Change to Chat Room Policy on use of real names.

At the recent USCS Board meeting President Paul Helman proposed and the Board approved a proposal to require users of the USCS Chat Room to use their full name. Before we implement this policy I want to communicate the reasons behind this proposal and then the schedule we will use. Step one is to communicate, step two is to answer questions and step three is to make the change. Many users do use their full name but some do not. All changes, however small to some could be large to others. You deserve to be given the reasons as to why we want to do this. My hope is that all users feel compelled to support this and then politely challenge others and new users to adhere to this policy.

Historically bulletin boards, electronic messaging systems and now chat rooms were places where it was almost expected to use a nom de guerre or fanciful name. Early users of RBBSs never used their real names and this has continued on many message boards and open posting web locations. We want to step away from this practice and require all UCSC Chat Room users to use their full name so all users are accurately identified. This will reduce some of the confusion as to who makes a posting and to whom a response should be directed. Clearly over time the regular users figure out who the frequent users are. However infrequent users and new users may be confused. Another reason, not stated at the board meeting, is that since the chat room messages are archived they become searchable by search engines. I believe we want meaningful messages that happen to be "discovered" from a search to have the real name of the poster to be listed. Obviously this way an interested person who did the search knows whom to contact for more information. Lastly it just makes sense to ask users to list their real name.

Before I go any further let me say that by real full name I mean whatever full name, first and last, you regularly use. If you were named Jerome and go by Pat or if your are Clement and are called Beano that is ok but you must attach your last name. These are real examples of friends of mine and neither will respond if addressed by their birth names.

Using your full name is as easy as using any name. You just need to enter it once in the "Name" sign-on field and then at each subsequent use your name pops up after just a few letters. Just select the name and it is entered into the name field. Simple and easy.