st: Identities on Statalist

[n j cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

Clive Nicholas suggested

"Please note that posting under aliases to Statalist is a rather
rubbish idea."

I have various comments:

1. There are no official rules or even suggestions in the FAQ about what 
identifiers or names you use on Statalist. Mostly, that's your business.

2. Many people are sensitive to the fact that an internet presence 
attracts even more spam, and so use what cunning they can to reduce 
that, and good luck to them.

3. On occasion I have seen names like "statalist" or similar being
used. I think we need to ask you to avoid names like that. Presumably
such people are adopting such an identity purely for membership of this
list, and have other choices available to them. I am going to suggest
that we have this convention: people are asked to avoid any name
that includes "Stata" or any obvious variant on that. The risk of
confusion is small, but it is not zero, hence the request.

4. I've stumbled across stuff on the internet in which it appears
that everyone has an alias and gets high on hurling poorly written 
insults at each other. Statalist is pretty much the other end of the
spectrum, manifestly, and is serious (without being solemn). Also, all 
the most active and authoritative members of the list use their own 
names and have identifiable roots. If you choose to be different, that's 
your choice, but people might start making assumptions, usually 
unconsciously, about how much you deserve an answer. In short, you
lose nothing and may gain something by saying who you really are and 
where you are based. This doesn't mean you must write from an 
institutional address, but it does mean that the mood is positive
about stating affiliations.

Nick
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
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