TypeDrawers is a real names only forum.

James Puckett
James Puckett Posts: 1,998
edited October 2014 in TypeDrawers Announcements
TypeDrawers is a forum for professional designers to have professional discussions. To encourage thoughtful discourse at an adult level users are required to use their real names as user names. You may use a trade name that obviously identifies you. Examples of an obviously identifiable trade name would be Yanone, KLTF, or Chank. Do not use the name of your business if your business is not obviously the business of one person. A user who posts under an alias will be warned to change his/her user name. Users who insist on posting under an alias will be banned. Please capitalize names and separate your personal and family names with spaces.
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Comments

  • Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
    Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    They should still put avatar pictures on them because no one can deal with my name anyway. :)
  • Deleted Account
    Deleted Account Posts: 739
    Can we have real pictures now?
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    I think avatars are best left to the users. While I personally prefer real names, I can understand why not everybody wants his face, home address, etc., online.
  • Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer
    Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    I've been using the same name since 1977 and I… wait a minute…
    SCNR
  • Jan Schmoeger
    Jan Schmoeger Posts: 280
    It looks like two members disagree with the real names policy: Wei Hang and Roger Excoffon. Now where did I hear those names before ...
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    Wei Hang/Huang is a pretty common real name.

    Roger Excoffon, being dead, probably won’t mind that I nuked his unconfirmed account on general principle.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 455
    Did you ban Wei Hang? If yes, why?
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    That link leads to a protected area...
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    Did you ban Wei Hang? If yes, why?
    I banned Wei Hang temporarily until he convinced me he wasn’t a troll.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 455
    I can't see the link either Jackson.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    My bad, I don't know how to use this thing.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 455
    Seems to be a permission issue, not linking issue :-)
  • Jan Schmoeger
    Jan Schmoeger Posts: 280
    Roger Excoffon, being dead
    So, I have just copped my first troll mark: for pointing out that a fake name was being used in a thread called "Typedrawers is a real names only forum." The moderator subsequently removed the offender. If that is not an "inappropriate" use of the troll flag, I'll eat a bit of my hat.
  • Deleted Account
    Deleted Account Posts: 739
    ...there is no "if that's true I'll eat my hat" icon, yet. I'd like to suggest adding, "When Pigs Fly", "When Hell Freezes Over" and "See you on the darkside of the moon."
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Jesse R Ewing
    Jesse R Ewing Posts: 11
    Just joined and ... signup wouldn't let me use my real name. For the record, it's Jesse R. Ewing.
  • Ralf
    Ralf Posts: 170
    Ralf H. Seriously, change your name to the full name. Last warning.

    So before I get deleted, I try at least to explain:
    I am happy to let everyone I talk to in an online forum know who I am. In fact, I would find it pointless to engage anonymously in a discussion here. But:
    Most of the discussions as well as the profile pages of Typedrawers are publicly available. It means that everything I say here can be easily searched, indexed, collected and used by every person or company who knows my name. Today and forever. And I have no control over this whatsoever.
    And that’s why I abbreviated my name. It’s just a little garden fence protection for my privacy. I didn’t fake my user name. I just shortened it. (And I guess 95% of the users here know my last name anyway)
    And following the news of the latest months, a little concern about online privacy is certainly not a crazy idea.

    So there are two options:
    1) Don't mind that guy and just delete him.

    2) Offer a way to protect the user’s real names.
    It’s a standard feature of forum software to generate the HTML output depending on the status of the user as guest or logged-in user. The real names could easily be hidden or shortened, when guests visit the forum. Through this, the forum would appear as usual for every logged-in user, but people and search engines outside of this forums would not be able to connect names and posts.
    Or the simple hack: Allow pseudonyms or shortened names and just open up a page or discussion thread not visible to guests where the real names are given.

    I actually like the idea of a “real names only forum” very much, but without privacy options for those names the price is too high for me. So if something like 2) is possible, that would be great, if not, I would have to accept 1).

  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    "...just open up a page or discussion thread not visible to guests where the real names are given. "

    I like this idea a lot.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    Ralf, thanks for finnallllyy kind of acknowledging my numerous requests to follow the rules of the forum.

    I think the argument for real names is similar to your argument against them. They should make users accountable for the things they say here, hopefully resulting in a more thoughtful, respectful, and honest discourse. If you're truly afraid of the internet, you might want to reconsider participating in it.

    Since I'm just trying to play my roll as a moderator, I'll let Father James chime in.
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,998
    Ralf, please use your full first and last name. The decision to require real names was made with input from the users for the reasons Jackson just listed. Please respect that decision.
  • Ralf
    Ralf Posts: 170
    Okay, no problem. It’s your forum and you define the rules.
    Then there is just one choice left: Please delete my account.

    All the best, guys! (Yes, seriously, not sarcastically.)
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,431
    I must say, I find Ralf's argument peculiar, and 120% agree with Jackson - the argument for real names is EXACTLY the same as Ralf's argument against them. I for one WANT people to know what I think :)
  • Chris Lozos
    Chris Lozos Posts: 1,458
    All the regulars on this forum know Ralf. I have no doubt he is a stand-up guy. Is there an easy way to hide real names from anyone not a member of the forum?
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    Chris, the problem is that anyone can sign up without approval from a Moderator. Maybe there is a flag in accounts that can be set to show real names to real members.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    And show fake names to the public?
  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 649
    @Jackson -- After thinking about that I don't think it's such a good idea; too much confusion would likely result. It's set up now for real names and should stay that way because that's a good thing.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 455
    Is linking to Facebook or another social network that uses real names a viable option? Could I sign in with my FB identity?
  • Marc Oxborrow
    Marc Oxborrow Posts: 220
    I don't know about your FB feed, Simon, but mine is full of folks using aliases.

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