The more I read these threads with controversial subject matter, the more I think..... If the poster cannot be identified within their post they should be on a read only status!!!!!
john
john
Read Only Status
john fallon
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Does that mean you guys don't need to get a virtual room? ;-)Ok, Ok, I Love you more and more each week. But in a platonic way
PS: I know who you are...
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I think it is about accountability, not reliability or credibility.
I think that if someone is going to offer an opinion, they ought to be able to stand behind it.
If you don't want to be stalked, fine - don't post.
To me, identification is part of the price of admission of posting
If you follow sports news, there is always a report of an anonymous source saying something like "Mark Sanchez has lost the team" or "Tebow can't lead this team."
To me, that is cowardly. If you are going to say something, be willing to identify yourself.
I think that if someone is going to offer an opinion, they ought to be able to stand behind it.
If you don't want to be stalked, fine - don't post.
To me, identification is part of the price of admission of posting
If you follow sports news, there is always a report of an anonymous source saying something like "Mark Sanchez has lost the team" or "Tebow can't lead this team."
To me, that is cowardly. If you are going to say something, be willing to identify yourself.
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Yeah, but Ted my gosh man,-
Look at the accuracy of what was said about both players ;-)
Regards,
Swamp
Whoops!
I mean-
B.J.
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not about accuracy, but accountability
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You are not one of the people I had in mind when starting this thread
When one is good with dogs and posts using their initials on a dog forum, then add in a couple or so nice dogs to the mix at the bottom of the page and it's hard for them to remain anonymous.
john
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I think this might be a generational thing with older guys like me and John, (sorry john, its just my perception that we are close in age), are more inclined, or at least more comfortable knowing someone's name when having discourse with them. I don't lose sleep over this, it just would be nice to know some of you by name in case we ever run into each other at some dog event. Please don't hesitate to introduce yourself as an RTFer if we ever meet at a trial or training seminar.
As far as the credibility thing, you guys are correct in that experienced retriever people can separate the wheat from the chaff, I'm more worried about the newbie that post a training question or has a no-go issue with his dog, and getting every advice from force the dog through it with the collar to everything under the sun. I worry about that guy trying something that makes it worse. Now that guy may not know who Dennis Voight, Evan, or Dr. Ed are to start with, but with just the least bit of research, they would get their cred. Like I say I'm not loosing sleep over it, it's just my preference.
John
As far as the credibility thing, you guys are correct in that experienced retriever people can separate the wheat from the chaff, I'm more worried about the newbie that post a training question or has a no-go issue with his dog, and getting every advice from force the dog through it with the collar to everything under the sun. I worry about that guy trying something that makes it worse. Now that guy may not know who Dennis Voight, Evan, or Dr. Ed are to start with, but with just the least bit of research, they would get their cred. Like I say I'm not loosing sleep over it, it's just my preference.
John
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Hey, all the jokes about security and stalking are really just that ... jokes. Security is of no concern to me.
When I joined this forum back before “the great purge” ... somewhere around ‘99, I think ... there were a lot of names I recognized as accomplished players. There were a lot of others with “handles” whom I assumed to be just regular people. To me, at the time, I thought it may be a little arrogant for me to place myself among those better known, by adding my name to my posts. (After all, who the he!! is “Joe Smith” and what does he think he’s doing posting here?) Maybe some dumb logic but there it is and when I registered, I used my initials. I had been scribbling JS 40 times a day for 35 years and it always worked for me. Never gave it another thought.
Then I noticed that every time there was a nasty disagreement, inevitably it came around to, “You must be up to no good. You don’t even post your name. Identify yourself!”. Sometimes it was in-your-face demanding. That’s not the way to get anywhere with me. Some people, when pushed will dig in.
This is not about John’s thread; this has been pretty civil. Just explaining how I came to use my initials. If Chris ever requires real names, I will have no problem with it, but no self-appointed hall monitor will intimidate me into it.
With all that said, as Fallon pointed out, you don’t need to be a high tech sleuth to find out who someone is here. With the information in my posts, you can get my name, address, phone number, my wife’s name, a picture of me, a picture of my house, pictures of several of my dogs, etc., etc., etc. And it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes. (Or you could just PM me and ask, but that may take a day or two before I log on again.)
I have nothing to hide and I AM ACCOUNTABLE for what I do and what I say. I’ve met several RTFers at trials and sometimes introduced myself. Most won’t remember me ... I’ve exchanged niceties with John R. a couple times but I’m not sure I would recognize him at the mall unless he had Gus along.
Gus, I will remember!
Sincerely,
James Spencer
When I joined this forum back before “the great purge” ... somewhere around ‘99, I think ... there were a lot of names I recognized as accomplished players. There were a lot of others with “handles” whom I assumed to be just regular people. To me, at the time, I thought it may be a little arrogant for me to place myself among those better known, by adding my name to my posts. (After all, who the he!! is “Joe Smith” and what does he think he’s doing posting here?) Maybe some dumb logic but there it is and when I registered, I used my initials. I had been scribbling JS 40 times a day for 35 years and it always worked for me. Never gave it another thought.
Then I noticed that every time there was a nasty disagreement, inevitably it came around to, “You must be up to no good. You don’t even post your name. Identify yourself!”. Sometimes it was in-your-face demanding. That’s not the way to get anywhere with me. Some people, when pushed will dig in.
This is not about John’s thread; this has been pretty civil. Just explaining how I came to use my initials. If Chris ever requires real names, I will have no problem with it, but no self-appointed hall monitor will intimidate me into it.
With all that said, as Fallon pointed out, you don’t need to be a high tech sleuth to find out who someone is here. With the information in my posts, you can get my name, address, phone number, my wife’s name, a picture of me, a picture of my house, pictures of several of my dogs, etc., etc., etc. And it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes. (Or you could just PM me and ask, but that may take a day or two before I log on again.)
I have nothing to hide and I AM ACCOUNTABLE for what I do and what I say. I’ve met several RTFers at trials and sometimes introduced myself. Most won’t remember me ... I’ve exchanged niceties with John R. a couple times but I’m not sure I would recognize him at the mall unless he had Gus along.
Gus, I will remember!Sincerely,
James Spencer
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Each time I meet someone in person they usually say, "oh, YOU'RE Happy Gilmore" and start laughing... Then they start going on and on about how smart all my advice is and how fun and witty all my posts are and how they stay up all night just waiting to see what I'll write next....hahahaaaHey, all the jokes about security and stalking are really just that ... jokes. Security is of no concern to me.
When I joined this forum back before “the great purge” ... somewhere around ‘99, I think ... there were a lot of names I recognized as accomplished players. There were a lot of others with “handles” whom I assumed to be just regular people. To me, at the time, I thought it may be a little arrogant for me to place myself among those better known, by adding my name to my posts. (After all, who the he!! is “Joe Smith” and what does he think he’s doing posting here?) Maybe some dumb logic but there it is and when I registered, I used my initials. I had been scribbling JS 40 times a day for 35 years and it always worked for me. Never gave it another thought.
Then I noticed that every time there was a nasty disagreement, inevitably it came around to, “You must be up to no good. You don’t even post your name. Identify yourself!”. Sometimes it was in-your-face demanding. That’s not the way to get anywhere with me. Some people, when pushed will dig in.
This is not about John’s thread; this has been pretty civil. Just explaining how I came to use my initials. If Chris ever requires real names, I will have no problem with it, but no self-appointed hall monitor will intimidate me into it.
With all that said, you don’t need to be a high tech sleuth to find out who someone is here. With the information in my posts, you can get my name, address, phone number, my wife’s name, a picture of me, a picture of my house, pictures of several of my dogs, etc., etc., etc. And it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes. (Or you could just PM me and ask, but that may take a day or two before I log on again.)
I have nothing to hide and I AM ACCOUNTABLE for what I do and what I say. I’ve met several RTFers at trials and sometimes introduced myself. Most won’t remember me ... I’ve exchanged niceties with John a couple times but I’m not sure I would recognize him at the mall unless he had Gus along.
Sincerely,
James Spencer
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How's that black eye healing?
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Oh well, 12 pages in, I guess I'll give my anonymous opinion:
I'm not in favor of requiring real names in the handle/sig line/every post.
I have posted my name here a few times, generally when I was posting something significant to someone I know in real life and I wasn't sure whether they knew me by my RTF handle...something like congratulations on a major accomplishment or condolences on the loss of a loved one. I've also posted enough information about myself at times in certain posts that one could easily determine my name through EE...something like, "my dog Boomer earned his MH this weekend at the Atlanta Retriever Club Hunt Test in xyz town. He is 5 for 5 in Master tests."
I choose not to use my real name in my handle or sig line (and therefore every post) for several reasons (in no particular order):
1) When I joined the RTF my only experience in using web sites such as this was on a college football web site for Georgia Bulldog fans. At the time nobody there used their real names as handles, not even the site owner and paid site staff although everyone knew who they were and their names were listed in their sig lines because it is a pay site and their paying customers needed to be able to contact them via e-mail if necessary (no PM ability on that site). Now some NCAA rule requires that the paid staff use their real names as handles but they are still the only ones who do or who identify themselves in sig lines other than those who are advertising something. Some posters there are known to many folks and others like myself are known to basically nobody. None of this makes a case for why I'm against using my real name NOW, but this was my only experience prior to joining the RTF so it was my default mindset for signing up and proceeding here.
2) I don't want to be identified in every post for security reasons. I am actually a lot more free with information here than I would be on Facebook for example. For example, even though I personally know every one of my Facebook friends in real life, I would never post that I'm going on vacation next week (for instance) on Facebook because some of those folks I haven't seen since high school nearly 30 years ago and I don't know if they've fallen on hard times, become hooked on drugs, and in need of money. I just don't want to advertise things such as the fact that I'm not going to be at home. My aunt has like a zillion facebook friends including just about every kid who ever went to her school and she'll post pictures in real time from her vacation in Paris, France and I just shake my head. I only talk about my vacation (for example) on Facebook after the fact, posting pics after I return home. Here I would be much more willing to post that I'm attending a hunt test out of town next week or that I'm going to Arkansas duck hunting because it would be a fair amount of work to sift through all my posts and find or figure out my real name (not sure whether the posts with my real name were lost in the purge or not). If I'm going out of town to a hunt test or hunting I would like to be able to post here and ask for specific advice about whatever (hotel and restaurant recommendations, finding others in my flight, etc.) without advertising who I am and that I'm not going to be home for a period of time. If I identified myself here and talked about going out of town for a hunt test or whatever and something happened to my wife and kids while I was not at home because I had publicly divulged that I would not be home I would not be able to forgive myself. If that makes me a coward then so be it. Like most of you, I'll lay down my life to protect my wife and kids but if I have to be a coward in the eyes of some in order to protect them then I'll do that too.
3) I don't want a google search of my name to bring up every post I've ever made on the RTF (or anywhere else). I don't post on the POTUS board but everyone in the world doesn't need to be able to find out my opinion on everything, including any stories of my real world experience on the subject. I am a lot more free with ACCURATE information here because it is anonymous.
I am not well known in the retriever world but there are a number of posters here who know me personally. Most of them are not as active as they used to be and one even banished herself voluntarily. With the exception of spam PM's I have always identified myself in any PM I send to anyone on the RTF, including one jerk of a poster (who is much more well known in the retriever world than I am) who took offense at my use of the term "neuter Nazi" (not directed at him) and PM'd me to demand to know who I am and even after I told him he was still a royal ass and insisted that I was a coward and that he didn't give a tiny rat's behind WHAT my reasons are for wanting to maintain some level of anonymity. I will always remember him and if I ever see him at a hunt test or club event (not sure whether he attends those or strictly field trials) I'll probably introduce myself and tell him that I'm the guy he thinks is a coward and ask his pompous ass if he has anything else he wants to say to me.
My wife has actually had a stalker at one time. It was a very weird situation because it was a female who I went to high school with but barely knew. We saw her at our high school reunion and when I told her that my wife was a school teacher in a nearby town she asked what school she taught at and I didn't think twice and told her what school. She started showing up at my wife's school and just popping into the classroom when my wife was alone (after hours). One time she just found the room on her own and nobody asked her what she was doing. Another time she was stopped by someone and she bluffed her way past and told the administrator that I was her "you know." She was never anything to me. I never had a class with her but she might have been in my home room. I don't even remember speaking to her in high school. It made my wife very uncomfortable. Later I found that she was making some people very uncomfortable at the church she was attending because of her odd behavior and they took measures to keep her out of the nursery. Rational people were thinking that this woman might actually steal a baby because she seemed oddly focused on other people's kids in a weird way. I have no freaking idea why she had that little obsession with my wife but it was weird. The time between her first uninvited appearance at my wife's school and the last one that we know of (they were all uninvited) was well over a year and we did nothing to encourage it. I can tell you that things like that will change your perspective. I have no idea whether she may have followed my wife home at any point but I was glad when we had our first kid and my wife quit work because this woman wouldn't necessarily know where to find her now. My biggest fear is my wife and kids being faced with a threat when I am not there to protect them in whatever way necessary.
I do try (more now maybe than when I first started posting) to restrict my posts to things which I am well qualified to post on unless I am asking questions. I have never said anything to anyone on the RTF that I would not say to their face. If anything I am probably MORE careful here than in person because it is easy to come off differently than intended with the written word where sarcasm may be hard to detect and facial expressions (smiles) are not seen. I do still take the bait on threads pertaining to a certain breeder/trainer of british labradors more often than I should, but other than that I usually stay out of the controversy. I haven't run any tests in several years and it seems now that most of my posts are offering congratulations or condolences.
I'm not in favor of requiring real names in the handle/sig line/every post.
I have posted my name here a few times, generally when I was posting something significant to someone I know in real life and I wasn't sure whether they knew me by my RTF handle...something like congratulations on a major accomplishment or condolences on the loss of a loved one. I've also posted enough information about myself at times in certain posts that one could easily determine my name through EE...something like, "my dog Boomer earned his MH this weekend at the Atlanta Retriever Club Hunt Test in xyz town. He is 5 for 5 in Master tests."
I choose not to use my real name in my handle or sig line (and therefore every post) for several reasons (in no particular order):
1) When I joined the RTF my only experience in using web sites such as this was on a college football web site for Georgia Bulldog fans. At the time nobody there used their real names as handles, not even the site owner and paid site staff although everyone knew who they were and their names were listed in their sig lines because it is a pay site and their paying customers needed to be able to contact them via e-mail if necessary (no PM ability on that site). Now some NCAA rule requires that the paid staff use their real names as handles but they are still the only ones who do or who identify themselves in sig lines other than those who are advertising something. Some posters there are known to many folks and others like myself are known to basically nobody. None of this makes a case for why I'm against using my real name NOW, but this was my only experience prior to joining the RTF so it was my default mindset for signing up and proceeding here.
2) I don't want to be identified in every post for security reasons. I am actually a lot more free with information here than I would be on Facebook for example. For example, even though I personally know every one of my Facebook friends in real life, I would never post that I'm going on vacation next week (for instance) on Facebook because some of those folks I haven't seen since high school nearly 30 years ago and I don't know if they've fallen on hard times, become hooked on drugs, and in need of money. I just don't want to advertise things such as the fact that I'm not going to be at home. My aunt has like a zillion facebook friends including just about every kid who ever went to her school and she'll post pictures in real time from her vacation in Paris, France and I just shake my head. I only talk about my vacation (for example) on Facebook after the fact, posting pics after I return home. Here I would be much more willing to post that I'm attending a hunt test out of town next week or that I'm going to Arkansas duck hunting because it would be a fair amount of work to sift through all my posts and find or figure out my real name (not sure whether the posts with my real name were lost in the purge or not). If I'm going out of town to a hunt test or hunting I would like to be able to post here and ask for specific advice about whatever (hotel and restaurant recommendations, finding others in my flight, etc.) without advertising who I am and that I'm not going to be home for a period of time. If I identified myself here and talked about going out of town for a hunt test or whatever and something happened to my wife and kids while I was not at home because I had publicly divulged that I would not be home I would not be able to forgive myself. If that makes me a coward then so be it. Like most of you, I'll lay down my life to protect my wife and kids but if I have to be a coward in the eyes of some in order to protect them then I'll do that too.
3) I don't want a google search of my name to bring up every post I've ever made on the RTF (or anywhere else). I don't post on the POTUS board but everyone in the world doesn't need to be able to find out my opinion on everything, including any stories of my real world experience on the subject. I am a lot more free with ACCURATE information here because it is anonymous.
I am not well known in the retriever world but there are a number of posters here who know me personally. Most of them are not as active as they used to be and one even banished herself voluntarily. With the exception of spam PM's I have always identified myself in any PM I send to anyone on the RTF, including one jerk of a poster (who is much more well known in the retriever world than I am) who took offense at my use of the term "neuter Nazi" (not directed at him) and PM'd me to demand to know who I am and even after I told him he was still a royal ass and insisted that I was a coward and that he didn't give a tiny rat's behind WHAT my reasons are for wanting to maintain some level of anonymity. I will always remember him and if I ever see him at a hunt test or club event (not sure whether he attends those or strictly field trials) I'll probably introduce myself and tell him that I'm the guy he thinks is a coward and ask his pompous ass if he has anything else he wants to say to me.
My wife has actually had a stalker at one time. It was a very weird situation because it was a female who I went to high school with but barely knew. We saw her at our high school reunion and when I told her that my wife was a school teacher in a nearby town she asked what school she taught at and I didn't think twice and told her what school. She started showing up at my wife's school and just popping into the classroom when my wife was alone (after hours). One time she just found the room on her own and nobody asked her what she was doing. Another time she was stopped by someone and she bluffed her way past and told the administrator that I was her "you know." She was never anything to me. I never had a class with her but she might have been in my home room. I don't even remember speaking to her in high school. It made my wife very uncomfortable. Later I found that she was making some people very uncomfortable at the church she was attending because of her odd behavior and they took measures to keep her out of the nursery. Rational people were thinking that this woman might actually steal a baby because she seemed oddly focused on other people's kids in a weird way. I have no freaking idea why she had that little obsession with my wife but it was weird. The time between her first uninvited appearance at my wife's school and the last one that we know of (they were all uninvited) was well over a year and we did nothing to encourage it. I can tell you that things like that will change your perspective. I have no idea whether she may have followed my wife home at any point but I was glad when we had our first kid and my wife quit work because this woman wouldn't necessarily know where to find her now. My biggest fear is my wife and kids being faced with a threat when I am not there to protect them in whatever way necessary.
I do try (more now maybe than when I first started posting) to restrict my posts to things which I am well qualified to post on unless I am asking questions. I have never said anything to anyone on the RTF that I would not say to their face. If anything I am probably MORE careful here than in person because it is easy to come off differently than intended with the written word where sarcasm may be hard to detect and facial expressions (smiles) are not seen. I do still take the bait on threads pertaining to a certain breeder/trainer of british labradors more often than I should, but other than that I usually stay out of the controversy. I haven't run any tests in several years and it seems now that most of my posts are offering congratulations or condolences.
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I've fixed two stalker problems for gals whom I consider my sisters. Usually a nice long conversation on the phone outlining specific details and plans for one person can sometimes sway them to reconsider their original goals. Although, that becomes complicated when a wife and child are involved.
And yes, Jennifer, the black eye has healed, it wasn't the first and surely won't be the last. I hate it when guys are left handed AND married. Usually, that isn't a common combination.
And yes, Jennifer, the black eye has healed, it wasn't the first and surely won't be the last. I hate it when guys are left handed AND married. Usually, that isn't a common combination.
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3,997 Posts
If it's for credentials; I think dogs listed with titles provide way more accurate depiction, of where people have trained their dogs to, than random names. (If they are true)
P.S. I use hunt; because there is way too little of that in the training-competitive dog world these days, so I put it out there every-time I post; Hunt'emUp is also THE command, it's something only a dog can do, it's the reason I bought-trained a dog in the first place
Handles can tell you a bunch; I assume HTNFSH (hunts and fishes), CopterDoc (fixes copters), Gun-dog (uses guns with dogs), Swamp (is a hillbilly swamp rat ) Badbullgator (either hunts gators, likes southern football or is a mean mamajamma, maybe all of the above ) Don't I think I want to contemplate what moose-gooser means (but it does provide a pretty accurate description of personality type )etc..
John, Paul, George tell me nothing unless Ringo there's as well; They were all Beatles
P.S. I use hunt; because there is way too little of that in the training-competitive dog world these days, so I put it out there every-time I post; Hunt'emUp is also THE command, it's something only a dog can do, it's the reason I bought-trained a dog in the first place
Handles can tell you a bunch; I assume HTNFSH (hunts and fishes), CopterDoc (fixes copters), Gun-dog (uses guns with dogs), Swamp (is a hillbilly swamp rat
) Badbullgator (either hunts gators, likes southern football or is a mean mamajamma, maybe all of the above ) Don't I think I want to contemplate what moose-gooser means (but it does provide a pretty accurate description of personality type )etc.. John, Paul, George tell me nothing unless Ringo there's as well; They were all Beatles
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What about the people who have a few FC titled dogs that are all pro trained but don't have a clue about training dogs themselves??????????? Are their opinions on training issues valid and noteworthy??????? Maybe, maybe not.If it's for credentials; I think dogs listed with titles provide way more accurate depiction, of where people have trained their dogs to, than random names. (If they are true)
I think it's pretty easy to find out who belongs to a certain handle if one is really interested and what their experience and qualification are.
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Is your real name Barry?
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