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Originally posted by rferg

Remaining anonymous during a conversation seems kind of strange to me - unless there is a particular need to not let anyone know your identity. That is part of communication. If I were in a face to face conversation with a group at a bluegrass festival, there would typically be introductions (ie. a hand shake accompanied by "Hello, I'm Bobby, good to meet you 36PrewarTB3" to make sure everyone in the conversation who knew each other. Sometimes when I'm reading posts, I find it cumbersome and distracting to have to keep going to individual pages to see who everyone is. But maybe using a handle would make it less likely for someone to steal your identity and some of the handles or nicknames here are pretty cool.

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Sure, there are many situations where you would want to introduce yourself, as well as some where you would not.  The choice is yours.  But do you wear a nametag on the street giving your full name and address?  Probably not!  There are some here who know my full name, address, email, religious preferences and political persuasion.  There are some who do not.  That should be a choice, not a default setting.

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Originally posted by KE

....That should be a choice, not a default setting.

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Is there no way we can keep our name in each post by editing our home page?
Couldn't find it if there is.
I liked it.

Paul

Edited by - pstroud1 on 02/09/2012 12:09:07

And having the choice as to whether to, how to, or where to display the private info is appreciated!  

For my input...I appreciate folks like Eric who are constantly trying to make the hangout better.  Not every idea is necessarily what everybody wants, but I appreciate the fact that he is continually adding improvements.  Thanks.

now about those stars......... 

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Originally posted by Hoss

now about those stars......... 

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I don't think the stars are coming back, sorry. They were rather silly, based on arbitrary post counts set several years ago. I think just having a post count and join date is a much more concise picture of the member's involvement in the site.

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Originally posted by Hoss

now about those stars......... 

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What about them?

1) Let us have the option of displaying our handle OR real name on the profile screen

2) If we want to respond to someone personally we go to their page to find out their names

3) I want to see the stars

4) I like the City, State and number of posts info

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Originally posted by KE

quote:

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Originally posted by Hoss

now about those stars......... 

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What about them?

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Six stars....you must be Forum Maharaja!!

Of the many, many message boards that I've participated on in the past nearly 15 years, this will be the first one that's done something like this. It's kind of odd. I don't know that I'm totally object to it, but it's just odd. I think I'm kind of with the opinion to let us users have the option to show it or our screen names. If not, why even have a screen name at all?

I think the stars were silly, and looked cluttered. I'm happy to see them go. Ditto for the "Rollin' Forward" and so forth.

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Originally posted by schlange
 

Third: like someone else mentioned, I really like seeing people's real names. Makes it seem like a more realistic, personal interaction. I don't know how many times I've clicked on a poster's name, so I could see their profile and get their first name, so I could use it in a post.

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Eric: Agreed in spirit, but I have found it confusing when someone is addressed by their proper name in a thread when that is not the name that appears with their post.

As when someone writes "Eric" but the user name appearing is Schlange

After all, some of us know some others better than some others know some of us.

I don't care about the stars, but I'm used to the user names. Real names are in the profile anyway, if we choose to disclose, like I always did. And if we like our complete or real name below the avatar, we can also choose to have it there by changing our user name to our real name...

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Originally posted by Emiel

we can also choose to have it there by changing our user name to our real name...

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You can never change your use name, that is un-editable

I like real names better. Good change Eric!

Stars I say, STARS!!!!! It was a quick and easy way to see the level of intrest and participation by a member, also liked the member status. Eric I'm aware you are in a loose, loose situation here. You can never please everyone. Me included. Overall, GREAT web site and great job running it!!!

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Originally posted by DoubleG

1) Let us have the option of displaying our handle OR real name on the profile screen

2) If we want to respond to someone personally we go to their page to find out their names

3) I want to see the stars

4) I like the City, State and number of posts info

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1) You have that option.  If you want your real name displayed, use it as your handle.  I have always done this, maybe because I'm not creative enough to come up with a really cool handle.

Whoops - I see that someone posted that you can't change your handle.  Glad I used my real name and didn't choose one I'd later be sorry about.

Edited by - Jim Yates on 02/09/2012 16:04:24

I liked the stars because....uh...well I guess I just kinda got used to them being there. When I first came onto the BHO I thought they were related to the individual's level of expertise in all things banjo. True enough in many cases but  I've since learned that ain't necessarily so. In a few select cases I'd go so far as to suggest they can be a measure of the need for someone to get a life. But each to their own. If the stars must go then so be it. And keep up the excellent work Eric. As much as we whine when you make changes we don't necessarily like I think we're all pretty much of one mind when it comes to our sincere appreciation for all you do here!

Edited by - Hoss on 02/09/2012 16:27:51

Ah!!! Kemo Sabe with no mask becomes Phil Mathers (but only to BHO members that are logged on).   Actually, I like the new feature  .... I am constantly having to look at Home Pages to learn someone's name.  Good feature in my estimation.  Phil  

I've been starting out on the banjo for 20 some years now if we had stars that show the experience i still wouldn't have enough for one of the points on it. lol ;)

Paul

Edited by - pstroud1 on 02/09/2012 18:45:35

As long as I can ask questions and get answers I don't care what you want to be known as. Ham Hock

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Originally posted by dmiller

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Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

Um, I quite frankly preferred it the way it was.   

If I'd wanted it this way 'round I'd have used my real name instead of a handle to begin with, and it's safe to assume that everyone else who was using a handle was doing so because they liked it that way too.   So if you really wanna know how many people think what about this change, simply count the number of people who were intentionally using a handle instead of their names.  That's going to be very close to the total number of contributors who would like to have it back the way it was.

To my mind, you've just taken away part of the fun of Banjo Hangout: inventing an alternate persona and occasionally keeping track of how close you are to becoming one of the "forum fixtures".   While BHO is your toy to play with, it seems counterproductive to annoy a healthy percentage of the posters here for no particular reason.

~Pete

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I agree.  100%.  If it ain't broke - - - - - You know the ending of the sentence.

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Only you know if it is an invented persona.  How wuold we know if your real name is real or another invented persona?  How does it make a material difference?  As far as I can tell Lester Crawdad is a perfectly good name.  Dmiller is a little harder to swallow though.  I have seen stranger names than that.  So what's in a name anyway?  Let's not be afraid of change.

I don't necessarily give my entire name in meat space, and I don't always give my real name either.

And like Richard said (if that really is his name), What's in a name? It's just a handle.

He might be Richard Undressed for all we know and that's something I definitely don't want to think about 

I like having the date joined and number of post instead of the stars. It's more credible and gives you a better idea of a persons membership status.

Someone could have joined last week and just because they rack up a bunch of posts they are a senior member with a bunch of stars by there name. It's kind of misleading. I like the new way better.