What Do Anonymous Posts Add to the Forum???

What's even worse is when we try to help out and answer one of these ridiculous questions and never to hear from OP again.

Been here done this and preaching to the quire.

Petition to remove anonymous poster function.

Ask and ye shal be ignored.

As I understand it I am not the only one who has asked for and about such things.

Some people aren't willing to make the leap to putting their arrogance and bitterness on public display.

You and I are in small group of "special" people.

Edit: Didn't see your post tcm....you're in the club too.

Yes, we could be the three Musketeers of CR4. The jury's still out on JPool.

And it's choir, and I know this has been discussed before. But garbage in, etc. etc.

You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, and most AP posts are rubbish.

Maybe we could lobby for no original posts/lame questions from AP's but AP's could respond to legitimate questions? That way regulars can still play games with each other.

AP posts don't matter.

CR4 is comprised of a group of serious, mature engineers, that are experts in their respective fields....and everything else. The cream of the crop.

I'll have to think about that.

Don't hurt yourself.

Don't worry.

Sanctimonious curmudgeons, what difference does it make who poses the question, have you ever stopped to think that the readers may gain some insight from the answers?

Oh, c'mon, Lyn. What would a curmudgeon like you do without something or someone to complain about?

The way I see it, all those anonymous posters get the brunt of your grumpiness that would otherwise be directed at members like me. They're cannon fodder. They're taking a bullet that might have had my name on it.

The anonymous posts are often a bit inane, but IMHO they help to stop CR4 from becoming an old boy's club for engineers which would be very boring.

I also think that there are far worse things posted here by newly-registered idiots.

I am thinking here of posts that scream out that the poster is in waaaay over their head in a job that involves potentially-lethal technology. The guy who wanted to know why he was measuring 500V on the output of an MV motor drive in the off state with his fluke multimeter springs to mind as a particularly outstanding example.

Nearly as bad are the various over-unity nuts that take a thread of 100+ posts before they stomp off in a huff because the nasty engineers at CR4 won't believe them.

All of the above, however, contributes hugely to the entertainment value of CR4, and I for one wouldn't want to lose that. Better by far to by-pass the inanity without comment and save your efforts for those posts that are worthy of your wisdom.

Cheers,

Paulus

it's too minor of an annoyance to get me uptight. but for the most part I agree.

They add sillliness and humor. Thank goodness for small (very small) blessings....

Anything that gets Lyn upset and bothered, is a benefit to the forum.

Hey now you may just start getting me to thinking I am beenificial here.

Granted I got Solareagle to grow a tree then prune it to look like it's giving me the finger but hey I do what I can for whomever I can. Even if it means using hillbilly grammer to do it!

Sure!!! That takes the heat off you.

In general, I don't care about APs. The only time it bugs me, is when a heated debate gets going, and an AP wants to take part in the argument. To me, that's chickensh$t.

Why not just ignore inane posts regardless of author. Unless of course the topic involves transportation of nitric acid or its equivalent

Can we distinguish between posting a question and posting an answer?

I think questions should always be assigned to a name. Only when some specialist in his field can or does not want to expose himself, he or she can post an answer anonym. If in doubt take it fully away and see how much change it makes!

But I'd vote first for taking the abilty away to post a questions anonym !

I've been thinking about this for a few days, and I have some observations to share with you.

I believe (in general) that posting anonymously doesn't smack of the spirit of the CR4 community. Several members (anonymously) have given a laundry list of reasons for doing so, but I don't agree with any arguments I have heard.

However, anonymous posting is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent, as well as a shield against the tyranny of the majority. Jeez, ya gotta love that... US Supreme Court gibberish I borrowed from here.

The Wiki article is a good read on this subject... there are, I now understand, some legal ramifications to allowing or disallowing APs in an online community. Like so many things, there seems to be some fuzzy legal lines that define the boundaries.

Interesting. But, my position remains unchanged.

Cheers.

Can we get rid of whiners too?

Batman, Superman, Zorro, never disclose their own identity and yet are heros. How many false identities and false information are here??