactly the way you imagine. Lord, the pettiness you describe comes in other ways - with the mommies pitting against each other for "plum assignments". Most admins are way too busy dealing with state rules and whatnot and meeting reams of paperwork!!

And anyone with a few dollars, a SSN and a birth date can do the SAME background check I might add.

For every situation ya'll come up with of how it couldn't affect you it could affect another person.

I am in the deep south, the background checks here are mostly word of mouth from one nosy person to another. Non WASP beliefs are HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive to everyone down here. I have a job and work for companies whom I don't want to know my hobbies. In fact in my career hobbies are frowned upon, everyone is expected to be obsessed with one thing, money, everything else is perceived as a distraction.

So I see how it is no problem and not a big deal to many, for me that is not the case.

I actually think your point is a valid one Ty Ty. Even more so for our kids. I go through great lengths to explain to my daughter that some casual posting may end up following her for years to come. Friends of hers post pictures and comments about smoking pot .... I cannot emphasize enough how unwise this is.
I think our kids will be the first generation to feel the full impact of having their lives so public. It is definitely worth looking at and discussing.

NM

Edited by ctracyverizon on 02/04/2012 06:06:59 MST.

>I don't have to worry about it.

>My name is the same as an Artist

And my altar ego is a cancer researcher in Seattle with many more publications than I have.

And then there's the dead Wendy's guy hawking his hamburgers.

But, back to the OP, using things like my hometown or wife's name (both of which I've used here), I pop right up on google.

>Ty Ty, you're way too paranoid and I can now see why you're so worried about your privacy.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world ISN'T out to get you.

>>"You really want to be accountable for every single sentence you ever write on Backpackinglight for the rest of your life for yourself and your immediate family?"<<

I undertand and respect the opinion of the OP, but if I am not prepared to be accountable for everything that spills from either my mouth or my keyboard, then I have no business in voicing my thoughts to begin with.

I am in my early twenties and the level self-accountability among my generation/peers is a sad state indeed.

Edited by cwayman1 on 01/25/2012 09:50:54 MST.

I am also a member of a few skateboard forums one is "Slalom!" based out of Sweden created by Jani Soderhal who started out with a homemade copy machine slalom fanzine back in the 1980's.

It morphed in to web forum and a full blown international racing series with rankings of racer called the ISSA . You are required to use your full name.

One is because skateboard slalom racing is such a small community.
It gives us a great since of community for each other and the others if you are or were a great slalom racer or skateboarder it fun to here from each other and keep your name in the public eye.
I also use my full name on Silverfish long boarding forum,Skateboarder Journal.

Also if you are embarrassed by what you post don't post. I have had some posting I have regretted.
We are all human and we all make mistake it just part of the human condition, no one is perfect.
Terry

Edited by socal-nomad on 01/25/2012 11:46:58 MST.

If your career line is that bleak, then why even do it? My husband works in tech, in a high stress job, and he has hobbies that his coworkers know about and gasp...takes vacations even.

We are not religious nor do we go to church. No one asks us if we are. They don't ask how much money we make or anything else. If a town is that small minded you have to ask why do you live there? As my husband would put it....that is one reason he went West. No one cares that I am part white, part Asian. No one ever denied me a job because I was a single mom for 5 years and had a child who is Autistic.

IMO, if people are that scared of living openly they don't belong online. Or they need to broaden their horizons!!

Sarah, I think you think you are being open minded but you are really just saying 'be more like me because how I am is the right way'.

If you want to just keep giving me examples of why you feel free to say whatever you want that is fine. The same things do not apply to me.

Edited by TylerD on 01/25/2012 14:04:26 MST.

There are plenty of non-nefarious reasons to be pseudonymous. There are also plenty of a-holes on the internet who are perfectly happy to post terrible things under their "real names" (see: Facebook). A "real name" does not convey trustworthiness, nor in my experience does it have a noticeable effect on a poster's manners.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

"I actually think your point is a valid one Ty Ty."

It's a very valid one. There are already numerous examples of people being denied a job because of what an employer found by searching their name on the internet. Not some future, it's happening now. If you're in a position where you don't have to worry about such things, that's great. But not everyone is. That's simply a reality.

I never gave it any thought that his name was not really Ty Ty. I've known other people with "unconventional"names.

"There are already numerous examples of people being denied a job because of what an employer found by searching their name on the internet."

True, but that information normally has little to do with the requirements of a job. In some states it is a lawsuit waiting to happen. However, it is good to keep in mind and most employers will never tell you that Internet information disqualified you for a job, even if it did.

On the other hand, it can help. My son was hired last year as a biologist. When the owner of the company, who is a recreational distance runner, found out about his running he was just about hired sight unseen. So... if you are looking for employment, you might want to turn the tables toward your favor. Another example might have been Jack H who was hired last year (something to do with the PCT I think), and I am sure his posts would have only enhanced his chances of getting a job... the posts showed that he was connected to the hiking community.

>"I am in my early twenties and the level self-accountability among my generation/peers is a sad state indeed."

Boomers grew up with the Andy Warhol quote, "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."

I frequently paraphrase that for Gen Y: "In your future, everyone will 15 naked photos on line."

And for Gen Z: "Of course you'll have a 15-minute xtube of you having drunken sex, but none of your peers will care."

Boomers forget that we listened to music, wore swimsuits, and practiced serial monogamy that would have scandalized our parents.

The Taliban tried to turn back the clock. Look what it got them - Predator-launched missles into their bedrooms.

I agree that caution and forethought are called for and often lacking. But what is shocking today is going to be commonplace in a decade. Consider the history of inter-racial marriage, racial equality, woman's rights, Gay rights, birth control, music, art, tattoos, piercings, etc.

Hurting other people gets me upset and I hope it always does. TMI, though, isn't so striking after you get used to it.

See, my real name is Terry Trimble, but since that was taken by the other TT I used the name of a really cool, extremely intelligent, fantastically good-looking skateboarder that I could only aspire to be half as cool as. Lucky for me, that kook usually uses a contraction of his name, so it was easy.



:P

"Boomers forget that we listened to music, wore swimsuits, and practiced serial monogamy that would have scandalized our parents."

I disagree.







I don't remember any of that.















I thought those things were just an LSD induced flashback :(

Actually I was very strict with my kids because I was rather street-savvy as a kid. You know, the overly protective mode. The discipline didn't hurt them at all either.

It doesn't bother me...everyone hates me so be it

Eff em. Durfwads.

I have lost jobs/opportunities because I stood by my beliefs and convictions. Always slept just fine afterwards. I am who I am.

Edited by kthompson on 01/25/2012 18:03:55 MST.

Most people, I think, have a certain expectation of privacy even in public, as can be seen recently with the different Supreme Court opinions on the GPS tracking case. Even though your trip to the grocery is "in public", I think many would feel such continuous monitoring to be invasive.

The "nothing to hide" argument assumes that any privacy problem must be immediate and obvious or else it must not exist. However, information that may seem harmless in itself presents a far different picture when combined with numerous other bits and pieces ("mosaic intelligence"). Anyone involved in personal security or criminal law should be quite familiar with just how damaging information can be, no matter how benign it may seem.

Identity theft or harassment may be the public face of privacy loss, but the slow erosion of privacy rights due to the "nothing to hide" argument is far more damaging, like litter on a trail or oil from a poorly-maintained boat.

Further, privacy is not just about having "something to hide"; it is a matter of whether parts of your life are someone else's business in the first place. I am personally averse to the development of a brave new world where every bit of someone's life is on permanent display, even more so if that information is limited to governments or industry.

"Everyone is guilty of something or has something to conceal. All one has to do is look hard enough to find what it is." - Solzhenitsyn

<del></del>

Edited by asdzxc57 on 01/29/2012 12:54:07 MST.

Jeremy:
"....
The "nothing to hide" argument assumes that any privacy problem must be immediate and obvious or else it must not exist. However, information that may seem harmless in itself presents a far different picture when combined with numerous other bits and pieces ("mosaic intelligence"). Anyone involved in personal security or criminal law should be quite familiar with just how damaging information can be, no matter how benign it may seem.

Identity theft or harassment may be the public face of privacy loss, but the slow erosion of privacy rights due to the "nothing to hide" argument is far more damaging, like litter on a trail or oil from a poorly-maintained boat.".

You said it so well. Thank you for that.

BIG +1 to Jeremy's last post.

>>"Further, privacy is not just about having "something to hide"; it is a matter of whether parts of your life are someone else's business in the first place. I am personally averse to the development of a brave new world where every bit of someone's life is on permanent display, even more so if that information is limited to governments or industry."<<

Again, BIG +1. My perspective would be that when we post something on the internet, we are basically agreeing to the fact that almost everything online is open to 'public' viewing. If I don't want something viewed publicly online (either now or in the future), I do not offer it publicly online.

Sure, I have 'things to hide' (dramatic dum dum duuuuuuuuum) and there are aspects of life that are 'no one else's business'. In turn, I don't post them online and assume that no one will ever notice. Seems simple enough.

If you don't want potential bosses/clients/in-laws/etc to know that you participate in drunken revelries on the weekend with your ol' college buddies (exaggerated example, I know) then either don't post it online or don't participate in the first place.


Edited for grammar/spelling

Edited by cwayman1 on 01/26/2012 10:15:56 MST.

Privacy is dead and a thing of the past since the patriot act if you visit any urban area cameras are every where.

I had a patient who manufacture cameras and surveillance equipment he was telling me about their capability. They put a camera on top of a sky scraper in down town San Diego to test the camera and equipment they could zoom in on a persons wrist watch and tell what time it was and mark that person with a dot and the camera would follow the person trough out town for a 4 to 5 block radius.
With facial recognition software now they can find you.
The small city of Carlsbad their Police force have a large walls of monitors with 5 to 9 person team monitoring every major intersection. When they see something wrong they can send out the closest unit right away .

Look at goggle earth and satellite photos they take even if they are old. I was looking up my house my car was parked in front of my house,Then I looked up my work and my car was parked at work it was pretty funny . The creepy part of google earth is the street level view option you can see the front of your house and front yard. Once in while I see the google camera cars driving down street to get the street level views. The only thing the online map companies keep private now are military bases streets now their just big redacted blots on the online maps.
Terry

Edited by socal-nomad on 01/26/2012 11:46:58 MST.

I agree on Jeremy's last post being a good one.

Clint - let me give an example that specifically relates to me and how this affects me.

In my profession money is king. Most everyone who is rising in my business probably wants a 10,000 sf mansion and a fleet of Mercedes in the 10 car garage. I am interested in backpacking, spending time outdoors, the tiny house and minimalist movements interest me. In my profession that might be considered odd/contradictory. I don't want to quit my job, I'm not lying to anyone telling them that I want a mansion with a helipad, they can think what they want. I am a young, aggressive, sharp guy that wants to rise in my field, make money, be the boss eventually or own my own company. That's all they need to know about me. So for me, something as innocent as posting about the tiny house movement might be a red flag. 'What is this guy some kind of liberal hippy? backpacking?, camping under a tarp on the ground? Tiny houses?'

This is just one example.

One of the main reasons is I just don't want to make vast amounts of information about myself available to anyone that can run a search in google. Just from a privacy standpoint, it's none of anyone's business. The only person that needs to know everything and everything about me is my wife (and she does).

Google Earth street view is amazing/crazy....and available to anyone with a computer. Kinda scary.

Somewhere I ran across a Google Street View website one time that was weird/odd pictures people had found. They would post the pic and people would comment. One of the ones with the most funny comments stories was looking into a driveway, a naked guy was crawling out of the trunk of the car parked in the driveway, there was an open umbrella in the driveway but the sky was sunny and blue, and there was a dog laying in the driveway that was either napping or dead. The stories people were coming up with were hilarious. It was like 'okay, the guy killed his dog with the umbrella, didnt want to get blood on his clothes so he stripped naked to load the dog in the car'. Or 'The mafia shot the guy and his dog, loaded the guy into the trunk...' Funny.

"the "nothing to hide" argument is" a giant step on the road to a totalitarian society. We're not as many steps from that as many of our fellow 'Mericans seem to assume.

To all those who say there's no such thing as privacy anymore, I say you're not getting far enough off trail. ;0)

I find it funny how many are concerned with privacy but yet still post on multiple forms. Oh the irony!

If your not going to say anything offensive why do you need freedom of speech?
if your not going to break the law why do you need a trail?
if your not a paranoid cynic why do you need a vote?
if your innocent why do you need a lawyer?
if your not going to assault people why do you need to bear arms?
if your not hiding anything why do we need a warrant to search and seize your property?
if your not a violent unemployed mob why do you need the right to assemble?
seems like only criminals would support civil and constitutional rights.

If you spend some time here and look around you will see many posters with incomplete, made up and phoney screen names. Despite what Addie says. Look for yourselves.

"You can call me Ray, you can call me Jay, but your don't have to call me Johnson."

Call me anything you want. Just don't call me late for dinner.

OK, let me be the devil's advocate for a moment.

I'm in the market for a really cool Trail Star and I know that Doug has just the item. I use his name and his location info from BPL to do a web search and find his address (in about 5 minutes). I check out his house and neighbourhood in Google Street View to make sure a break-in wouldn't be too obvious. That would take me another 5 minutes.

I also know from his postings that Doug is a very out-going guy and likes to do group backpacking trips. I can time my break-in for when he's off with a group of BPL friends. I could drop by his house while he's away and pitch a tarp on his lawn. This way, when his neighbour comes over to check me out, I tell him Doug invited me over to use his house while he was away on his trip. I'm heading out on a trip myself and Doug was kind enough to offer me his house so that I can hit the trail head early tomorrow. I thought I'd test my tarp setup one more time before heading out... probably a pretty natural sight at Doug's house. This provides an excellent reason (for the nosey neighbour) for me to be taking a backpack full of gear out of Doug's house.

As I walk out of Doug's house with my backpack loaded with all of Doug's extra backpacking gear, I'm thinking, dam*, Doug took his Trail Star with him! Not a big issue because once I sell all of his "extra" gear, I'll be able to buy my own Trail Star and then maybe I'll even arrange a group trip with Doug so that I can try out my new Trail Star and get some setup tips from Doug.

I was actually going to hit Ken Thompson's house because I like his shelters better but the idea of two dogs made me nervous ;)

I'm just saying...

Maybe if everyone just used the same screen name . . . ?

As in:

Joe: You don't know what you're talking about, Joe.

Joe: No, Joe, you're the one who's an idiot.

Joe: Would both of you try to keep it civil.

Knock yourself out. I'm insured, armed and live in view of the Police station. If I am not home chances are I have the few belongings that you were looking at with me.

And really this need not have been started at all. Plenty of BPL members who do not use their whole or even real names.

PJ
Dave T
Mike W
nanook ofthenorth
Jolly Green Giant
Hikin' Jim
Donna C
C Ash
Kat P
etc, etc...
Just a few examples that I could think of.

Had you not drawn attention to yourself(my preferred tactic usually). Nobody would have noticed.

And Ty. If you are not true to yourself, your going to have a stroke or get an ulcer or something. Time for introspection.

Edited by kthompson on 01/27/2012 07:16:37 MST.

I think I just realized that we are all playin' on the same team within this discussion. I don't believe anyone has expressed the NEED to use full names, only their own reasoning. To make clear, I'm totally cool with using initials (it adds a level of mystery and intrigue!) and I believe we all ended up agreeing on a couple of somewhat-related-but-not-the-original topics:

--Personal accountability is low right now and people should be responsible for their words.
--Certain aspects of our lives are nobody's business but our own.

Ty Ty, thanks for sharing your story. Whether you use your 'official name' or not, I think that the sharing of experience can do just as much to create a sense of community as using full names.

>>"the "nothing to hide" argument is" a giant step on the road to a totalitarian society"<<

A scary thought, for sure.

>>"To all those who say there's no such thing as privacy anymore, I say you're not getting far enough off trail. ;0)"<<

A HUGE +1

No wonder so many of you guys carry guns. Everyone is out to get you! :)

Problem solved (for now).

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!"

Edited by asdzxc57 on 02/12/2012 20:01:54 MST.

For how long and whither? Analysis please?Thanks, J

You are number 6.

-- the new number 2.

@ Mike W, I actually have a PO Box as my landlord wont let me recieve mail here.
The real threat to me and my stuff is not from the internet but rather the crankster drug addicts that patrol during the middle of the day looking to steal anything that isn't nailed down.
There have been a number of break ins in the mountains here by local scumbags.
I have a glass paneled front door so i am not exactly fort knox here.
The silver lining for me is that i really don't have anything to lose.
When i leave for work every morning I just pick up the only thing I really value: my backpack, and take it to work with me.
If someone wants to break in and steal my change jar, or my Aloe Vera plant, or my desktop computer then so be it.
Frankly, as long as they leave me the toilet seat and the food in my fridge, I will be bummed, but I'll be okay.
I definitely would not shoot someone for stealing my stuff. Stuff just ain't worth it nor would going to jail for murder. I hear there ain't much hiking going on in jail.
At least for me the "burglary" would just be the (bad) luck of the draw and not internet related since there is nothing anywhere that has this address on it... In fact i don't know what the adress is here myself!

"I am not a number.. I am a free man!"
"I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, briefed, de-briefed or numbered!"
From The Prisoner by the late Patrick McGoohan

"Be seeing you."

Edited by Ice-axe on 02/12/2012 20:19:26 MST.

I am not the movies #4. You are referencing ?

I don’t think we can talk about privacy anymore. Not in the world that has SOPAa, ACTAs, people search sites ( http://www.findermind.com/free-people-search-engines ) and what not. Anyone can dig in your past and use what they find against you. And guess what? Nothing you can do to stop them.