'keith', for all i know or care your name is Brunnhilde Gertrud Hussein and you are actually posting from a cellar in Tehran while you recuperate from your third sex change operation, determined to mislead all gringos into bankruptcy. What a person posts under has no effect whatever on their credibility, as far as i'm concerned. It just doesn't matter. I often wonder how many of those 'real names' out there are on birth certificates. But only idly, as i simply do not care.
We come to know each other from our posts, and from nothing more, nothing less. Every word goes together to make up an impression. It's pretty evident when posters say stupid or malicious things they wouldn't say if they posted under their 'real name'. That becomes part of the impression you have of them, they lose credibility and you stop spending time considering their points. There are SIers who post under anonymes whose word i respect, and there are SIers posting under their 'real names' whose word i do not respect. And vice versa. It just doesn't matter, imho.
I would likely not post on the internet if i had to reveal the location of my family to every psychotic fruitcake out there. If it was just me the attitude might be different, but it's not just me. Part of it is an unfortunate choice of login considering a part of the world in which i have family, but a good bit is simply a determination to be vigilant about security. For the same reason i am better armed than is normal in this part of the world. Just habit, maybe, each to his own, i guess eh. But i personally consider it foolhardy to post identity, and will not do so .... cheers |
