Hi folks,
I know we had this topic before and maybe I’m going to get some flak about this post but I’m thinking of going into silence on this forum. Half of the time I don’t know who I am talking to. There are some exceptions like Julia, Calum, Jem, Mark, Gabriel and others that I know in person but I find it sometimes odd that I meet people in Ireland or elsewhere saying : O we do know eachother ! I am Mr.buttercup or Miss daisy or Mr. Embouchure from the Ch&fipp. forum. Some well know fluters use nicknames that reveil more or less their real name but most of the time I am communicating with fantoms for all I know. I have nothing against anonimity or nicknames but Personally I find it strange to have a flute relationship with a computerscreen. People never sign a post with their real name and for all I know I could miss out on playing or chatting with a friend who is nearby but who I don’t know through this forum. Mind you, this is a personal view and maybe the rant of the day but that’s how I feel. On facebook where many of you are , real names are used so I feel a bit more comfortable there. Just my two cents. All the best from sunny Belgium,
Ronnie Bracke
We allow people to use nicknames here - essentially any name they like provided it doesn’t contravene the principles set out in the CCCP.
Many people don’t feel comfortable using their real names for online forums. We don’t ask their reasons.
The reality is that people will continue to be free to use nicknames here, and many will choose to do so. You say that you feel uncomfortable with this, Ronnie. And I guess that that will continue to be the reality around here as well.
I know Ben and that’s why I don’t critisise. I am just giving the example I had in Ireland where I met a fellow saying I am this and that person and by the time you get home I forgotten the nickname. Recently I had it with a chap from the US who attended the flutemeet in Ballyvourney. Of course I would never try or dream to change the politics here but I just think its a missed opportunity. Its only a thought and maybe a wish which won’t happen, I know. Just my two cents… 
Bye for now, see you on FB.
So you had to remember two usernames for one person?
Very funny 
so is your nickname lol
Actully i have been thinking lately to use my Facebook (real) name here as well. I never,or at least very seldom say things i don’t really mean anyway and i can’t find any other reason to hide behind a alias more than i have done so since the mid ninety’s when it was unheard of to use real names on the internet 
So if any mod reads this, please PM me as how to go about changing name here!
Anyway, so what’s your name, Ronnie?
I myself have cunningly hidden my name in a cleverly disguised cryptic fashion.
[Cross-post with Mr_Blackwood - I’ll be PM’ing you shortly.]
I’ve written my first name and last in the first post. I have nothing to hide because the internet knows everything already lol. For all I know your name is Ben Hall. 
Look at it in a practical way. I’m often in Ireland, Germany, Holland, and other places to play music. Its very simple, if I am at the Camden festival in London and I see your name (let us say Ben Hall), then I would look you up to play a few tunes. But I would never see Mr.Blackwood or Mr Sirchronique on a list of workshop attendants or participants in events. As you well know, the trad scene is a very small world and I think we miss out on meeting people that’s all, but hey that’s only me talking, what do I know. The time that you were incognito on the internet is long gone by now. Wouldn’t it be great that we could meet eachother? Like I said before I know the ones that have put their name on here (or in an obvious way so that you know who you are talking to).And yes this is a plea perhaps to make aquaintance a bit more easier when meeting in real life. Often you see discussions here that are really interesting, but you could easily be talking to a fluteplayer somewhere without knowing who you were talking to and that is my point exactly. If I would know what the person posted during the time I am on this forum, than I would know him already. Its logical or not ?
Put my last name on there Ben : RONNIE BRACKE
the main difference Ronnie is that on Facebook you can (sort of) control who you interact with and who reads your posts, but on a bulletin board like this everything is published for anyone to search and read. I prefer not to have work connections on Facebook and not to have Google searches for my work profile turning up on Facebook or here. MarkP works just fine without obscuring anything. Each medium has it’s own culture/norms, be happy in cyberspace and in non-silicon fora, it’s all fine
I tend to agree with you Ronnie … (and it was great to meet you for the first time
at Ballyvourney, then again last week in Liscannor!)
I tend to avoid posting much, if ever, to this forum. Partly because of the anonymity and partly
because it doesnt really have that community feel (the tone of some of the replies to
posts can occasionally be a little unforgiving)
Just my 2c worth …
Ian Wilson
“Sort of” is the right expression Mark lol. If you comment on photos there or posts at a person’s page who made his page public then you are a dead duck in the water Too. Its not hard to find out who you are on the net. Even if you use nicknames. I just find it a bit strange to communicate with some one in real life (like it happened in Ballyvourney) and then after a few weeks finding out that he or she is on the c&f board. That’s all. You know me to be a very happy person and in fact I don’t really care but being also a social person I’d thought it would be nice to get to know the people behind the silly names lol. Share music and share experience. People at work would never look me up here, neither they would on facebook. I am happy but thinking remaining silent nevertheless in this forum. 
P.s.
It was great to meet you too Ian, I see you use your own name too, so in that way and on Facebook we know who we are and to get in touch easily. My thoughts exactly
I used to have a more obscure forum name and changed it into LorenzoFlute that reveals my first name. It did happen a few times that I met people from the forum, it is a little strange but I can think of worse things
Also, the forum’s main purpose is not to meet people, but to discuss about our instrument, good hints can come even from the most obscure nicknames…
Also, the forum’s main purpose is not to meet people, but to discuss about our instrument, good hints can come even from the most obscure nicknames…
I think that’s spot on. It’s a good venue to toss around a few ideas and discuss whatever is on the menu.
I used to post here under my own name and to be honest, it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Over time I have met a number of people who were/are on the forums and in my experience, what goes on on the forums stays on the forums, in fact the subject of forums is pretty much avoided in conversation if and when a meeting takes place.
Other venues have slightly different focus, tradconnect for example seems to be all about promotion, self or otherwise, ‘liking’ and ‘friending’ but not much about discussing or exchange of knowledge and opinions. And FWIW: A similar discussion happens to be raging on thesession.org.
O I didn’t knew this Mr.Gumby, I don’t regard the session.org as a real social forum, but as it often happens on this forum, you are missing the point a bit. Its not true imho that this forum is alone for flute chat and technique. Forums are also social communities. And yes Lorenzo you use your name and like me most of the fluters in Ireland know you. I would easily recognize you and we have met already. But let me be honest here. It also happens on this forum that it is sometimes the case that people don’t hold back knowing that they are protected by a nickname and sometimes aren’t so respectful to one another. Using a real name would help to avoid this. Do you find my request to know who I am talking to so strange? If what happens on the forum stays on the forum, why be known as MrGumby or Mr Yogi ? Doesn’t any one feel the need to meet outside the forum and if such a meeting is planned already to meet eachother? Surely my post won’t change anything but as a forum member I post any way and hope that maybe it makes people think. I don’t ask your address or bank account number, nore email address. I just want to know your name lol but let me give another example…
–Some People on the forum obviously have no problem with mentioning names of flute makers who have often no defence or nothing to say in it at all. Often they have to make a modest living out of making flutes. Some forum members in all anonimity have their opinion about them and have no problem to express what ever negative or positive feeling/opinion they have about them. Is this something to think about? Surely its much more easy to mention a flutemakers’ name than to put your own name on the forum? – you can say that they have a public life but some of the things I read here sometimes…made me post this post
you are missing the point a bit. Its not true imho that this forum is alone for flute chat and technique.
I don’t think I am. But in truth, these forums are many things to many people.
Many of us know the real life names behind the monikers, it’s not exactly a secret who’s living under the Gumby hanky either. It’s a bit of fun. On-line giving out and exchanging ideas and opinions.
I must contradict again. I don’t know who you are. I just know you live in the back of beyond.
I am going into lurking now, bye
I’m not really sure what the problem is here, Ronnie, unless you simply don’t like internet forums - that, at least, I get. I’ve gone off the forum for days or months myself because certain topics are irrelevant to me, or something has been discussed over and over too many times during the ten-plus years since I signed on.
But names are only names - you’ve given your full name, but - living here in northeast US - it has no more relevance to me than a fake name. Gordon is my real name, but would you know it was the same Gordon if I was suddenly seated beside you in Ireland? Don’t get me wrong - I enjoy your posts and respect your opinions when you write. But I feel the same for many here whose (real) names are not known to me, once I get a sense of what they think and who they are through their posts - the name is simply an identifier. And then there are several here who have left and come back with new fake names - it doesn’t take long to realize who they are again (was anyone terribly surprised to find that Julia Delaney was Cocusflute?). My point is, a discussion is a discussion - in a way, the anonymous names actually helps to filter some biases, pro and con, when a poster writes their take on something.
Lastly, if there were enough sessions and places around here for me to rub shoulders with many of you without visiting this or any other internet forum, I’d more than likely not be on the forumat all - the busier I am in real life, the less I’m on the internet, anyway.
it’s not exactly a secret who’s living under the Gumby hanky either. It’s a bit of fun.
You’re Cybil’s husband, Basil from Fawlty Towers, “boy o you nearly had me then” 
I don’t know who you are. I just know you live in the back of beyond.
Well, you could if you wanted to but would it make a difference? If you’d known my name , would you have made the slight detour from Liscannor to the back of beyond this week or would you have spotted me if you had run into me in West Clare this week? Does it matter at all?
The thing is, people can interact here if they want, in PM, if they feel so inclined and get to know more about the person behind the moniker. If that doesn’t happen, what is gained by using the name you were given at birth in your public profile?