TypeDrawers is a real names only forum.

2

Comments

  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    Is linking to Facebook or another social network that uses real names a viable option? Could I sign in with my FB identity?
    It is. I never enabled it. At this point I don’t think I’d want to because it would be much easier for spammers to create accounts. I can usually spot spambots by their combinations of odd usernames and email addresses. Fake Facebook accounts tend to be a lot harder to spot because they recycle data from real accounts.
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,432
    edited December 2013
    Ralf: if you're worried about your work world and your personal world overlapping, maybe use a professional name. It's not the same as an alias since you'd present yourself professionally with it. Chank Diesel. Probably not what's on his passport but that's his name. If he joined this forum as anyone other than Chank Diesel, it'd be weird. Lots of people use professional names, but it's not the same as an alias.
  • Ralf
    Ralf Posts: 170
    Final comment:

    Here in Germany online forums (or any online service providers) are actually required by law to give people access to their service without requiring them to use their full name. It’s a means to insure the freedom of speech and to protect people’s privacy against the misuse through the service provider or any other entity with access to the content.

    I run an online forum with 10000 users and deal with privacy concerns on a daily basis. I respect the privacy concerns and requests of my users and in the same way I hope that you guys can respect my view on this, even though you might not share it. Snarky comments like I might “reconsider using the internet” are not very helpful in this regard.

    And my opinion and long-time experience with running a forum is, that a “thoughtful, respectful, and honest discourse” depends on the actual people taking part in a discussion, as well as a quick and thoughtful moderation when tensions among those people arise. It doesn’t depend much on whether the discussion and/or the real names are private or public. So I don’t see much benefit in actually forcing public exposure of real names.

    That does of course not mean that I am not willing to stand by what I say. I simply want a choice upfront, what content and data of mine will get available to whom. And therefore I am more comfortable having certain privacy options available to me, like they are required by law here in Germany and normal on all the other sites I use on a daily basis.
    When they are not available—like on a U.S. based forum—I will simply have to weigh my personal pros and cons. To me, the benefit of Typedrawers was the in-depth discussion among colleagues – like a permanent online AtypI meeting. But if we sit on a table and talk at AtypI, I don’t need to have cameras rolling all the time, recording anything and putting it online. I don’t see a benefit in that. To me, that talk is between those people and there is of course a benefit in knowing those people I talk to. That’s why I like the real name restriction in general, I just don’t like forcing this data to be public today, forever and without a way to opt out of it. To me, this feels like an unnecessary disavantage of this forum.

    I understand that my view is not compatible with the way this forum is run and how the other users like it to be run, so I will leave then in peace. No problem.

    James, please make this move final by actually deleting my account.
  • Brock French
    Brock French Posts: 12
    I tend to agree with Ralf. I certainly don't know him, but I know of him, and it would seem the value added by his participation is greater than the cosmetic / index-ability of a real name. "Typedrawers is a genuine identity forum." is really more to the point I would think. That said, I did change my name from 'brockfrench' to avoid being a contrarian jerk (for once).
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited December 2013
    "Typedrawers is a genuine identity forum." is really more to the point I would think.
    But how does one verify a “genuine identity” if not by first and last name? The point is that participants in this professional forum should stand by their comments here by signing them with the name they use in the typographic profession. (Of course, a user’s professional name could be different from their name on their government-issued ID, as Ray says).
  • Brock French
    Brock French Posts: 12
    Well to that end, there's no true verification of identity anyway; Chank Diesel may well be doing his best 'Ray Larabie'… (apologies for continuing to invoke the both of you here…) I suppose on forums such as this you 'verify' a 'genuine identity' though the totality of your interaction and experience here – and elsewhere – I simply meant to say the identity wasn't difficult to derive, and among professionals, probably already understood. That Ralf. Immediately having access to a proper full name provides a level of access to the uninitiated that isn't necessary; sometimes a certain level of ambiguity is desirable in even the most forthcoming conversations.
  • Jorge Espinoza
    Jorge Espinoza Posts: 2
    Como sugerencia, debería notificarse de esta regla en los términos del servicio o en el campo de registro del sitio.
  • Deleted Account
    Deleted Account Posts: 739
    And show fake names to the public?
    Usually this is done with a generic alias, like "Member 9".

    I have no problem with names for members, and an alias for the rest.

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Chris Lozos
    Chris Lozos Posts: 1,458
    How is Lucy doing, Mr McGillicuty?
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 454
    I have a few, but most use real names.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Patrick Griffin
    Patrick Griffin Posts: 81
    edited December 2013
    Guys, I'm already receiving junk mail that I can trace back to my presence on Vanilla Forums. I've been a member here since July 2012, never received this particular junk mail until now, after I made a few posts — which means this is directly related to posting activity. As much as I like it here, I'd rather not have to waste time on cycles of outsmarting robots.

    So, is there any way for me to cancel my account on here? I think I looked everywhere in profile/account settings but couldn't find a way out.
  • Jan Schmoeger
    Jan Schmoeger Posts: 280
    p_g: I use a separate email for font stuff and do not get spammed on it, imo you should look elsewhere for the source of the spam.
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 454
    Is there a reason why all posts are viewable by the public, and not members only?

    I like David's suggestion of generic "member" numbers.
  • Brock French
    Brock French Posts: 12
    edited December 2013
    ~
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    edited December 2013
    Patrick, I made some permissions changes and now only people in the industry can see other users emails. As long as you don’t fill in the email profile field your email won’t be visible.
  • Chris Lozos
    Chris Lozos Posts: 1,458
    At my age, Speedo wearing is out of the question ;-P
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    Ok, I fixed that. That’s what I get for posting after I took a benadryl last night.
  • Dave Crossland
    Dave Crossland Posts: 1,430
    @James Puckett

    So, I have a question about this policy - the "@name" way of replying to people is broken when a space is used in their usernames, as this post demonstrates.

    Can this be solved?
  • Ramiro Espinoza
    Ramiro Espinoza Posts: 839
    I noticed yesterday the pictures of Ralf H. and Karsten L. have been replaced for images stating they have been banned from the forum. In fact, they left and I think it is rude to imply they have been expelled.
  • Jan Schmoeger
    Jan Schmoeger Posts: 280
    That's templates for you. It is what the software does, not the people running it, relax.
  • Joshua Lurie-Terrell
    Joshua Lurie-Terrell Posts: 6
    I think most of you know me as much as jlt as Joshua Lurie-Terrell, so hopefully my "alias" isn't confusing to anyone... Not that I do much more than lurk here anyway. :)
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    @jlt‌ Just go ahead and use your full name.
  • Joshua Lurie-Terrell
    Joshua Lurie-Terrell Posts: 6
    edited October 2014
    OK. Can you tell me how? When I try, it says that underscores and non-alphabetic characters are not allowed, but of course the hyphen is just as much part of my name as the letters. I will absolutely do as you request, I just was not able to just now when I tried. Maybe I need to use an ascii code or something? Let me know...
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    Well that is lame. I will ask them if they can enable hyphens.
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    I checked old emails and I mentioned the hyphen issue in October 2012 when Typedrawers first moved to real names. Not sure why they never fixed it.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    Unusable hypen in my name as well.

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