Real names on the forum?
 

This was an idea proposed by Brian McIlmoyle recently, although several people have suggested it over the years - I'm interested to get some feedback from everyone:

How would you like to see real names used instead of anonymous aliases on this forum? Personally, while I enjoy using my user tag, it makes alot of sense to me to use my real name instead - after all, we have to do deals and go to games where real names are much more practical than just call signs. Plus I'm tired of people calling me John (Hojo is fine though, although I prefer Miles).

The anonymity thing is a two-way street though. I'm not sure if people would like to have their real name posted on this site, although at the same time the anonymous nature of forums encourage stupid posts and flamers, who would be less likely to do what they do if they couldn't hide behind an anonymous username.

I see a few possible ways of doing this: Either full names used as your username, or a callsign followed by your name underneath, or your full name required to signup, but only visible in your profile. There are other options, of course - if you have another idea, suggest it.

Well, personally.. I always though our call signs are nick names that people gave each other like how I got mine.. and I call Stalker, Stalker out in public.. But I am weird.

Also, my first name is Robert.. I'm sure theres ALOT of Roberts on this forum..

Cripes I wasn't even done posting the poll by the time you got a reply in. So, you could keep your callsign, say, but also post your real name? We'd use both on the forum, for instance.

Running meet and greets it's really weird to say "here's Killer Scorpion his real name is Cris." I would be for it. Helps get rid of the people who act differently online then in person too. Less jerks.

I think it's a good idea to keep the callsign but add the real name just below it. We call other people with their callsign in game but outside the field , it would be great to know the real name and get more personnal with the persone you're talking with

I think it is a terrible idea Miles. Reason? I don't want some perfect stranger using my first/last name to get my address and break into my home to get guns. I give my address out to people whom I do business with, but other than that, perfect strangers have no need for personal information.

PS - Yes I'm aware details can be easy to dig up, but I don't want it readily available all the same.

I have a unique asian name, and I've yet to bump into another asian with a similar name. Yan H Chan haha. I do want people using their real names.

Then maybe just putting "Alex K." would suffice? That would keep it private, but at least give people a real name to put on you when necessary (at the field, for a transaction).

Would it be possible to impliment a buddy system? So instead of everyone being able to see your name you can select who you want to be privy to that information. That makes the most sense to me.

I think it's a good idea to put your real FIRSTname in your profile or below your nickname. But just the firstname to avoid stuff like Freedom Fighter said.

But i get used to my nickname so i dont bother being called a name i can reconise in all the action on the field.


Jixton (Marc)

FF has an intresting point it could be used to look up your name address and such, but chances are the people you play with would be able to get that info anyhow. I think being able to be called out on all the tough guy shit that goes on when you can hide your identity would quickly come to an end for the most part especialy after some one shows at thier door to "continue" the conversation outside... I guess it makes people accountable for the way they act online.

Well, it may be too late for me, so I don't personally care too much. Some people may have a big issue with it though. I had something to suggest but Phoenix just got bit by our hampster Cornelius so I'm a little distracted at the moment. When, or if I remember my great idea I'll let you know.

PS - Would we then not have to verify the real names? Such as with age.

I think it'd be fine with in the profile the first name be listed if they so choose that option.

So if people want to know thier name, they can check the profile, and only will they see it if the person so chooses.

Meh I don't care too much, hello, my names Chad :O

I'd be more worried about people who I don't play with, people aren't exactly shy about the content of their arsenal here on ASC, real steel or otherwise. If anyone with an account here can get your real name and perform a physical address lookup, then who's to say thieves won't ever use ASC like a shopping list? The only thing deterring such an abuse would be how gun owners here repeatedly declare their willingness to shoot intruders. ;)

I think we as a community need to have a serious self-evaluation if we need to deter tough guy shitism via the possibility of someone you've talked smack to online visiting your home...

I like Hyperions idea, put the name under the callsign, plus I don't know about adding my full name, maybe just my first name.

Also if you do implement this, that means we can finally find out just exactly how many "seans" there are on ASC.

Yeah , I think it'd be a great idea. Admins , what do you think about it ?

Well, it's poll option #2, actually.

That calculation could break my computer.

I like the idea of First name with Last Initial.

I think that should be made a seperate option for the poll, just to be clear for voting purposes. I think having people's last names available for public knowledge might open up somewhat of a can of worms, but initial I think is good enough.

I like the idea. I would only want to put up my first name though. Maybe last initial like other people have mentioned.

One right here, lol.

it should be kept private, but should be required to register...Only avaliable to see by age verifies, mods and admins. Could help resolve issues and track people who use several accounts(scammers, assholes, banned people, etc). No user could access the real name unless and incident occured and then an admin could release the real name if they saw fit.

+1 having first name and last initial under current handle

i think when you get age verified, your name and particulars should be recorded. so when people check out your profile, they can see you real name and province at least, then that way a person could calculate shipping charges themselves. and also if a deal goes awry, someone has the contact info ect so you can do something about it, rather than making a thread "got screwed by xxxxxxx"

I like the idea of first name and last initial.
That way you have SOME info to go on. I know the names of about 50 people who frequent asc just from deals and meeting at games and so on. Know the first name of everyone would be pretty neat.

Especially easy when your one of 2 people with that last name in Canada. Got a call asking for a doctor with the same last name so I was like "WTF? uhh sure" and gave them my dad who they thaught was that doctor.... they laughed when they found out its the wrong guy.

Agree, First name, and last initial

Real names are recorded and stored when age verified, but are not publicly available.

I say go for first name and last initial.

But....Deftonius IS my real name.

...I'm....Polish?

So ... what happens when your ASC name is your real name? Do we get to create other 'fake' real names? If so I want to be Todd.

Meh, I prefer people not knowing exactly who the fuck I am. 'Chris' and 'Poz' are quite good enough for me, thank you very much.

Although if someone does a Google cross-reference search, it'll turn up my full name in a heartbeat.

I'm not comfortable giving out my personal info except to those I do business with. I certainly don't think this should be mandatory at all. If it goes that way, my name is John Doe. Or Joe Smith. Take your pick.

i'm more leaning toward aqua and gryphon on this if we do have to go real name some where i would hide mine from the publie of the use of john doe and joe smith or something along those lines would be used the only time my info should be put out is between another member during a deal.

I think we should leave the names to verified members only and be disclosed in trade/buy & sell purposes on the forum. Even with that first name and initial sounds good to me. I personally do not like people parading my name around openly as to me it's quite an intrusion of privacy. It's actually quite creepy. I like the alias's and avatars, it gets to the point where I refer people to it rofl XD

Haha yeah go Polaks! I also use my real name although I converted the Polish spelling with K to a C...but I do like my initials beeing after a cheesy noodle food

KD :salute:

I get dibs on James Bond! :D

Okay, I lied. I'm actually Dirka Dirkastani.

I am afraid that I have to agree with not giving out that info.

I do not believe that having real names posted on the WEB for just anyone to see is a good idea at all, and I would be against the idea.

For deals / transactions I give out my first name all the time, and quite frankly they get my bank account / address if they deal with me anyway so people do have recourse if a deal goes sour.

I would not want my full name posted under any circumstances. First name with last initial for transactions MAYBE.

But again I don't think that it should be mandatory.

Just my two cents.

Miles I would think this would be best as an option. Although the manditory display of names may promote the perception of more accountibility, scammers will, in the end, always scam.

Why not just put the name everyone calls you by?

You really can't get much info outta one name. Mike, Bob, Frank, Fuzzy...

Now, all communication is a lot less awkward cause you know the actual name of the person your talking too.

ha already light years ahead of you!
my last name IS my call sign (has been for the last 21 years, damn having 3 other Greg's in you class growing up sucks)
though having first name under the call sign does sound like a good idea like grim stated, because really, I hate using nicknames. I'd much rather use first names.
Greg

I just voted, but now to think of it; if the moderators/admins want my real name, they can get it IF it stays locked for their use only.

But to post any specific details about myself for all of Canada (and elsewhere) to see by force is an invasion of privacy.
I trust the Admins here, but I sure as hell dont give that trust to everyone who reads these forums.

At meetings, the solution is simple; "Hi, my name is xxxxxxx, also known as Greylocks."
There you go.

^^^ agreed. I think the admins should have the info, but it's not public info unless you want to share it. Don't most people in a sale give out their real name at some point for shipping etc? We use the trader rating to help sales. Besides, who will police whether people are posting their realnames?

Yup people who I have done business with know my real name, but I personally do not want everyone to have my name known. Especiall since I'm a Mod now, and I'm sure the other mods/admins and age verifiers can think the same thing, because if our names are public knowledge whats to stop some 12 year old kid who is getting flames and banned from the site from looking up our home phone numbers on 411.ca or in the phone book and bugging us at home....

But having a list of real names from the age verifications we have done, which is kept by the admins and secure in the event of a scammer is good. And we've seen its benefits already this year.

My name is already freely posted ont he forums along with many of the other age verifiers. If given ten seconds they could add me to msn and bam there it is again. I have no problem with giving my phone number and stuff. Jokes on them if they want to break into my house i dotn even have my guns there anymore. They can call all they want im not even home 90% of the time. I give ym phone number cell and home freely to those whom i verify along with my home adress. Our player base is far smaller in the maritimes though.

I give my first name out to anyone I PM. I think it's the only polite thing to do. I definitely think it should be an option for users to display their first and/or last names for other to see, but this can easily be accomplished by adding it your signature. I do not think it's right to force people to display their real names. So again, if this is optional no one can complain.

Personally, I don't mind displaying my name for people to see.

I already sign my first name (Nic) to about 1/2 my posts here, so I fully support the real names under the callsigns thing. I also agree that it should be kept to first names, and user-selectable, as in, you're choice to put it there or not.

Also, if a mod/admin feels the need, they can replace that tag with the one that the person has rightly deserved.

Don't forget fun things like applying for a job and your new potential company/client googles your name. Nothing like being cross referenced to tons of threads about shooting people.

What we do here and what we do in the sport is neither illegal, nor is it morally reprehensible.

If people discriminate because of your hobbies then you bring it up with them, because it is unfair.

If people want to associate Philippe Enguehard with Airsoft, then I say go fo it, because this isn't an underground movement and I'm not ashamed of being a player, not would I keep it secret from anyone.

Sorry guys, I dont walk around town with a name tag on (ok, maby at games, but even that is a call sign or last name on a pack). Maby Im just old school, but if I want somebody knowing my name I'll introduce myself...

I voted dead against, and the reason why is because these forums are available for browsing to the public AND also spidered/archived various bots (Googling for "Drake airsoft" goes straight to my ASC profile on the first hit.) I have an uncommon last name, and I do have potential/clients looking up my name for work, etc., and this is not something I suddenly want to have to explain to a client (and potentially something that could cost me work).

And FF brought up a valid point, too.

Plus there's nothing stopping someone from registering with a fake name, and then posting something stupid. It's not the age-verified people making the stupid posts.

Plus wouldn't be legalities about that for the under 18 people?

I think it would be fine if it's optional and displayed in profiles only. If you just put your first name, there shouldn't be any way for someone to track you...unless you have an insanely unique name and live in a small town or something.

Well, I only ever grew up being called stupid, so I guess it doesn't matter much to me.

Sounds like a shit load of more fucking red tape. What do you want next our DNA. How about I shit in a bucket and send it to you. Then you can make a clone.

Yes I am sounding bad right now because this is sounding more and more like the fucking politics of today and airsoft has enough politics as it is.

I got dibs on either "Jean Guy Rubber Butt" or "Hu Flung Poo". :salute:

Look it, there shouldn't be an issue of wether or not people should have to or not use their real name publicly on ASC. There is the option right now for people to have it there or not and thats a good thing. Why? Because there is this nifty little site called canada411.com where you could get phone numbers and all that off of names and general location. Why's that a bad thing? Say you have a feild and a bunch of noob underaged kids start calling you at outrageous hours in the night because they don't understand time zones for instance, is that point across already?

Another thing is that, with the issue on sales, people need to start to learn to remove themselves from world of Airsoft when entering the world of marketing. When your in the professional world of marketing where you buy, sell or trade items of value, one should use a more apporpriate professional name for this. So if you into a deal that is going through there is no harm in saying "Ma name is Bubba and you can get a hold of me here! or there or where ever the fuck I happen to let you know..."...


If people want to put their names under their callsign, cool. Personally I think of that CIA black list that matches up codenames to real names and how HIGHLY top secret that shits supposed to be? Well, what happens when we start waving our lil "top secret" black list around? ((If no one picks up on the sarcasm here... go to hell))

not a problem for people like me who have an unlisted or cell phone number.

I don't want to make my name public.
I'll give my name to those I do business with and thats it.

I like the idea, but dislike it at the same time.

In a way ya it brings us all "closer together" if you will, tho I honestly feel, unless your a local player I associate with or I'm doing buy/sell/ect with you, you have no need to know whom I am, nor do I need to know who are you.

I'm sure there's a fair handful of people on here that share my view.

I think at the very most it should be first name, last initial under your S/N, or just your first name or something, but nothing more than that, there's no reason for people on here to know my first and last name. And as some people have already mentioned, I always sign my PMs with my first name anyway.

It's a good theory, but I don't think it should, or would fly. Besides, with a community this big, there're lots of repeats of names (like the Sean calculation), so having names on here would be a bit of an issue.

Besides, half the fun of this whole thing is having a 'callsign' and being some weekend warrior.... Like someone else mentioned, scammers will still scam, so I don't think it'll get rid of that either.

It's a tough call...
 

But here is my perception.

I have belonged to other forums where Alias and Nicks are used... and it had a lot of the characteristics of this forum at times.. Flaming, insulting. bad deals... all of it..

Then it went to a real names only policy.. not all of the BS stopped but about 80% did. people were much more respectful, the mean age of forum members bounced up about a decade and the community matured into something much more productive. Instead of flame wars there was intelligent discourse.

Maybe because of the sensitive nature of this, we can meet somewhere in the middle.

I think a fully populated profile should be required. Fully Populated means.

Age, City, First name and last initial. What could possibly be the harm in providing this information?
Also being found with bogus information in your profile should be an instant Ban.

You can't have a community without some trust, and for many people who come here to be jerks... the hide behind their "callsigns" and sling rubbish.

if they had to stand in the public square and sling the same bs... they just may not bother to come in at all, which would be better for all of us.

No, I don't want your DNA, Bozo. But I'm not the one pushing for real names, either.

And feel free to keep your scat fetishes to yourself. :tup:

the system we have has worked for this long. status quo i say. :cheers:

My Real Name for everyone HELL NO, for the reasons FF stated at the top and a few others.

Real name hidden with access only for age verifiers, mods and admins, yes that is fine.

no thanks.

and why is it always "a community" thing. besides online banter and comments, none of you know me outside of nova scotia and new brunswick. if you don't know me, why should you have my name?

i don't walk around school or work with my name and age printed on a t-shirt.

+1
callsign &
first name and last initial

Brian I'm all for banning people but so many ASC'ers don't even attend games. It'd be damn near impossible to find out who has bogus info and the amount of work it would be to keep track ... well, I don't want to touch that one.

It solves nothing in the end. The people who attend games, whom people know, are not usually the same ones who rip off others (okay, there are a couple exceptions that come to mind). More often then not, it's some mysterious new user to ASC that becomes a problem ... Remember gamer123? He could have listed my name as his, used my age and claimed to work my job and who would be able to verify it? No one.

This whole thing would just give people a false sense of security. The only real protection against fraud is to only deal with those who are established within the community.

Which is ironic because I don't think Alex gets passed the "vague thoughts in my head" stage that often. Eyyyooooooo.


I think we've gotten all the responses we need.

I think we'll add names under the callsign, just for convenience... people can put what they like for first name and last, or nothing at all (in fact, I'd probably remove any stupid names and keep it as a legitimate tool, not just another usertag). This site is too large and public to initiate any kind of required real name useage. One more feature to add to my to-do list...

Miles, next time I'm at your home your getting such an ass kicking.

I'm worried about a child molester geting some name's of under age people. Or a rapeist. It's not a good idea.

If you won't to use your name do it. You don't? Well good for you.

A good place to start, optional.. but easy to do.

I get some of the reluctance.. and it may be well placed.

I clearly don't have any issues with hanging my name out there... I figure if I am going to say something.. express an opinion the least I can do is back it up with an identity. Otherwise... opinions stated from behind a facade are easily disregarded.

I can understand completely why people don't want to give out their full names and I agree with that. But how is it possible for someone to track you down and/or steal your identity etc. with just a simple first name? Or even a first name and last initial? Especially if you have a very common name. Feel free to enlighten me if I'm wrong.

In ideal circumstances, I wouldn't either. Unfortunately we live in a society where guns, their use, and anything resembling or associated with them, carries with it a huge social stigma. A lot of people I work for are very left wing, including a local college; I could easily see THEM making a big issue out of it ("OMFG POLYTECHNIQUE!"). I pay plenty for my airsoft and my gear and everything else, I don't need dealing with that kinda shit.

Unfortunately, "expressing your opinion" in this country seems to often mean "you better be expressing the mainstream opinion, or brace for some major backlash."

And if that's gonna be putting my livelyhood on the line? Then yeah, I'm against it.



First name is fine. I have it listed in the Quebec players list. But first name and initial and city... that starts narrowing it down a bit too much for my liking.

And I'll reiterate that the bulk of my gripe isn't shielding my identity from fellow airsofters; it stems from "guests" having access to it, complete unknowns, reporters (we've had a couple), and all my posts + name being catalogued on Google and probably other search engines, and who knows what other spiders/bots/etc (Cyveillance comes to mind). That's more troubling, to me. (and I'll add that I do know, with a good degree of accuracy, who's browsing ASC -- in terms of hits from domains)

Point in case, if the info was limited to say Age Verified members (staff aside) and completely inaccessible to guests, bots, etc., my feelings on the matter would be different -- but I'm still not sure I'd want forced full name disclosure.

I suppose it all depends on where you live and what kind of name you have. I wonder just how many people there are living in Toronto with the name Scott B (For example). But I see your point, It is kinda pushing it.

Real Names Posted on the Forums
 

Well....I post my real name. I'm not too afriad of anything weird happening because someone knows my name. NOT posting your name however gives you some advantages....

Like if you're a 14 year-old little punk loser that likes to start online 'fights', then no one can find you and beat the crap out of you.

Also, if you're wife/girlfriend/significant other would cut of your balls because of the amount of time you spend on ASC, OR if (God forbid) you get recognized by your name outside in the real world, it might hurt.

It certainly should not be manditory, but it's a good option.

Like computer gaming though I think that having a screen/game name gives you a certain sense of character within the world of airsofting. For example, where I get my surplus are pictures of Team Wolfpack, and there are names on the bottom, Morbius, Claymore, etc. It's not pictures of 'John Smith' (Not a real name), it's kind of cooler you know?

As far as using real names as a path against flaming/insulting, what's to stop me from using some other guys name when I sign up? It should be the admins and the rest of the forums users who stop people from being total dicks.

HOWEVER, and I stress this (As I am a often a dick), sometimes people NEED to be flamed or insulted to reduce stress on others. I.E. Someone says or does something rediculous (Titz_Willikers), and they need a beating. You 'can't' beat them due to 'the law', and now your only recourse is to shut them up online.

That's just my opinion.

Keep in mind the Privacy Laws of this country, too. What everyone does with their private information and ID is their legal choice unless required by some form of law enforcement.

This is a forum, like it or not you cant enforce any part of asking for real ID or even first names. You can only ask.
If folks want to post their real name, fine, it's their right. But if they dont want to, it's also their right. Making this a requirement would be a huge can of worms.

Don't want to start a beef with Ottawa.

Dullege, that is what he said, its a matter of choice. By law I have the right to not post my name and by law I have the right to grant Hojo's request of my real name, that'd be an "option."

Also Greylocks has posted his opinion already, why don't ya go back and read through all the messages in the forums. It'd be pretty dumb for him to repeat his opinion and all said pro's and con's on EVERY post he makes here.

Those who I want to know my name already do. I see no need to advertise it.

No matter what opinion you may hold on this those who have attempted to characterize this as a legal privacy issue should really give it a rest.

This is a private board, and if the administrators (owners) decide they will require some form of real name disclosure (as some other boards I am on do) than they can do it.

All this "by law I have the right to..." is simply inaccurate, and might actually mislead someone into believing it is true.

It is amazing how many people claim they have rights, that really don't exist.

LD

LE might be interrested in knowing our real names. As well as robbers. No way for me!

I dont see the "need" - sure people want to be able to identify people - but there is no need to have our real names on here..

Identifying people by real name at games don't work as well as one'd think, too. It's not like we all have our real names floating above our heads along with our health and mana bars, you kinda have to ask "Are you so-and-so?" regardless of whether you know of the person by their callsign or real name, or overhear conversations, etc. At the same time, I think more people have their callsign as opposed to their real name nametaped to their vest.

And if one is really concerned about being properly identified at a game, there's a whole space devoted to personal pictures on our profile page. Even if one feels strongly enough to blank out their face in the photo, as long as they don't have 5 kits and 20 guns, you can usually ID them by their kit, gun and physical dimensions/characteristics.

id be fine with whatever

yes, you can look up their name here and there, but heck, look in the classifieds in the newspaper,"Oh look here, 1990 toyota mr2 for sale at 1398 westwood ave. $8900 obo." says me to myself.

ill go steal it.

you can look anywhere, steal anything. just some pie to think about.. que sera sera:P

Portions of airsoft boards really require using actual names. In buying and selling or in game sign up threads, my name is right there.

Otherwise, it doesn't really matter.

Shit, you want my opinion.

My name is Adam von Tettenborn (I KNOW I'm the only one with that name), and I live at 630 Sabrina Rd SW Calgary. You show up at my house for some reason, if you got my name/address off of ASC, I'll probably invite you in for a beer. If you have poor intentions...well, I pity the person who tries to break into my house. Far too many times, I've been trying to find someone at a game, and since many of the players don't frequent ASC (and some don't even know about it, heaven forbid) I ask around for someone's screen name/callsign, and no one has any clue who the hell I'm talking about. If you came to a Calgry game and started asking around for Fluffy, there's about four people out of several hundred who would know who you were looking for. Also, If I've known someone for weeks/months/whatever as a callsign, and then meet him and get introduced, I'll forget his name within minutes. It's kind of embarassing to HAVE to call someone by a name they only use here because you don't remember their real name.

Either way, I'll blindly put my faith in the Admins of ASC as I've always done. If they want my name, well, I've already given it to 'em at the beginning, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. If they don't, as long as it doesn't come up, I'm not going to run around saying "I'm Adam, I'm Adam, I'm Adam". So I suppose my post had little point in the end, except to say whatever you choose, I'm behind you.

Well my nickname, callsign and IRL name are all one in the same. I've belonged to a few forums but they've been for online games. I find it's handy to do so. Although the difference here is your "ingame" name will be said IRL not over some pixels. I think if your playing an airsoft game against someone you'll learn their name but chances are you'll call them by their nick. So I agree with The-Saint, it's better to just use name-tags of your call-sign because real life names are hard to remember no matter where you meet them and if your used to calling them something else then do so. But on the board it would be cool to have your IRL name under your nick. Something like a title but more of a name-tag.

real names is carried
 

200 votes positive\ don't care to 132 negative.

Seems pretty clear that the majority would like to see or don't care if real names .. at least first name and last initial were a manditory part of the profile.

now what?

357 out of 12,569 is hardly a majority

True.. but the majority did not vote so it is an issue that they don't care about.

no vote = don't care... so then 12 769 in favour .. 132 against... according to your reckoning.

so disregarding those who did not vote and counting only those who did. still carried.

Yes, this is horrible, this idea.

Seriously, this is worse than the Jump to Conclusions Mat (yea, i just finished rewatching office space)

Maybe verifiers could take it of new verifications and forward to mods for use in case of bad sales transaction (not visible anywhere on forums) but otherwise fuck no.. just creates pointless work for mods etc.

if this happens i will request my account be closed

What "recking" do you refer to? I only presented 2 numbers and a discrepancy in YOUR logic.

What "reckoning" do you refer to? I only presented 2 numbers and a discrepancy in YOUR logic.

I don't think it's really necessary to continue that discussion, really...

I'm going to add names under callsigns as an option for whoever wants to fill it in, when the next release of this forum is ready.

Boys, this is just an opinion pole. the way I read it 29 want it with the rest either not caring, not wanting it or wanting it as a secondary thing.
It hasn't been implemented yet so there's no need to get all twisted.
now play nice.

Hi, my name is Bob Smith and I live in Ajax. I own several guns and if you chech under my profile you can see when I'm not online. Since I spend most of my time here on ASC, you can assume if I'm offline in the middle of the day, I'm probably not at home.

P.S. the numbers in my email address are the combination to my gun safe, my dog died 3 years ago, and the spare key is under the rock to the left of the front door.