Digressing slightly, a lot of people seem to have been on Wodehouse India. I was Bat Jarvis there, for what it's worth. I suspect I'm still on the group, on Read-Only. There's a Japanese online forum where people aren't allowed to use a name or a handle (I think it's called 4chan). The deal is that a person's identity may lend undue weight to any posts of his or hers- and similarly, a new person may not have the credibility to 'take on' established posters. Past records should be irrelevant, so the party line goes.
That said, there is obviously tremendous context to reading something from a particular individual (or an 'identity'), and sometimes, 'past records' are vital in lending weight to an argument. I'm personally fine if someone wants to post as HotChick or Vader2001 or something, as long as I can, over time, attribute certain characteristics to that person. And, I sent an intro 4 days back, so won't inflict myself again! On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 8:57 PM, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote: > I actually joined one egroup which consists entirely of psuedonyms (ok, ok, > it's the Wodehouse egroup) and gave up as I found I had NO clue as to what > their real identities were. I didn't really appreciate talking to Psmith or > the Empress of Blandings without knowing them at all! On LJ, where I post, > too, I have got to know almost my entire "friends" circle by their actual > names and identities, even if I may not refer to them that way on the blog. > >
