use a real sounding name - no edge cases please

https://permies.com/name.jsp

I like that the names on Permies seem like real names, even when they aren't. It's easier for me to build up a model of a real person behind their persona.

r ranson wrote:Having edge case names is making a lot of work for moderators of this site.  It's causing a slippery slope that isn't working.

I don’t understand why it matters what anyone calls themselves.
What is the slippery slope and where does it go?

Surely what one says/writes is far more important and significant?

Here is a painting that started off as a different painting.  Somebody bought a painting at a thrift shop for a dollar and then added something to it:



The first painter clearly liked landscapes.  Especially with some ocean in the background.  

The second painter clearly had a different vision.

Some people like the original better.  Some the hybrid.

I ran this site your way for a while and eventually got tired of accounts like "Goat Fucker7".  I decided to take the site to a new direction featuring real sounding names.  

I think of it as a sort of artistic choice.  


Everything you are saying is true.  And everything I am saying is also true.  

paul wheaton wrote:Here is a painting that started off as a different painting.  Somebody bought a painting at a thrift shop for a dollar and then added something to it:



The first painter clearly liked landscapes.  Especially with some ocean in the background.  

The second painter clearly had a different vision.

Some people like the original better.  Some the hybrid.

I ran this site your way for a while and eventually got tired of accounts like "Goat Fucker7".  I decided to take the site to a new direction featuring real sounding names.  

I think of it as a sort of artistic choice.  


Everything you are saying is true.  And everything I am saying is also true.  

Having no experience with group moderation or site ownership, I only have questions (hence I don’t have a “my way”). Moderation sounds difficult. Thanks for responding.

The painting either way is not my cup of tea, artistically. But it might be for others. It is illustrative though, especially if the discussed subject is something like ‘how power can behave regarding private property’ or ‘identifying nemeses in our Zones 1’.

The big point:


       we tried any names and i didn't like it.  And other people i liked didn't like it.


       we switched to "real sounding names".  I like the results and the people i like seem to like the results.



We decided to call it policy.  Good people rejoiced.  Nasty people went psycho and had their accounts like.  The site flourished.



You said

I don’t understand why it matters what anyone calls themselves.
What is the slippery slope and where does it go?

Surely what one says/writes is far more important and significant?

A lot of us like it this way.  It makes a flavor of community that we like.  And this flavor seems to repel some people that are rather hostile.  So that makes it even better.

paul wheaton wrote:The big point:


       we tried any names and i didn't like it.  And other people i liked didn't like it.


       we switched to "real sounding names".  I like the results and the people i like seem to like the results.



We decided to call it policy.  Good people rejoiced.  Nasty people went psycho and had their accounts like.  The site flourished.

Got it👍