I continue to get new comments in which the reader doesn’t fill in his or her name, or even a pseudonym. From now on I will simply trash those comments, regardless of what they say. As I’ve explained before, we can’t tell one “Anonymous” from another, so that doesn’t serve as a unique identifier of the commenter, which is essential on this site.
As always, I encourage readers to use their real names, but don’t require it.
Thanks,
Management
I get the impression that the bulk of the Anonymous posters are regulars for whom WordPress has forgotten their login credentials.
Any chance there’s a button or the like you can click at your end to require username / password be entered before enabling comments?
Considering the general situation of other obviously-missing features elsewhere in WordPress, I wouldn’t have much hope…but it’s worth looking / asking….
b&
I’d echo that. Usually happens to me if I’m using a different laptop or browser that doesn’t have ‘me’ logged somewhere in its innards. It’s very easy to miss that the name / email boxes aren’t pre-filled.
cr
Further echoed.
That’s what happened to me when I was accidentally anonymous a couple times. Well, sort of. I got a bit over zealous with cleaning out the cookies, and then didn’t pay close enough attention when posting a comment.
I had a problem like that – as I have three versions of my email for the university, one with a string of letters, one initial & surname, & one full first name & surname. Sometimes when I am logged in to Twi*ter it links to the twitter account in the avatar here, but i have no idea when. Also in posts a few years ago I used to still do my personal blog I had a photo avatar but I cannot recall how to retrieve that!
Me fifth. But I’m also fine with JAC’s new policy; if I lose a post because of WordPress funkiness, it won’t be the end of the world. Each of us having to rewrite an occasional post is a lot less time-consuming than JAC having to evaluate all the anonymous posts.
I would just mention that there was and maybe still is a flaw with WordPress. I was hit as a user of Anonymous and have never used this name. If the Name and Email are blank the system can put the Anonymous name in there and accept the comment.
Yes, this is the latest source of the problem; must now enter one’s WP credentials *first* or get auto-shunted to ANON.
There’s more than one flaw with WordPress. WP needs to implement a preview and an edit function. Tout de suite.
As far as the “anonymous” issue goes, WP did, at one time, in fact require filling the name and email fields before allowing a comment to post. Not sure why they changed it. Perhaps to increase the number of comments on the blogs they host?
On behalf of pseudonymous posters, thanks. I don’t need my co-workers or customers knowing my political or religious opinions.
Nor my customers!
That can be a tough call. I have a small business, in a small town, and know for a fact I lost customers because I walked away from the Catholic cult. Hell, I lost friends.
At any rate, I’m glad I “came out” and my business is fine. Obviously you know your own situation better, but I would just like to offer encouragement that it can work; that is, being public about controversial topics but still offering a respected service or product that draws a loyal base.
Good luck.
Mike, faith-free
Always interesting to hear fellow heathens with stories like this. How long did it take between walking away and divulging that you had walked away? Or was it more of an obvious thing when you stopped showing up?
My wide and I are now getting to the point with my family’s religious zealotry that we’re coming up with ways to actively avoid them around the holidays. The Bible’s most prescient verses are no doubt Matthew 10:35-36
I promise “my wide” was not a Freudian slip for “my wife.” Exhibit A of the point made above that there should be a preview feature…
I’d say it was quick. Within a few weeks I had found a defection document and faxed it to the diocese. Not a word from them.
Incidentally, the formal defection policy of th RCC was scuttled many years before I sent mine in. I did it anyway, however, because the language of the document was crystal clear.
Sorry to hear about your particular family dynamics. Good luck.
Thanks for asking.
Mike
Ah, I misunderstood your question. It was a slow buildup over, I’d say, six months where I became persona non grata.
This was in 2012. A few acquaintances have returned but I’ll tell you it was bizarre to witness routines of saying hello or chatting suddenly disappeared. I was in a good state of mind fortunately and understood their fears.
Mike
Apparently they did away with recognizing formal defections in 2009. Even then, the Church was never in a rush to accept such statements as it would hinder the number of people they claim are Catholic. Once you’re baptized (most of the time out of no choice of your own), you’re one of them. Sure, there’s “over a billion Catholics.” How many of them (or should I say us?) actually believe in Catholicism is a completely separate question.
Mike, thanks but when said “my customers” I meant “my 300-person company’s – or, our – customers” and when sales are $1M per, not good to jeopardize others well-being with my opinions. (Even if a lot of them of them are Xian nutjobs, which they are.)
Good luck.
I concur, knowing that identifying real names is next to impossible in the net anyway (for non-officials and non-providers). Everyone can invent a “real name” just as quick as a pseudonym and any method of checking it for sure should go way beyond the scope of a site like this.
You can still create a name still & let Jerry know – if he knows that would be fine I guess…?
I’ll be free to start using my real name after January 20, 2017.
Interesting date. Likely not associated with an academic calendar. Retirement? End of military tour of duty? Statute of limitations expires?
…of course, you probably have to wait until after January 20, 2017 to answer that question….
b&
That would be the day that Hillary takes office. Could it be?
She will not get that far…
Pliny’s partner is Mrs Pliny, Hillary’s partner is a Mr.
BHO?
A former president as reader would have a definite cachet for the site.
My user name is my blog (obviously) though I’d be happy to use my real name, but I can’t figure out how to get wordpress to display my real name!
Also I find that if I’m logged in on my ipad I get logged out on my laptop, so I have to watch what device I’m using. Apologies if I’ve made any “anonymous” comments.
WordPress insists I don’t have a blog, although it’s in their list of blogs I follow on WordPress.
Now I am logged in on two devices, so what do I know? The WordPress giveth and the WordPress taketh away.
This would be an ideal example of the topic from the other day about coding using applied science. Yes, things are demonstrably worse when programmers fail to apply scientific rigor…