Thanks, your e-mails give me encouragement. It's always great to receive a reply from other poor spellers, and I appreciate your interest in my thoughts about the question, “ why do we use aliases…. Well, here we go….

The nature of the subject matter on the TBD and TER boards might predispose people to inadvertently liable; consequently, they (aliases) are used to keep the user's name a step further away from the public eye. It's just another layer of the administrative "onion", if you will.

Also, I agree, that the TER staff could probably find out any users true identity, as could just about any LE agency, particularly in lieu of the Patriot Act. I believe, this knowledge--along with the implications it has on the first amendment-makes the users and staff particularly susceptible to legal action, per the recent, late, great, TBD legal debacle. The next time, the investigators and attorneys just might get it right! And, who knows who will be subpoenaed to testify?

Also, in the case of “Lady Sylvia” (formerly of Tucson and southern California) her fluency in spoken and written Arabic, her ties to several particular Arabs in Tucson, southern Cal. and elsewhere, her precarious social status as an escort, the timing of her travels to the Emirates, England and Switzerland, and the fact that several Muslim extremist trained in Arizona, lends credence to the notion that these boards are monitored by those other than the staff. What a bummer! But, then again, why should any of us have anything to worry about if we’re upfront, honest and sincere? Don’t be paranoid.  Just be cautious.

As always, I enjoyed your e-mail. It made me think. Please write or post, again. Thanks. [email protected]

I posted this on the National Board about a month ago, but..
I didn't have any aliases until recently, and once was talking with a hobbyist/friend and he explained why he had aliases and all the various ones he had. I was so intrigued with his reasons, and even the fact that he gave a few of them complete personalities! He said it really allowed him to have some creative freedom - including the freedom to be schizophrenic! LOL
It got me thinking..
How often do you see a post and simply click to read it, without noticing who posted it? Or, how often do you see who posted it (first) and THEN read it? How often might one pre-judge a post simply based on WHO posted it? I'm sure we all do all of the above..
I created a few aliases for these specific reasons: 1) I wanted the message read without FOCUS (or distraction) on who the messenger was; 2)I wanted to convey thoughts without them bearing GENDER, and 3) the message was regarding delicately 'hot' topics that didn't need certain eyes drawn to ME.
Now, none of these had any bad intent, or was 'hiding', but more akin to finding a secret admirer note in your locker - it's the message that mattered, not the messenger. (make sense?)
So, sometimes those are reasons why people write using an alias.

Also, there may be a question on the boards directed at either the ladies or the gents and the providers might feel that answering using their known handle would be career suicide, but that the answer was important enough for them to respond, and same for the guys. I don't find those posts to be cowardly (imo) but cautious, and even considerate.