Certainly anyone who hides behind an alias should be outed moderated or whatever the big boys decide
But not all aliases are for evil purposes.  Many are used for emphasis or mark a thread, such as  Gallop Poll, ResearcherAZ or AzLawman.  Many are there to add humor such as stickykeyboard, microwilly, all the followme gang  and a great one meat thermometer
Absolutely if an alias is to hide an attack then lets get em!  But if it is to help guide folks    or just add a little humor so much better.  They do add some interest and show creativity.  And those that want to make a big deal check your agendas at the door and look at the truth instead of serving yourselves

i wont beat poor old trigger anymore hes looking pretty rough.
i will say yet again that the decision to allow an alias system was a poor choice by the team who designed TER's message board.

To get the obvious out of the way, if someone outright ATTACKS or FLAMES (not disagrees with or criticizes) another poster, then the mods should take over and do what they do best (which so far, IMHO, is a great job).  But absent that, why would it really matter one way or the other if an opinion is expressed by an alias or a username?  

A username has either reviews made (reviewer), or reviews received (provider), attached to it.  The PM doesn't really matter because you can block anyone from sending to you, or those without VIP won't get them anyway. When expressing an opinion under the username, your hobbying is automatically brought into the discussion forum, which can or cannot be a good thing; but it should be your choice and your choice alone.

In the current environment, it is more than reasonable to presume that those who demand to know who you "really" are only want to know so that they can either hold a grudge, take their hyper-sensitivity-defensiveness to another level, or otherwise discredit you as the poster rather than the words of your post.  It seems as though ANY slight hint of a criticism unleashes a shitstorm of innuendo, defensive "counter-attack", and drama from certain elements and their backers.  Its fitting that the most used defense of "you alias coward" has been used frequently by those who now have been exposed as alias users themselves. Karma.

If I, as a hobbyist, want to contribute to the board, but do not want to jeopardize my hobbying, doesn't it make sense to post under an alias?  Why wouldn't I.  I come here first and foremost to get laid.  These boards are a great tool, in addition to the reviews, in accomplishing my mission; and they can be fun for the discourse, but why take the chance that someone with a grudge about my OPINION will start shooting off PMs and emails to God knows who in an effort to get retribution for simply disagreeing or criticizing (not Flaming) them?

Now, heres the kicker.  I've read back through most of the posts for the past several months.  The atmosphere currently in place was, IMHO, directly caused by certain hobbyists who went way too far.  They, through their behavior, necessitated a concerted response from the stronger ladies in an effort to expose and eradicate some pretty egregious behavior in and outside the confines of TER.  Don't kick someone and complain when they kick back.  Unfortunately, it seems that the resulting environment has chilled some participation, but it seems as though it is already better than it has been, and hopefully will continue to improve.

The poster that seems to be one great example to emulate is The Sheika, who consistently posts information and very strong opinion without indulging or perpetuating personal attacks against those who may disagree with those opinions.  I don't know who this is, or frankly, since I'm relatively new to reading the board, what the persona is all about, but I'm impressed with The Sheika's ability to be a very strong presence without pushing others away.  The lack of defensiveness and concerted effort to concentrate on the words rather than the person seems to be the key in the impact of the Sheika's presence.

This is just my opinion, and it was not designed to be taken as an attack on anyone, but I'm afraid it will be.

-- Modified on 3/16/2008 7:55:15 AM

-- Modified on 3/16/2008 8:54:55 PM

Thank You
We all have had it kinda bad these days.

When it comes to flanes, insults and the like it is not good and some sould be outed/moderated or banned if real seroius.

However my jockey, followme,  thinks it can be fun at times.

Thank You
2008=27

BTW anyone need any glue ?

You're right...most of my uses of aliases are for one of three reasons:  1) Sometimes my identity would detract/distract from the point I'm trying to make, 2) An alias can give a post a little something extra (as mentioned by The Mayor, above), and 3) Sometimes an alias is the perfect way to respond to something provocative/rude someone said (such as the time I spoofed LookingCali and made him furious by making it look like he actually said something nice!)

Quite frankly, Dingus15 has a terrific policy about aliases:  If you abuse them, he'll edit your post and reveal your real username.  He has never felt that I've posted anything that crossed his line, even though he knows many details about me and my role/involvement in the community.  Although I have posted some things that I would rather remain unrevealed, I can still say that if TER turned off all aliases and revealed all prior alias posters' identities, there is nothing of which I would be ashamed or embarrassed.

How many other folks who use aliases can say the same thing?

Yippeee!!

don't use aliases to slam other ladies
I posted this.....which really never got any responses....

coming to the conclusions you were told to come to..

you came to some conclusions based upon actions and information that you saw for yourself.

maybe this new and exciting trend will catch on.

i'd be embarrassed but i'd get over it.

nothing i'd be ashamed of. might reveal a few psychological issues but whats a few more ?

nothing that would justify an attack on my character or cause anyone to question my motivations or my integrity.

if everyone else agrees to it, i'm in. i just think it should be all of us.  

actually i think i'd be most embarrassed about one i wrote in admiration of a guy. i used an alias because i thought he would get more enjoyment from it if he could wonder if it was written by whoever he wanted it to be..

but majority of them are probably mocking in nature, just normal me being smart ass trying to balance out a dumb ass.

but sometimes tools arent used for the purpose they were designed.

we do need the alias.
it will protect someone from harm if they need to speak out against someone who is dangerous.

not all of us have mighty balls of steel but that doesnt mean that we should have to cower silently in fear while watching someone we know to be dangerous running loose.

its very rarely used for this purpose and i want to believe that is because thankfully, it hasnt been needed for that.

but it does get abused and perhaps the moderator should begin flipping the alias when we do.
or maybe we could disable the feature and make it necessary to get approval from the mod in order to enable it.

but seems like both ways would unfortunately cause more work for the mods.

ive never seen anything but support for the lady in question when a client was outed or for that matter when a lady was outed for whatever.

the few times ive seen an alias used in these situations was to pussy around the problem in the first place.

take that nastyness with XXXX stalking XXXXX a bfew months ago all those aliases saying "lah blah" is a problem with no one naming anyone. i made a call found out who was who and named names. i cant see how the ability to alias did anything but make the whole mess even messier and more hurtful.

(i havent seen the protagionist advertise in weeks and im not sure if the victim is still around either if you really want to know datamining is your friend)

i mercilessly destroy all those who oppose me.

run, hide from my evilness


i find the best place to store data is in my muffy and we love making friends with miners.

-- Modified on 3/17/2008 11:09:24 PM

is his mighty tongue. it brings all the feral kitties to bay (they end up purring even)