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Personal Details

OldTimeRadio said:
I find corresponding with totally anonymous, ageless, sexless, locationless Forteans a great deal like interacting with computer-generated "personalities" - cold, sterile, and ultimately not very interesting.

I correspond regularly with a man whom I believe to be one of the world's half-dozen leading Fortean and Paranormal scholars. He has a solid and very legitimate doctorate in history and spent his working life as a big-city reference librarian.

We've come to know a great deal about each other, down to our respective love lives (or lack of them, as the case may be and usually is). I have his home address and he mine.

Would our correspondence be more or less productive if I knew him only as "librefdoc"?

I'm afraid that the anonymous-only crowd will have to pick the first choice.
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I'm sorry you feel that way, OTR :( Personally, I don't put personal information online because of previous encounters with trolls (as well as a stubborn refusal to believe my age :shock:) - recent events have, I feel, proved this to be a prudent course to take :( I have, however, given appropriate details to people I've eventually corresponded with in the real world, so I'm not closed to the idea of getting to know people better, just cautious ;)

PS: Please don't go, Peripart - your contributions really add to this place.
 
Peripart said:
Quite right, OTR.

One of many reasons why this is likely to be my last visit here.
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I note that Peripart doesn't share any of HIS personal information (pot calling kettle black and all that).
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Let me add that for the decade I've been online I've always used my real name (George Wagner) on Yahoogroups and similar Fortean lists, and here on "ours" I've frequently used my own name and my location as well. Plus, my age is accurate (but it keeps going up every year - drat!)

During all that time I've never had any repercussions. The only "bad" messages have been two flame letters. But I would have received those in any case. (One flamer I ignored entirely but the second has long since tamed down into a civil and valued correspondent.)

Remember, we are dealing with fellow FORTEANS here, not denizens of the Net's sleaziest lonely hearts chatroom. Moreover the FTMBs have safeguards in place which even the Yahoogroups do not have.

Now I have used pseudononymous accounts in the past - for example while monitoring some really iffy "political" groups and again on a couple of genuinely creepy serial killers lists.

But, again, there are FORTEANS here.
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But I have long suspected for various reasons that there are/have been one or two on this board who are not, in fact, Forteans and are here for their own spurious personal or political agendas. And if I find those agendas particularly repugnant or potentially threatening, then it's only sensible to steer clear and be cautious. But that's just me though.

Anyway, Peripart don't go! :cry:
 
ArthurASCII said:
Peripart said:
Quite right, OTR.

One of many reasons why this is likely to be my last visit here.
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I note that Peripart doesn't share any of HIS personal information (pot calling kettle black and all that).
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Hmmm... I don't see why anyone should come over all Captain Oates because the members are not being exposed to their satisfaction.
 
*rising to bait like a starving carp*

I agree. All members should be exposed. One at a time, please.
 
ArthurASCII said:
Peripart said:
Quite right, OTR.

One of many reasons why this is likely to be my last visit here.
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I note that Peripart doesn't share any of HIS personal information (pot calling kettle black and all that).
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I thought he did. then didn't. Then decided it was a good thing. Then didn't. Etc.

:?
 
gncxx said:
Hmmm... I don't see why anyone should come over all Captain Oates because the members are not being exposed to their satisfaction.
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Members exposed until satisfaction, people coming over Captain Oates, we need to see more of this not less.....
 
Well, in real life I am incredibly good-looking, have a beautiful wife, an even more beautiful mistress, a very fast car, a massive house that is guarded by dobermann pinschers, and extensive private grounds in which I grow prize-winning roses.

It is therefore sheer modesty that prevents me from offering my personal details. I hope you can all understand.
 
drbastard said:
But I have long suspected for various reasons that there are/have been one or two on this board who are not, in fact, Forteans and are here for their own spurious personal or political agendas.
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I'm certain you're right. But isn't that just part of being alive? If we were a sit-down, meet and eat group wouldn't we still have to deal with the occasional ringer?

The only way to totally eliminate that hazard is to hide in the attic between Great-Grandma's hope chest and the stacks of old magazines and limiting ourselves to very occasional quick peeks outside through the louvers.

I can't work in a straight jacket.
 
Jack, you seem to be saying that my correspondence with my Fortean-scholar friend would somehow be more productive if I knew him only as "librefdoc" (and had no idea of his real name, age or location) and he knew me only as "OTR") (ditto).

I not only can't accept that, I can't even conceptualize it.
 
No, no, OTR, I didn't mean that at all and I'm sorry if it came across that way - I was just speaking from my own personal experience.

OldTimeRadio said:
The only way to totally eliminate that hazard is to hide in the attic between Great-Grandma's hope chest and the stacks of old magazines and limiting ourselves to very occasional quick peeks outside through the louvers.
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*Rumbled! I need a new hiding-place...*
thinking.gif
 
If anyone needs to know anything about me, then you could PM me and ask :)



I might answer. After all some folks know roughly who I am.
 
ArthurASCII said:
Peripart said:
Quite right, OTR.

One of many reasons why this is likely to be my last visit here.
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I note that Peripart doesn't share any of HIS personal information (pot calling kettle black and all that).
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OK. Purely to set the record straight. I was quite happy to show my age, and gender, as you surely remember, Arthur, from our banter in the limerick thread and elsewhere. I only removed it fairly recently, for reasons which I stated, so I think the pot/kettle comment is a bit harsh. If probably fair!

I was not (and still am not) advocating that we all know each others' names & addresses, of course that would not be a good idea, but I do maintain that there is a certain courtesy to letting others know what sort of person I am. I am happy for people to take account of the fact that I am a 39-year-old man, when they read my posts. I think that's healthy and useful. I honestly find it harder to know how to take certain comments - especially where the poster's style could charitably be described as "terse" - if I know nothing at all about the person who wrote them. Male/female, old/young - it does make a difference. Of course, if we all communicated perfectly and unambiguously, there'd be no problem, would there?

Anyway, the reaction I got to my previous comments indicated that I was in a very small minority with my opinions, so when I went off in what you are quite entitled to call my "huff", I deleted most of my information from my profile. If you can't beat 'em... etc.

Anyhow, thanks for all the kind comments. I'm quite tempted to downgrade my "huff" to a simple "hissy fit", and start popping back from time to time.
 
Peripart said:
ArthurASCII said:
Peripart said:
Quite right, OTR.

One of many reasons why this is likely to be my last visit here.
Click to expand...
I note that Peripart doesn't share any of HIS personal information (pot calling kettle black and all that).
Click to expand...
OK. Purely to set the record straight. I was quite happy to show my age, and gender, as you surely remember, Arthur, from our banter in the limerick thread and elsewhere. I only removed it fairly recently, for reasons which I stated, so I think the pot/kettle comment is a bit harsh. If probably fair!

I was not (and still am not) advocating that we all know each others' names & addresses, of course that would not be a good idea, but I do maintain that there is a certain courtesy to letting others know what sort of person I am. I am happy for people to take account of the fact that I am a 39-year-old man, when they read my posts. I think that's healthy and useful. I honestly find it harder to know how to take certain comments - especially where the poster's style could charitably be described as "terse" - if I know nothing at all about the person who wrote them. Male/female, old/young - it does make a difference. Of course, if we all communicated perfectly and unambiguously, there'd be no problem, would there?

Anyway, the reaction I got to my previous comments indicated that I was in a very small minority with my opinions, so when I went off in what you are quite entitled to call my "huff", I deleted most of my information from my profile. If you can't beat 'em... etc.

Anyhow, thanks for all the kind comments. I'm quite tempted to downgrade my "huff" to a simple "hissy fit", and start popping back from time to time.
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Wait, wait, wait, you're a guy? :?

*Is crushed*

*Sobs silently as fantasy life collapses*
 
There, there, my dear.

*twirls moustache*
 
You surely knew that Scarg drives a fifty ton truck and eats Yorky bars! :)
 
And ... well ... she calls it a moustache but many folk might disagree.
 
Heckler20 said:
gncxx said:
Hmmm... I don't see why anyone should come over all Captain Oates because the members are not being exposed to their satisfaction.
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Members exposed until satisfaction, people coming over Captain Oates, we need to see more of this not less.....
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Don't mention that cad Oates. He impregnated a 12 yr old girl!
 
Stormkhan said:
And ... well ... she calls it a moustache but many folk might disagree.
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Those in the know describe it as being more akin to a full on ZZ Top beard.
 
Well, you complained about the stubble.
 
Peripart said:
Here's a question: is there any purpose of having personal details, such as age and gender, on our profiles?

I used to think there was - if I post something, people's reading of that post can be justifiably coloured by knowing that it was written by a 39-year-old man. Folk may think I'm posting something childish, stupid, irrelevant or just wrong, but just as in real life, they can base any response on what they know about me, if they wish. For that reason, to reduce just a little the chances of me being misconstrued, and also so that people have something resembling a "face" to talk to, I'm happy for people to know these details about me.

But so many people choose now not to share even these basic details, I'm wondering whether it's even worth the bother. We have about 12500 members, at the latest count, active or otherwise, which should mean, on average, about 34 names in the "Happy Birthday" box at the bottom of the Forum index. But what do we have, in fact? Three - on a good day. So over 90% of members are choosing not to share their age with everyone else, and the 10% who do includes those with fictional ages.

Is this important? Personally, I think it is, but I'd love to know others' opinions. If someone posts something I disagree with, any response I formulate is necessarily shaped by my knowledge of that person. There are things that I'd expect a 30-year-old to know, for instance, that I wouldn't want to task a 17-year-old to task for.

I'm certainly not advocating giving out full names and addresses, but clicking on someone's profile and finding nothing is a bit like talking to someone in a burkha.

I'll finish now, before I finally go off on one, but I'll conclude with the observation that, IMHO, there have some arguments on this board in fairly recent times, that would never have gone as far as they did if the protagonists had known a little more about who they were talking to.
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Hey Peri, glad you didn't leave (or are here now anyway).

It doesn't really bother me if people give out information or not.
I don't even know if some members are male or female. (I suppose I could find out by asking them, or someone else maybe).

When you've been on here long enough though, you can usually tell roughly how old someone is by the things they talk about (spangles anyone?)

NB I found out this week that Gordon is 21 - if that helps in your future replies to him/her?
 
I do find that from time to time I've imagined the wrong gender and age but no matter. What I find a bigger bother is when I've got their country wrong! Not that that is a game changing big deal really. As @Floyd1 says after a bit you get a rough idea and thats good enough for the purposes of what the board is about, it's not as if it's a dating site. :)
 
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