If ET required you to use your real name, would you stick around?

[Nine_Ender]

Quote from Josef K:

My belief is that anonymity is a double-edged sword. It does enable some people to engage in abuse and act like lunatics, but it also allows other people to speak with a degree of candor that they would not feel comfortable with otherwise. Remember, the internet is accessible to just about everyone. It is the most public forum in the world. When you make a statement about yourself on ET, you're not just making that statement to the other members of ET, you're making that statement to the entire world. When you post something on the internet under your real name, you should not post it unless you are comfortable with everyone - including your family, your boss, your coworkers, the police - being able to read it and judge you by it. Anonymity allows people to discuss certain things such as their unpopular political opinions, their sex lives, their heroin addictions, that they would not wish to talk about otherwise. It enables free expression in the face of popular prejudice as much as it enables false bravado on the part of trolls.

But even with safe anonymity, there is no reason that the trolls have to stay with us. If they wished to, the ET mods could practically eliminate all trolls by engaging in consistent and firm moderation and enforcement of the board's rules. As far as I can see, the problem we have with trolls and harrassers is not the result of anonymous membership, but the result of the ET administrators not being proactive enough in removing these people from this site.

Some portion of site administration here believes "free speech" includes the right to express bigoted and sometimes racist thoughts. This runs counter to what is normally deemed acceptable in most mainstream western democracies.

It just seems like a giant game of chicken where some posters push their ideology to whatever extreme they can and feel very comfortable doing it here. They then attract a small club of like minded individuals who encourage each other in a kind of nirvana for bigoted people.

Its really not a healthy environment, I would never recommend this site to a friend because frankly its got too much racist content. I'm done with it, on principal I cannot support the site any longer. I won't be back this time.

 

[Tsing Tao]

Quote from Nine_Ender:

I'm done with it, on principal I cannot support the site any longer. I won't be back this time.

LOL!

Countdown commences to NE's return. I think the last time it was, what...2 days?

 

[Rationalize]

Quote from marketsurfer:

No psychos go after Tudor jones and the guy posts videos of his home every Christmas. 100's of celebrities don't have stalkers or threats. If you are worried, get a restraining order and pack heat. How about Facebook. Or linked in. All real names --- do folks target you on there, like in " the jerk"-- NO. If you want to play anonymous games with each other, do it someplace else. My vote is full transparency on this site. From 2002 to 2009-- elite was full of value. Now it's value proposition has vanished except for very few number of participants. I believe the majority of trouble here is first attracted here by the forex threads. But, be that as it may--- requiring real verified names will save this site from certain ruin. First step, however, is to eliminate retail forex threads and ban those who first were attracted here from that dubious world. Forex is like honey to the malcontents and troubled losers, and degenerate gamblers of the financial world. Surf

I think there's some relevance in banning spot forex discussions.

The barriers to entry are so low now that spot fx seems to attract any man on the street. And, the result is the average fx contributor is not adding much value to the board.

I could say the same about technical analysis, and paper trading accounts, but that might start a lot of arguments.

 

[marketsurfer]

Quote from Rationalize:

I think there's some relevance in banning spot forex discussions.

The barriers to entry are so low now that spot fx seems to attract any man on the street. And, the result is the average fx contributor is not adding much value to the board.

I could say the same about technical analysis, and paper trading accounts, but that might start a lot of arguments.

Thank you. It's not just Everyman--- who I welcome here --- it's the angry, degenerate , success hating assclowns that are attracted to the bucket shop advertising. They start with forex, get wiped out then turn angry n set out to destroy those they think are successful and make politico rants.

Nearly every troll on this site was attracted by forex. It's the nectar for the troll.

surf


I say sayonara to the folks who will only post under an alias.

 

[Rationalize]

Quote from marketsurfer:

Thank you. It's not just Everyman--- who I welcome here --- it's the angry, degenerate , success hating assclowns that are attracted to the bucket shop advertising. They start with forex, get wiped out then turn angry n set out to destroy those they think are successful and make politico rants.

Nearly every troll on this site was attracted by forex. It's the nectar for the troll.

surf


I say sayonara to the folks who will only post under an alias.

Imagine working customer service at a retail fx shop. wow. :eek:

 

[marketsurfer]

Quote from Rationalize:

Imagine working customer service at a retail fx shop. wow. :eek:

Brutal! But l'll bet they draw their employees from credit card collectors and payday loan pitchmen. Who else would do it?

 

[Clubber Lang]

I pity the fool who gets stalked by internet losers. Even though I use my real name on ET, I feel anonymous screen names are fine for this website.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Sincerely,

Clubber Lang (not an alias...seriously, my parents really liked Rocky III)

 

[Maverick74]

Quote from Pekelo:

I would stick around, but not with my real name.

Seriously, why anyone thinks that one can not sign in with an existing person's name what is still not his real name? I can use a relative's or a friend's
name and CC. My 90 years old grandma is itching to post on ET...

By the way in the previous thread I told Baron there could be an 80% drop if ET goes by full names and so far the vote is 12 to 4 against the idea which is 75% opposing it...

You would use a friend's credit card to create a phony account on an internet message board? What is wrong with you? This is exactly the kind of crap I'm trying to get away from. That is NOT what a professional does. Hence why I think there should be a "professional" version for people who choose NOT to act that way. You can keep posting under the regular ET with all the other trolls.

 

[Maverick74]

Quote from newwurldmn:

Real names are okay if there us a vetting process and the board isn't searchable through google.

I found the board through google and it would be scary to have real names pop up for all to see.

Real names might prevent some people from accessing the board - namely institutional guys who don't want their comments found by their employers. These guys tend to be the most insightful on the board.

Let me try this again. You can keep posting on ET just the way it is now. Nothing changes. Trolls and all. There would be another version, a professional version that you could "choose" to join if you want to. You don't have to. If some employee at JP Morgan wants to post under the old ET anonymously, fine, he can do that. But some of us want more. It comes down to a choice.

Yes, this professional community would be MUCH smaller. And that is the point. Who the hell needs 40k aliases on a message board. Look, it's the same reason a guy goes to his local bar, sits down at the end, orders himself a beer and has a conversation with the guy to his left that is there every night. It's something real. Something he may not get at home or at work. ET Professional would have much fewer members with much better content and probably much better networking.

And for those of you worried about Baron, he owns both sites. It doesn't cost him anything. In fact, I think he will be able to monetize the professional site in unique ways that this version of ET won't allow.

Honestly, I don't even know what the debate is about. Let Pekelo and all the other trolls using dead grandma's identity to sneak on a board and have fake conversations over here on ET Troll, and let the rest of us have a more professional board.

 

[gwb-trading]

Quote from Maverick74:

Let me try this again. You can keep posting on ET just the way it is now. Nothing changes. Trolls and all. There would be another version, a professional version that you could "choose" to join if you want to. You don't have to. If some employee at JP Morgan wants to post under the old ET anonymously, fine, he can do that. But some of us want more. It comes down to a choice.

Yes, this professional community would be MUCH smaller. And that is the point. Who the hell needs 40k aliases on a message board. Look, it's the same reason a guy goes to his local bar, sits down at the end, orders himself a beer and has a conversation with the guy to his left that is there every night. It's something real. Something he may not get at home or at work. ET Professional would have much fewer members with much better content and probably much better networking.

And for those of you worried about Baron, he owns both sites. It doesn't cost him anything. In fact, I think he will be able to monetize the professional site in unique ways that this version of ET won't allow.

Honestly, I don't even know what the debate is about. Let Pekelo and all the other trolls using dead grandma's identity to sneak on a board and have fake conversations over here on ET Troll, and let the rest of us have a more professional board.

I like this proposal. I added my thoughts about the Professional forum being low-cost pay forum earlier.

I have one additional thought... if a thread on the professional forum is particularlly educational then it may be possible to 'promote' the thread to a section of regular ET as read-only with the user names blanked out. This would allow publicly visible value to be added to ET at a moderators discretion without compromising the users names.