Real names vs pseudonyms
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Given that Sean has rebuilt this forum with the hopes of bringing back the sense of community that we had before, I’d like to encourage everyone to use their real name rather than a nickname. Just my $.02
(maybe there’s a way to do both?)
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Using real names can place certain people and their families in danger due to their career (police officers for example) with the current atmosphere. If someone wants to use their real name, that’s their choice. The number of police officers I have as friends on FB, none use their real names anymore. They all have changed their screen names on FB to fake names.
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I agree with Rob. Using real names should be a personal choice.
I also agree with JeffBob in that we should do all we can to foster a sense of fellowship and community.
no real value to this post except to add content for the google bots to find and make this site more visible… lol!
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I can see the value in using real names … part of the problem we faced with the previous iteration of this forum was that when people are granted anonymity, they tend to not hesitate to be assholes … after all, this isn’t real and nobody knows who they are.
However, the ability to use a moniker for your name is really nice … it does allow you to develop an online persona that is kind of your alter-ego. Now if people would just choose to use their powers for good - that would be great!
Honestly I think that if we would’ve taken a different approach to moderation in the previous board, this place might still be hopping. Really it’s a shame that the slew of d-bags that came onto the scene at the end really helped to chase away a lot of the long-time/original members. It went from a community of useful information and research about a topic everyone shared and loved, to people who didn’t even have motorcycles just starting flame wars for no other reason than to just be abject dicks.
Maybe with this new site, we can enact some better policies when it comes to who joins the population. Honestly I think people that don’t have motorcycles, don’t ride, and only care to comment on posts in the off-topic area don’t really belong here.
Thoughts?
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Our local newspaper implemented a new policy for using real names in the comment sections (along with having to pay to comment). Didn’t stop the nasty comments. Same with the local TV station websites. They started requiring facebook logins for the comments. Didn’t change a thing. Some people really just don’t care if you know who they are.
A different approach to moderation I don’t think would had mattered. Facebook did sign the “death warrant” on a bunch of forums, although Verticalscope did flatline a bunch after they bought them. Will forums come back? Possibly, but it would need facebook to go the way of myspace. And with the number of people I know deactivating their facebook accounts and how much facebook is ticking people off, I wouldn’t be surprised if facebook disappears in 5 yrs. Even then it doesn’t mean the resurrection of forums.
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2 years later and I see facebook dividing mostly based on politics. My Liberal friends are posting their news stories and my conservative friends are debating leaving facebook all together.
I think more people should find balance in the mix. Agree to disagree on things and just be nice. Posting divisive rhetoric only furthers each side’s agenda.
But anyways, After considering using real names vs made up forum names, I dont want to cease being Nicegy525. It is an online identify I have built over years of interacting with people all over the internet. Every online site that will allow it has me registered as Nicegy525.
I also think a community that meets regularly in person gets to know each other and we can call each other out when someone tries to be an online badass. I think thats one of the biggest things that made SB.WS special. We had regular meet ups for social and moto events. ride invitations that ended up being just 2 people all the way to massive 40+ group gatherings kept a strong sense of community.
Id like to be a part of building that again
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@Nicegy525 yeah - I think this is a key component here - regular in-person/real-life meetings. The reason people turn into douche-canoes on the iNtArWeBz is because of this overblown sense of anonymity; it affords them a false sense of protection - so they say things and act in ways they would never even entertain if they were hanging out with other people in person.
Back when this used to be an active and vibrant community - folks would meet regularly at Old Market Pub on a weekly basis and ride on weekends together. We all got along and had good times - nobody acted like a jerk…but that fell off, and the online agitators started to really join en masse and the place fell apart - the moderators couldn’t keep up - and when they tried, the screams of draconian enforcement echoed throughout the forums.
It would be nice if the core group of people could get back together and use this as a communication platform to once again shoot the shit about motorcycles and coordinate rides.
Man … I miss those days… Can’t believe it was 20 years ago now. Time flies…
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How dare you ruin my command of having the most recent post in every section! lol!
Winter was always a fun time watching those who couldnt ride/race in the dry season take to the keyboard and hash it out. The newbies would get sucked into the drama and get chewed up and spit out until they became seasoned vets and knew to just sit back and watch the fireworks. The truly special people knew when to fan the flames a bit and keep things exciting lol!
