Would you be willing to noindex all the webforums to keep real names off Google?
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/crawling/block-indexing
I'm cross-posting this for those of you who only read "Your Turn."
Your moderators have been in conversation with the ALPB board about the nature and future of this Forum. We, and they, are concerned about the toxicity of much of the recent conversation. We have discussed various options for improving the quality of interactions. There may be more changes in the future, but for now the following changes will be made effective January 1:
(1) We will no longer permit anonymous posters. You may include your real name (first and last names, please) as your user name, or, if you prefer, you may include your real name as a signature. If the moderators suspect that the name you provide is a pseudonym, we will be contacting you directly to assure that you are who you say you are. If you are currently posting anonymously, please see that you correct that prior to January 1.
(2) We will ask that you restrict your posts to matters related in some way to the purpose and ministry of the church or the challenges of the Christian life. There are plenty of other places to discuss the world of politics. We will allow some latitude here; there are obviously areas where politics and faith intersect, and that intersection is not always entirely clear. But we will not allow political sniping.
(3) As a matter of fact, we will not allow sniping at all. We will be moderating more aggressively. Any post that makes personal attacks on others will be removed, or at least heavily edited; any post that is removed will also lead to the removal of all responses to that post. Persistent violations of this rule will lead to removal from the conversation. Robust discussion is good. Personal attacks are not.
That’s how things are going to go in the new year. With your help, we hope to get this train back on track.
And while I've said the effective date is January 1, in fact some of these things will be happening sooner. We need to practice a little before we go full bore into it.
I mourn for the possible loss of those pseudonymous posters who made positive contributions to our conversations. Even at the height of the election discussions there were those using "real" names who behaved just as badly as the worst pseudonymous posters.True, but I don't think we necessarily will lose all the anonymous posters. They can share their name or go into lurk mode. And yes, many of the people whose names are known have been just as guilty. But this is a comprehensive effort to save the forum from becoming a toxic place while still representing the full spectrum and not becoming an echo chamber like nearly all other theological forums. The anonymity thing is only part of it. Posters using their real names and posting lambast and rants (especially on politics) will also no longer be tolerated.
I can't help but wonder - in these times of Twitter mobs and twitchy HR departments - whether there might be a third way in regards to anonymous posting.
I have shared multiple times - every time I have interacted with an anonymous/psuedonymous poster at any length, I have sent a private message asking if they would be willing to tell me anything about themselves so I could better know how to interact. Not once was that request denied, and in many cases they shared legitimate reasons for desiring to remain anonymous. The doxxing tendencies of at least one poster were mentioned more than once.
I know the decision is probably already sealed, and I know that maintaining a database of "legitimate" anonymous posters might be too taxing, but given how much boorish behavior has centered on named posters, well... it seems like a toothier enforcement policy would achieve the same effect without the collateral loss. And it seems reasonable to say: identify yourself reliably to the moderators or take your comments elsewhere.
Take a look at my user name and you know my personal decision on anonymity. But then, I am blessed with a position where trying to articulate and work through a confessional Lutheran worldview doesn't also bring a high risk of unemployment.
All that said, as the board became mostly fights about politics, I pretty much bowed out. I am heartened that there is a desire to at last curb that.
BTW - Dead horse and all that, but there is still an anonymous poster ("gan ainm") who was falsely accused in the pages and on the website of the ALPB of coordinating illegal mobbing activity and who, despite the allegation being quietly retracted, has yet to receive an apology from the author, editor, or board. I get that this person was anonymous in his/her postings here, but even anonymously, that poster was/is a person. If ALPB is pivoting on anonymous posting, isn't this a (long overdue) opportunity to make amends to that anonymous poster? ALPB allowed this person to post anonymously, allowed him/her to be falsely accused in print, and (as of last time I interacted with the individual) has made zero effort to apologize. Surely no one is okey-dokey with that, right?
It is hard for me to understand what has been said about the value of the anonymous posters. We are dealing with angry minds here. In any public forum there is the need to balance personal privacy, freedom of speech, and defamation. There are legal means to deal with defamation beyond the ALPB Forum. I think that the anonymous posters are angry people who are too embarrassed to identify themselves. Exaggeration and suspiciousness are the marks of these persons. Reasonable Christian people will be willing to acknowledge their sin, admit that it. was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and resolve not to do it again.
It is hard for me to understand what has been said about the value of the anonymous posters. We are dealing with angry minds here. In any public forum there is the need to balance personal privacy, freedom of speech, and defamation. There are legal means to deal with defamation beyond the ALPB Forum. I think that the anonymous posters are angry people who are too embarrassed to identify themselves. Exaggeration and suspiciousness are the marks of these persons. Reasonable Christian people will be willing to acknowledge their sin, admit that it. was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and resolve not to do it again.
It is hard for me to understand what has been said about the value of the anonymous posters. We are dealing with angry minds here. In any public forum there is the need to balance personal privacy, freedom of speech, and defamation. There are legal means to deal with defamation beyond the ALPB Forum. I think that the anonymous posters are angry people who are too embarrassed to identify themselves. Exaggeration and suspiciousness are the marks of these persons. Reasonable Christian people will be willing to acknowledge their sin, admit that it. was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and resolve not to do it again.This isn't really the place to rehash the whole discussion. For many years we welcomed anonymous posters. When we discovered the forum discussion degenerating we looked at several possible changes, among them that we try a new policy of insisting on knowing who is posting. Neither policy is likely foolproof. Yes, we might lose the valuable insights of someone like SomeoneWrites, who went to seminary in the LCMS but who is now an atheist and might have perfectly valid reasons for not wanting his spiritual explorations publicly known. But we'll hopefully gain a sense of accountability for what we post, which, admittedly, has not always kept the named posters from spouting off political vitriol. But that is another thing we're going to tighten up the policing of. Richard's opening post on this thread was vetted and endorsed by several members of the alpb board who had formed a committee to look at possible changes. Hopefully everyone makes the best of it rather than bemoaning any downsides of the old way or the new way.
I'm cross-posting this for those of you who only read "Your Turn."
Your moderators have been in conversation with the ALPB board about the nature and future of this Forum. We, and they, are concerned about the toxicity of much of the recent conversation. We have discussed various options for improving the quality of interactions. There may be more changes in the future, but for now the following changes will be made effective January 1:
(1) We will no longer permit anonymous posters. You may include your real name (first and last names, please) as your user name, or, if you prefer, you may include your real name as a signature. If the moderators suspect that the name you provide is a pseudonym, we will be contacting you directly to assure that you are who you say you are. If you are currently posting anonymously, please see that you correct that prior to January 1.
(2) We will ask that you restrict your posts to matters related in some way to the purpose and ministry of the church or the challenges of the Christian life. There are plenty of other places to discuss the world of politics. We will allow some latitude here; there are obviously areas where politics and faith intersect, and that intersection is not always entirely clear. But we will not allow political sniping.
(3) As a matter of fact, we will not allow sniping at all. We will be moderating more aggressively. Any post that makes personal attacks on others will be removed, or at least heavily edited; any post that is removed will also lead to the removal of all responses to that post. Persistent violations of this rule will lead to removal from the conversation. Robust discussion is good. Personal attacks are not.
That’s how things are going to go in the new year. With your help, we hope to get this train back on track.
And while I've said the effective date is January 1, in fact some of these things will be happening sooner. We need to practice a little before we go full bore into it.