I understand being cautious, but surely if you're that worried you wouldn't be here risking your account to begin with.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=search2;search=hacked

Quote from: leaf on October 17, 2011, 06:35

Quote from: madelaide on October 17, 2011, 02:55

Would the ID need to be kept in the site? I guess that Leaf would just tick a "confirmed" box after verification.

Anyway, even if the site was hacked, what are the chances that personal information would be available to the agencies?

If I confirmed identities it would NOT involve people sending me any ID like drivers licenses or passports.  it would be more in line with sending me a PM through one of the stock sites.

Bear in mind the sites read PMs, sitemails, etc

Personally I just don't pay attention to any posters who don't include a portfolio link.  I just assume they are not serious Microstockers, and are therefore irrelevant to my interests.

I think I see what's happening now.

To those of use old enough to remember Usenet, the demand to know posters' identities just seems weird.  I used internet usegroups for years, often to good advantage, without ever knowing who anyone actually was.  When web forums began replacing Usenet,  only the presentation changed; anonymity was still the rule and the exception.

But now we're in the era of Social Networking, where nothing is private, and in fact privacy itself is no longer 'cool' (right rimglow?).   But I think many people are going to find out the hard way how valuable privacy, and anonymity, really are.   Without them, who's going to be a whistleblower, or pass on interesting insider rumors?  Who's going to publicly rip into Getty, knowing their big-buck lawyers might be laying in wait?

And yes, I do have a Facebook page.


Wow you are an old timer
I remember the days prior to the internet, a werid thing called "BBS" where forums did exist but took 24 hours to sync the messages between them...
(and yes I do have a FB page as well)

  

One potential downside of giving Tyler people's real identities is if the site gets hacked - unlikely someone would hack the site to get that, but it is a possibility.

I do wish there was some way to encourage civility without having to remove anonymity though.

Quote from: pancaketom on October 17, 2011, 14:03

Quote from: stockastic on October 17, 2011, 13:44

Quote from: aeonf on October 17, 2011, 13:41

I remember the days prior to the internet, a werid thing called "BBS" where forums did exist but took 24 hours to sync the messages between them...
 

Sure, I used BBSs too.  They were cool.  The slowness of message transfers made for a different sort of exchange.

you young puppies. I remember this thing called the post office where you would write messages on actual paper and stick them in a box and a few days later they would be delivered to someone else. It was so much clearer than smoke signals.

It is a bit amazing to think I've been using e-mail for 25 years.

I do wish there was some way to encourage civility without having to remove anonymity though. Not that there aren't plenty of people without anonymity who are uncivil. (maybe I am being too negative in that sentence?)

Nope you are correct. But at least some grumpy old man, we know who it is, not some multiple account little troll sitting in the basement grinning as he disrupts the forums while he's downing his six pack and a pizza.  Anonynimity just open the door and encourages some people, the rest it wouldn't matter if they were their full name or a random number. It's the person behind the messages and some people just go that way. I suppose I'm wrong when I think that requirig real names or account connections to an agency, would change anything?

There is a confirmed Alamy account forum on Yahoo. Very funny, it's almost all the same messages and people that are on the Alamy forums (or used to be) I gave up reading there, because it was a duplication. And the Alamy forums you can make up a pseudo and post messages, hardly any difference. Well one, Alamy forums are moderated and they have a tight leash on trouble makers.

That may be the other option. Which of course will bring screams of "Free Speech". Freedom of speech doesn't mean someone can say anything they want!

By the way, I was a Fidonet hub that brought in some BBs from Canada and redistributed them to the States. Yes, those were the bad old days, systems with 2400 baud modems, dialing out at 3AM to pick up the packets for the day. No graphics, just text and a Control G now and then for sound.