Re: Using nicknames on planet?

Hi!

On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 6:19 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> Greg Smith <greg@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
>> I used to live in a small town with only about 30K residents, and once
>> when I forgot my ID card I discovered that just my gym had 3 Greg Smiths
>> listed as members when they tried to confirm my membership by name.
>
> Yeah, there are four or five Tom Lanes in the Pittsburgh phonebook,
> but at least I'm not a Smith ;-)
>
> I think we should have a policy that prevents using misleading or
> unknown nicks on planet, but in this case depesz is arguably better
> known by that name than as his "real" name.  I cannot see any reason
> not to let his planet blog be signed that way.

I encourage people to use their real names, as it establishes
credibility (you stand behind your posts with your reputation!) and
helps expand the community around Postgres. The goal of Planet isn't
branding - it's about making knowledge about Postgres more easily
accessible to developers and users of Postgres (and the rest of the
software world!), not necessarily to build business associates or
strengthen ties in a secret club.

We're an international group, but I like to think of us as software
neighbors. How you would introduce yourself to your neighbors? Most of
us would use our real names.

That said, there are certainly people who are better known by
nicknames than by real name.

I support providing the ability for people to have a nickname
displayed, but strongly recommend people still reference their real
names.

-selena

--
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