Anonymous OPs (Original Posters)

Surely this would be getting too obtrusive?
You'll be demanding my shoe size and underwear colour next (8½ white).
Anonymity allows us to ask questions outside our field of expertise without embarassment.
I thought a 'slug catcher' was a hedgehog or some other critter until I joined this site.
Del

Possibly, but what is the embarrassment of asking outside of one's expertise? I think CR4 is already acceptive of this, and that most responders will gladly take that into account. There is more of a problem when posters appear to have no expertise at all, not even enough to compose an intelligible question.

For instance, I have a few expertises and many inexpertises. Real experts nail me on these from time to time, for which I must savor the taste of crow, but I don't hide behind anonymity for this reason. (Sometimes I post anon for the other reasons.)

I understand your desire but I think that you've contradicted yourself. You agree that there are times that one has valid reasons to post anonymously but you wish to limit anonymous original posts. You cannot have both. You forget that the naivete of the question that annoys you can be the very reason a member would want to post anonymously. We've all had bad days where you cannot remember a fundamental concept in your field of expertise.

What might be preferred is the ability for members to filter anonymous posts from viewing. But I'm not sure the blog program is capable of this feature.

I'm trying to explore this issue rather than dogmatize on it. I don't think that most CR4 members have a problem with responding to out-of-expertise posts (I am perhaps even more receptive to "homework" than many, education being worthwhile). But even allowing for that, there are still many unmeritorious questions (over unity, etc.) that cruise under the veil of anonymity. I don't know that there is any easy answer to this, which motivates this exploration.

Ok, I admit I fool about a bit under the AP 'facility' - but also I find it a bit of a game to figure out who is posting AP.

On the "is it a big deal" question - another facet is the tendency of members to 'decide' on the smarts of basis of the 'recognized avatar'. Some make comments such as 'you have a history of (insert adjective) questions'. Meaning anyone 'new' / 'learning' / broadening their interests, and wanting to post, may be hesitant to have a track record that leads to the same type of comments.

There is a fair bit of 'dismissive' prejudice, and 'blind acceptance' associated with avatars. E.g. some 'high profiles' making out of field erroneous comments, often remain 'unchallenged'.

So always having to be avatar-ed will restrict posting and discussing 'outside of 100% expert'. We touched on this 'staying inside your pet box' in the 'GA ratio' thread recently.

Fact is, we want the questions, perhaps equally as challenge and entertainment.

Restrict who can ask what, and a very boring [and intimidating] site is the logical outcome.

2¢

_{& I doubt you will have any difficulty knowing who this AP is}

i have been meaning to do this very post. You did it !

Some small variation. Perhaps being retired, i see no reason for posting anonymously. If i want to ask what i feel maybe a stupid question, i say so up front. It is actually disarming, don't you think? So, i see only two reasons : 1. Laziness in logging in. My answer : Use Mozilla, it remembers my id and pw and logs me in. and 2A. Cowardice and 2B. Spite+cowardice (usually go together)..... So i see no need for anyone to remain anonymous.

So, the first step by Admin has been good. Just a wee bit not good enough.

Next step ...i endorse Tornado's suggestion...while one can post a reply anonymously, they cannot start a thread. Sounds reasonable to me.

What about all the people cruising the net looking for an answer that just stumble onto CR4 like I did so long ago. I think they should be able to ask what they wish to this strange new forum, and maybe, just maybe we'll get another good contributor out of it.

If you make it hard to post your question as a non-regular, I think you will find fewer and fewer contributors and new people as time passes.

Lets keep it as open, helpful, and friendly as possible to keep things flowing. It's those pesky "new and unknown" people that can bring fresh ideas and questions to the site.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm here because interesting, strange, thought provoking things are brought to the table from time to time. Lets keep em coming!

Cheers!

The confidential/workplace issues which you cited as a valid reason to post anon, apply just as much to an OP as they do to a response - maybe more.

Yes, an anonymous post allows us to ask questions inside our field of expertise without the risk of what might appear to be a loss of confidentiality (real or not).

I have looked at postings from other people in town and figured out quite a bit about what they were doing.

Trust me, I have asked many questions outside my field of expertise and been so grateful for answers that I never worried about embarrassment.

GA

How utterly weak!

If you are not of a strong enough character to be able to ask a question about something inside (or outside) of your field/area of expertise AND to use your own moniker, what sort of weak wimp are you?

What did you do with your backbone? Find it, dust it off and re-install immediately!

I only post anonymously when such stupid statements as yours need some sort of an answer!!!

And I can't stand the resulting Bleating if I post with my Moniker, it never ends..

As far as I am concerned I will ask any and as many stupid questions I want and I will always put my name behind them being that I for one know that I do not know every thing and therefore my ego and pride have no choice but to accept that some days someone is still smarter than me.

As far a s the animosity excuse by reason of liability thats about as dumb as it gets. The internet is a public place much like a public bathroom toilet tall which means that most idiots know that what advice you get from there can and at times will be bad which ultimately puts the full responsibility for having taken and applied said bad advice solidly on the persons who took it and did it not the person who scribbled/posted it there.

With that I say, I am tcmtech and I suggest that anyone who has not tried this or thought about it should take a piece of fine wire about one and a half times the hight of the nearest power line and tie one end around their neck and the other end around a rock that is just big enough to toss over the power line.

Its posted on the internet and is followed by a grinning smiley face, a cool face, and a money face so well... have fun and don't worry, you will be fine!

GA

Although this may sound out of character for me, we all still have the option of just ignoring posts from Anonymous OPs.

That's what I do with the overunity stuff. It was fun bating the hobbits for a while, but then repetition made it boring and irritating, so I wandered off to another part of the CR4wlSpace and had fun there.

I wonder if it would be possible to get a dedicated ignore AP function added to the system. That is if I chose the option in my settings I would never even see what an AP had to say!

Also as a secondary function that works with the ignore AP's function anyone who does post anonymously would automatically get a tally pop up noting how may people are ignoring AP's just as a reminder to them as to how many don't care to here what they have to say if they cant put a name behind it!

Why bother posting anonymously if the system tells you right off that 100+ other members will never read your post. If your ego cant handle the thought of being wrong then knowing you are being ignored certainly cant make it feel any better.

Amen.

Bioramani

I don't accept the premise that the atmosphere is improved

members & AP's have filled the void left by the unregistered guests

much like the new team moderation scheme, Is it for the better?

It would be disingenuous to continue to allow the employee bloggers to post unsigned work & prohibit the rank & file....

there is a unique combination of things that make this place what it is...,

Agreed 100%.

I personally find the recent changes on CR4 to be a positive step. Also the minor changes to the appearance are also good.

I also feel that anyone who wants to ask a question should be registered with CR4 and cannot pose/post a question anonymously. Though answers may be posted anonymously if needed....by a registered user.

Thats my take.

I post anonymously because even I don't know who I am!

Cerealsly... it's an ingrained habit.

On an analytical note... I'd ask the naysayers -- those who don't like APs to start threads -- to gather some statistics (Oh, my... we know what a tool statistics can be).

For a week or so, count the number of threads/questions by AP's. Then ask the mods to give a total of threads for that week. Calculate the number of annoying ones as a percentage of total threads. Then post the results, in a thread, showing what percentage annoys each person who doesn't like the posts. (Ex. - A-5%, B-7%, etc., where each letter represents a registered user name.) That way we can find out if there is any bias by any particular personality of the group who doesn't like AP threads. (Tornado might be high or low. But we can only know if we do this kind of research.) If the percentages come up pretty equal, then it is more likely that, in general, most members would have a similar reaction to any given AP thread. It would also give us insight into the size of the problem. Do we want perfection?

And short of doing this kind of analysis, at least go through the last week's threads and cite all the ones you (each naysayer) would put in this category, come back and post their links here, so other posters can look at them and see if they agree.

Otherwise, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.