Community Stories

Real name vs a ‘handle’

BrianPankow
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Hello everyone. I hope you are all safe. Here in Seattle, Washington USA the Governor is lifting the stay at home order ‘with conditions’ Sunday evening. He’s been pretty conservative, and that’s ok with me.

My actual question is sparked by another post where they were talking about using personal names in the forum and the objection to that. I have to admit that I have wondered since joining why pretty much everyone uses a ‘handle.’ Are you concerned about privacy, security, retaliation for something you may have said? Someone finding out where you live snd stealing your collection? When businesses or watchmakers are mentioned you know their actual name or can then easily find out. Reasons or thoughts would be appreciated.

Required pic. I know a redial, but beautiful (In my opinion.)
image.jpg image.jpg
 
DaveK
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Yes.

you begin to form friendships and trust with many members, but remember that this forum is open to the world - for honest guests and criminals alike
 
ahsposo
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I use the same handle all over the internet so it's almost like a "real" name in a way.

Some people use a different username on every different platform.

My legal name is somewhat common. My internet username is almost unique.

I have no idea how much privacy either would really afford me. Right now the admins of this platform know almost exactly where I am (69.245.82.27) and now you do too.

There's no privacy with the internet or your phone, just the illusion of anonymity...
 
apsm100
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Mine is just my initials (also kinda sounds like 'apply some'). I use the same name for eBay and other forums-- you can also easily trace me to instagram and facebook.
Yeah I don't understand what harm can be done. I mean if someone hijacks your accounts it may do more damage if your name and address are out in the open. 😕
 
BrianPankow
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Thank you both.

I’m generally pretty careful. My Mrs. is a fraud examiner, so I’ll run things by her to see what level of “Stink Eye” I get before doing something.
 
TDBK
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Watches are an expensive frivolity and while I'm not ashamed of my interest and purchases, I don't want to have it on display to anybody who Googles me, nor do I want everyone here to have one-step access to my personal and professional details.
 
Foo2rama
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My screen name has existed for over 25 years back to the BBS days.

Once you hack a Gibson, you never go back 😉
 
wsfarrell
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Handles are silly, and are one of the main contributors to the coarsening of dialog on the web. People hide behind them, and say things they wouldn't say if they were using their real names.
 
ConElPueblo
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wsfarrell wsfarrell
Handles are silly, and are one of the main contributors to the coarsening of dialog on the web. People hide behind them, and say things they wouldn't say if they were using their real names.

Shut up, douchebag.
 
TDBK
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wsfarrell wsfarrell
Handles are silly, and are one of the main contributors to the coarsening of dialog on the web. People hide behind them, and say things they wouldn't say if they were using their real names.
This is a common theory but there isn't a lot of large-scale evidence for it. Aliases have been present for online discourse since before the web was invented, or even the Internet. Facebook's real name policy has not made it a haven of respectful engagement.
 
BlackTalon
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Why on earth would I want to make it easy for people throughout the world to connect my name with my $$$ possessions? It's just as bad as mentioning on forums like this when you are leaving the country for a vacation.
 
X350 XJR
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Call me anything you want, just don’t call me late for dinner. 😁
 
DaveK
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Of course, you don’t want to make it too easy for your employer to see when you are posting and liking on the forum.
 
mayankyadav
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Both my name and my picture is mine .. I never thought it will be a long association while signing up on this site as I was only looking for information on a speedmaster which I was going to buy new.. its been more than 2 years now, I ended up buying few more (couple from FS section here) but no other high $$$ watches so I guess I won't be on the radar of any bloody thief who is trying to identify his targets on internet
 
MRC
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DaveK DaveK
Of course, you don’t want to make it too easy for your employer to see when you are posting and liking on the forum.

If your employer wants to know what you're doing they can -- depending on legal restrictions of course.

25 years ago I ran IT at a software outfit where all the employees knew about the internet and the new WWW. Our bandwidth cost serious money so we ran a local cache of all the traffic. It saved multiple downloads of the latest gossip about Manchester United on a Monday morning, etc. A look at the cache revealed some dodgy downloads, very dodgy but not actually actionable legally. So my practice was to wander into the department where the computer used to download this was located and remind everyone in there that they should not be looking at anything they would not like to be pinned on a notice-board with their name on it.

Yes of course I knew who was doing it, hot-desking wasn't a thing at the time.

Now the question of the day is: our part composed but not posted replies are saved, do the Mods (All Praise!) take a look through there?
 
Pvt-Public
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I picked mine years ago, I wanted Gen. Specific but that was taken on the forum I was joining at the time.
 
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