WikiIndex talk:Real names

Ted, :-)

• There are three ways to participate on a wiki:
• There are three ways to be identified when editing a wiki:

More of our (diff) on this subject! :-) MarkDilley | talk

Semanitics, maybe? I can either read or edit. Those are the two ways to participate, methinks. If I want to read, I don't need to identify myself at all. If I want to edit, that's when this RealNames page comes into play, yes? TedErnst | talk 21:28, 5 Mar 2006 (EST)

Mabye, I will give it a try:

Maybe it is sematics. I can read this wiki or I can participate at this wiki by editing. (is reading particiaption?) If I want to read, I don't need to identify myself at all. (except there is some identification in the logging of IP addresses) If I want to participate in the wiki, that's when RealNames comes into play.

I am extremely interested in sematics, I admit it and am guilty of it :-). MarkDilley | talk

IP addresses are logged on every website, in some way. I know I don't have access to the logs for WikiIndex. Do you? Yet when someone edits, that information is public, available to all. So back to the word "participate." If someone comes here from Buffy and the Goblet of Fire wiki and edits our entry for that wiki, is that participation? It might be, if there's some kind of dialogue on the talk page, but it also might not be. It might just be a fly-by edit, fixing an error, adding value in whatever way. I hear that you want people to participate, but not everyone that edits is participating, the way I see it. And it's not the participation that triggers this choice of 3 you've presented on RealNames, it's the editing. I think. TedErnst | talk 22:43, 5 Mar 2006 (EST)

I think editing is participation. At some level. I would much rather have an IP address attached to a fly by edit than Snoopy The Flying Dog - above you say that reading is participation... MarkDilley | talk

A fly-by single edit is unlikely to read any guideline, nor care what it says. Those people are also unlikely to log in at all, methinks. I'm totally fine with those people showing up at IPs. That makes it really easy to see them on recent changes and to look more carefully at them. The people that I'd rather see as Snoopy The Flying Dog are the people interested in all of the 1970s cartoons wikis and they're here doing this and that every day or couple of days. They're participating. Those people, I want their nick rather than their IP, so we can see it's the same person every time and not have to patrol them all that closely. Are we getting any closer to agreement? TedErnst | talk 13:57, 6 Mar 2006 (EST)

I don't think so, and I am not sure that is needed. There are others who have input into this also :-) But help me understand your point again. There are two ways to participate: reading and editing. we don't need to know anything about anyone who is reading. If people are making a small edit, we don't need to know anything about them. But if someone is helping out on the site in a consistent manner, you would rather they have a psudonym than an IP address. That is right, right? MarkDilley | talk

Yes. My opinions:

1. reading - don't care
2. fly-by - don't care
3. consistent contributor - RealName > Pseudonym > IP

TedErnst | talk 16:30, 6 Mar 2006 (EST)

Links that are Pro RealNames

• A discussion at MoinMoinWiki regarding this: http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/TheAnarcat = :-) (Hi Antoine) MarkDilley | talk

• MeatBall:RealNames
• WikiWikiWeb

Links that are Pro RealNames but ok with Psudonyms

• CommunityWiki
• Wikipedia

RealNames is a given, what about pseudo vs ip?

Great links about real names. I agree with them all, in terms of RealNames being the ideal situation. I think the overwhelming majority of edits here so far have been done by people agreeing with this.

Would it be okay to focus on the question of pseudonyms vs not logging in at all (IP address only)?

The wikipedia link above has some good reasons for people to create a username, rather than edit as an IP, and links to more.

My number one reason is that a pseudonym is an identity. When I see that identity on edits, I can develop a feeling for the quality of that person's edits in general, and then either assume they're good, or give them more scrutiny over time. With an IP, even if it's the same all the time, I'll never be able to associate one edit with another. They'll all be completely seperate and all have to be closely scrutinized. TedErnst | talk 10:52, 7 Mar 2006 (EST)