[78-L] Net privacy and integrity (was: The Christmas Songs)

[Michael Biel]

Kristjan -- I am sorry if my comments have upset you.  As you know, we
have a relationship on the list among most of us where we feel free to
disclose a lot of info about what we do, what we have done, and what we
think, both professionally and personally.   It does help that many of
us know each other personally or have met, but even those of us who have
not actually met are all welcome to be part of the 78-L Family, so to
speak.  We know a lot about each other because many of us don't hold
back.  Many years ago this list became more than just a simple Q&A
service, but if someone just has a question they are more than welcome
to ask it and get our answers and our help and advice.  Getting involved
in discussions here generally means getting involved with us, because as
has been discussed many times here, we are people, and we are more than
just a living discography.  Maybe we occasionally go a little overboard,
but we feel we are family, and family sometimes have widely divergent
personalities.  I didn't realize my little "digs" would upset you.  


I do find interesting your mentioning of "net privacy and integrity" and
then mentioning the use of our full names.  Many years ago, long before
even I joined this list, it became traditional that we generally
identify who we are.  When this specific subject came up on ARSC-List a
couple of months ago it was agreed that since many of the members use
that list professionally it should be expected that people identify
themselves.  The 78-L is different, and there is a greater mixture of
non-professionals in the membership, but looking thru the postings of
the past month I see only three people who do not identify themselves
with first and last names either in their "from" info, their email
address, or their message signature, but I think that one of them did
discuss their identity this summer when asked, and there was a political
issue in his country.  (A couple of others have used fuller
identifications in the past, like "Spats" just signs as "Earl" but
EVERYBODY knows that this is Earl Oken!!)  I think that many of us
believe that knowing who each other is, is our protection, but when
someone who will not identify themselves just dives in and leaves a bomb
and leaves, that lessons the security and integrity for the rest of us. 
They know who we are, but we do not know who they are.


On the net (and in life) there are two levels of trust in people based
on whether or not we know our identities.  When you look at commentaries
and articles on the web on legitimate news sites, the articles and
commentaries are signed by known persons.  We know who they are and what
their background is.  But then below the article come an endless string
of anonymous reactions and comments.  These people feel they can say any
damn thing because they are anonymous.  I don't think we want that on
the 78-L.  When reading those news sites I can judge what to consider
from the article by the signed author, and I also know that the
multitude of anomymous reactions are WORTHLESS.  This also tends to be
true here.  Additionally, having our identities known is an insurance
against being impersonated without detection.  On the blogs there are
always trolls who falsely use the known handles of regular posters to
stir up trouble.  We don't want that here.    


Again for newbies and lurkers, I am not talking about asking questions
or seeking advice, but when diving into discussions I think we would
really prefer knowing who we are conversing with.  Ron can help, but we
don't want things to dissolve into that level.  Blogs prove that
anonymous posters can sometimes feel brave enough to post anything, and
it would be better for us that listers don't feel reckless.  Net
privacy?  This list is somewhat like a clothing optional nudist colony. 
Now don't get me wrong, I do NOT wish to see any of you naked (well,
maybe Andrea . . . ) but most of us are out in the open with our
identity visible to all.  You can come in here without taking your suit
off, but if you interact with us we eventually might get a little bummed
out that we've shown you ours and you haven't shown us yours.  We
haven't yet gone the extra step requiring nudity in disclosing your
identity, but don't be surprised when we look upon with suspicion what
you might have to hide.  

Again, my apology for upsetting Kristjan.  I hadn't realized it would.  
     

Mike (real name) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [78-L] The Christmas Songs
From: "Kristjan Saag" <saag at telia.com>
Date: Sun, December 20, 2009 11:06 pm
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>

I wrote:
>And I've co-arranged a Leroy Anderson 100 year memorial concert in
>Gothenurg in January where the conductor was happy to exclude
>"Sleigh Ride", just because nobody wants to hear Christmas Songs in 
>January.
---
Mike Beal wrote:
> Sounds like he was TALKED OUT of performing it, not that it was his idea
> to not perform it. You were probably very persuasive and that his
> happiness might have been more to end the discussion!
---
I'd suggest you calm down a bit, before this gets out of hand.
A couple of days ago you dubbed me a Christian, although I've never 
expressed any religious views on this list.
Now you're telling me how a concert programme in Gothenburg was set, 
implying that I was overly persuasive etc.
I admire your knowledge in matters of record collection, production, 
reproduction, cleaning, packaging, tasting, filing, playing and a
thousand 
other aspects, and I guess we all do, including yourself. But that
doesn't 
make you omnipotent. And it definitely doesn't put you in a position
where 
you can throw around wild guesses about other persons' religious beliefs
or 
conduct.
That gets close to violating net privacy and integrity, which we all
should 
be able to enjoy on this list. Including Tom, BTW, whose decision not to

mention his second name is none of your business either.
Kristjan