All the whining diatribes and supercilious threats to unsubscribe by pseudonymous posters complaining about Salon's publishing other people's whining drivel are almost too precious to bear. Almost as silly as the carefully composed vanity handles that say something clever about the poster. Almost as contemptible as the middle class cult of privacy that seems to count as a primary value for so many here. And I am sick to death of the "progressive" tax payers who support American wars in contradiction to their basic principles, and hide their convictions from co-workers for fear of employment reprisal or social distemper. Fuck you preening, self-justifying, self-deceiving, self-congratulatory enablers of hegemony.

And can't any of you whingers read? If you want to remain anonymous or slyly pseudonymous, the new policy doesn't prevent it. It just says you will be less likely get the teacher's star by your name for being a good critic. Your grievance amounts to nothing more than you will be less likely to be highlighted. Heart breaking. A compelling moral/ethical/political/philosophical issue if ever I've seen one. Now watch this drive.

Not that it matters, but I have almost always written under my real name since the birth of this medium about 15 yrs ago, citing my real city, not only on Salon, but on a variety of other sites, many of them right wing. No stalkers yet, but plenty of hate mail. If it gets me murdered (how characteristically American to indulge in this hysterical hyperbole), well, I embrace what I believe. Bring on the crazy, disgusting, upsetting variety of opinions carefully prepared or spontaneously vomited up by your readers. I'll use the editor's choice star feature if I get tired of them.

And by the way, Salon is as much a business as Fox News. They're hoping to increase readership with this feature. I'm satisfied that my few cents a day for a premium subscription is still a bargain. Salon isn't what it was at first. But it has survived where others have failed. When I decide to give up Salon, I won't burden any of you with a pompous announcement.

Oh, and death to American militarism.

PS. Sisyphus, keep pushing. I'm sure you'll get there eventually

Come on guys. I've sent 3 anonymous letters and two more letters under different names. I've clicked "refresh" about 20 times in the last hour and no one has mentioned or reacted to me yet. I'm outta here.

Say what you want, I assume your country is a free one too.

As for the handle, I got this suscription as a gift, and the precious "handle" you so bemoan, at least in my case, was chosen for me by my wife. It isn't a literary reference. Mine means I am going to be a PharmD, or a doctor of pharmacy, i.e. pharmd2b. Clever. I guess my wife didn't want to just throw my name out there. I thought it was nice of her to consider me.

I wanted to end this letter with "get bent, wanker", but I thought better of it.

Then I thought again...

Get bent, wanker.

Dave Luckett

Every internet safety site, including the FBI, strongly says: "Do not give out any personal information on the internet". Again and again and again.

Everyone will do as they like and find their own comfort level, but remember what the FBI recommends and you'll increase your chance of safety. No one ever deserves to be a victim of a crime, but it's amazing how some people will act recklessly and then get indignant when they're victimized. I had a friend who picked up a stranger hitchhkiking and then was alarmed he started masterbating in her car. Sure it's alarming, but if she'd acted responsibly to start with, the freak would never have been in her car.

Prevention.

I can't remember how it was set up. Was it set up to use the 'username' or 'handle', or did they set it up with the real name? By default?

I'm not sure how Salon ended up here. If they wanted real names, they should have just gone with that.

I guess they really need to come up with a better 'penalty'. Maybe at the end of the month put all the pseudonym people's names (for consistency, their real names) and then do a Salon 'rendition' on, say, 2%.

"Why am I in Bulgaria?"

"Your Salon letters... to the editor?"

"What about them?"

"You don't use you real name. They asked you to use your real name?"

"What's going to happen to me? At first... they said it was OK, they changed, not me!"

"We need to know... why you don't use your real name?"

"Enough to take me to Bulgaria?"

"We just need to know. I'm going to leave this 'Hannity and Colmes' tape playing for the next 12 hours, and then we'll talk again. Think about it."

I understand the concern for using real names. I also enjoy reading the made up names especially when the names reflect a further opinion on the topic.

I exhibit art work on line and use my real name as do many other artists and craft people. So far no crazies have tried to get me.

As the Editor's Choice picks virtually never include criticism of Salon's editorial choices, they aren't worth much to start with.

Thanks, but I'm more interested in the gut-reactions of readers who aren't leashed to a 19th century ideal of politesse.

And Editors, you ought to be, as well.

Even though you aren't wasting any trees on it, I find the collecting and archiving of a writer's comments more of a vanity point than serving any real purpose.

By taking the letters out of context (even with the omnipresent link available)and merely consolidating them as a disjointed narrative, any real rhetorical value is lost.

I respect the new letter policies and have liked/read Salon since '98 (I think), but please reconsider this sensless archiving.

If someone wants to Google me, make 'em work for it.

PS: You're gonna archive this, aren't you?