Use only real names here?

[Current.org moderator]

Should the moderator request, or even require, that commenters use their real names? What would be gained and what would be lost?

[Mike Janssen]

Yeah, I think real names would be a good requirement. I don't think anything would be lost. Serious commenters should not have a problem with it.

[Current.org moderator]

I think so, too.

Mike, it would only be a request for "real names," anyway, wouldn't it?

Given the registration process, all I would have known about you was your e-mail, and it could have been a nickname, right?

[Current.org moderator]

Yes, we could weigh that in special occasions but generally ask for real names. I don't think there's any way we could enforce "real names" anyway, however, since we would only know people's e-mail addressee names, which can be nicknames, etc.

[Karen Everhart]

I also prefer that we require people to use their real names. Anonymous tipsters and people who hide behind pseudonyms lack credibility and wouldn't really contribute much.

We should remind people with information to share that they can contact us directly and we will protect their privacy as sources.

[Andy Carvin]

You should definitely encourage it, though it's hard to enforce, since there's nothing stopping me from creating an account with the name Nina Totenberg or something. Unfortunately there isn't a way to prevent spoofing like that on Ning, but nonetheless, encouraging real names will help. It increases transparency and accountability, and lessens the chance that users will be belligerent with each other.

When NPR launches its social networking tools later this year, we're going to ask users to use real names, though we haven't decided yet how we'll deal with users who register with obvious aliases. To deal with spoofing, we're creating a separate user class for all NPR employees, so when one of us posts to the network, it'll appear in a way that can't be spoofed, such as adding grayscale behind their text and adding a special icon next to it. That way, if some user were to come on and register as Nina Totenberg, it would look like any other user profile, not an NPR staff profile, and thus easier to catch as a fake.

-Nina Andy

[Andy Carvin]

Of course, if you require real names, that'll have to go for you, too, "Current.org Moderator" - assuming that even is your real name.... :-)

[Current.org moderator]

That's right. I used "moderator" to start the Ning account, but began using my own name last week (perhaps inconsistently) to participate in or start discussions.

That's a good precaution to distinguish NPR staff names. I hope the Internet someday will get a widely used system for verifying identities online, including e-mail senders.

Steve