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Originally Posted by €uroMeinke
I'm happy when people can speak with candor here, but on the flip side I want to make sure we respect people's privacy - while I like the closeness of our community, it still is a public forum and accessible to anyone who's willing to do a google search.
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And so, frankly, it doesn't help to disregard the (weak) anonymity of screen names. It's not a giant deal, but constantly referring to people by their real names is, while not a taboo, sort of poor internet manners.
I just made the same minor faux pas in a post above - and in a tight community like this, I don't really think it's that big a deal. But still.
I also sometimes post in a much smaller, also very tight internet community message board ... one where real names are used pretty much exclusively. It's kinda nice that way, very friendly-seeming ... the acknowlegment that we are all pals in real life.
BUT ... I once posted something there that got me in big trouble. My first name and rather iconic last name were all over that site, and my name then got published in newspapers with my troublesome internet quotes, and I started getting flak for it in the real world. Not Good.
So perhaps in threads about addicts, or just generally as custom here, we can try to stick primarily to using screen names, huh? If you want to choose to use your real name for your screen name, that's your perrogative, but I think it's best to respect the wishes of others to maintain their minor anonymity.
(When I cross-posted an el jay entry recently, I went thru the trouble of changing everyone's real names to their LoT screen names. It was a silly exercise, but I was observing LoT custom nonetheless.)