Re: Real Names
 

In the end I prefer choice.

First of all you'll never know for certain if a name is genuine or not.

Second I can understand if someone wants to use something else for a login name.

Third even if you use a nickname to login, your real name can be known or even used in a signature.

Finally there will always be people who don't feel comfortable sharing their name in a public forum.

I think that behavior is far more important than the name you choose to go under. Of course one should not be surprised that the name you go under can effect your acceptance within the TOCH! community.

In the end TOCH! is foremost a community driven place and that's good thing, IMHO.

Re: Real Names
 

I tend to agree with Ruy.

To me the quality of and validity of facts/ideas in a post are more important than the identity of the poster.

It is up to the readers to determine these values.

Of course, behaviour on the board is a seperate issue that is generally independant of identity in most cases.

Cheers

Rod

Re: Real Names
 

A slightly different POV, if you will...

First off, I would never call myself a "historian", per se (particularly on this web site!), except insofar as it pertains to my interests.

What I am is an artist in the midst of transitioning from traditional forms of art to computer graphics. I am also a poet and occasional writer (published offline as well as online).

Yes - I use a pseudonym online, not to protect my privacy [sidebar: my email addy is - I believe - viewable, and since I've used the same internet name (jimkirk2) since the beginning of the internet, anyone who is interested can google me...), but because "RangerJimK" is how I log onto Computer Graphics boards as well as on FB (although I'm "RangerJim.Kirk" there: http://tinyurl.com/yzpla2x ).

Why am I here? Because, as an artist, I demand accuracy in whatever I do - poetry, stories or art - and in the short time I've been here, I have been highly impressed with the scholarship demonstrated here (or at least on the "Luftwaffe and Allied" forums - haven't checked the others yet).

I've been doing a bit of research on the He 111 recently and have come up with some interesting information on the torpedo and Fi-103 launching variants and the hardware used to carry them.

Now, as I believe that I've mentioned somewhere, I'm both a former US Army Intelligence Analyst and a former US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician. I either have or can get access to information about WW II Luftwaffe and Allied dropped ordnance and fuzing.

But if anyone doesn't care to use me as a possible source, well all I can say is "Tut mir leid, dass", eh? ;)

Jim

Re: Real Names
 

Hi Jim:

Isn't using Army Intelligence and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician the same context sort of an oxymoron? :)

Just teasing. Thanks for offering your services. Hopefully, someone will take advange of it.

John

Re: Real Names
 

Ahhh...

Well John, here's the way it went:

[OT warning on ;)]

I went to Vietnam as a young Ranger qualified Infantry Lieutenant in Dec '67. Came back a year later (I was in & around Saigon during Tet '68...) with a couple of gongs and a serious determination to go into a safer line of work than running through rice paddies while people shot at me, eh? :D

So I volunteered for Bomb Disposal. :shock: A few years later, I "fell into bad company," (as the saying goes ;) ) and was recruited into Military Intelligence. :rolleyes:

Me, I was hoping for an assignment in Technical Intelligence, but wound up as an all-source analyst with a primary specialty of Photo Analyst.

Ah, but I had fun and came out of my military service with all of my fingers and toes in the proper place and a decent amount of my intelligence intact, eh? :D

[/OT Warning off]

Yes, well... As I said, at this time, I'm interested in the air war in the west (Battle of Britain and all that, you know?), but if I show a certain aircraft in a scene, that aircraft - Allied or Axis - will have the proper aircraft codes for that make and mod and the proper unit for the time frame.

And, while I have a real world example of a computer graphics model which I recently purchased, I shall post my queries about markings and ordnance in the proper forums.

Jim