I read a number of blogs, and post to several of them. I always use my handle, masaccio (the 14th century Italian artist, regarded as one of the first of the renaissance painters and fresco artists). I do not necessarily want my actual name showing up in connection with that handle (though I do give my real e-mail address in connection with it where required).

There is a body of work on the web under my handle, and I will keep using it. I think I am not alone in this approach to the web. Perhaps you should re-consider the rule about handles.

Hello Salon!

It's interesting - I don't think that having future employers google me is what dissuades me from using my name. Rather, I am more concerned about trolls finding my personal information somewhere on Google. I know my name shows up quite frequently, and there might even be a chance for considerable mix up, because someone with my exact name was in undergrad at the same time I was in Business School at the same university (in my home town no less). I would hate for she or me to get hate mail, troubling phone calls, or other types of harassment offline.

I will be happy to always use the same handle and would be delighted if the editors or writers ever want to write me back. I think my handle is linked to a valid email address and paid Salon account, so I am sure you can link any of my letters back to me, should you wish to.

Thank you for your time and for these interesting new features.

Ellen

"And even publishing the ones we did choose took a lot of extra labor on the part of our editorial staff."

That's one of the primary responsibilities of an editorial staff -- they're letters to the editor, after all. You've still not provided a good explanation as to why Salon has chosen to abdicate this responsibility.

What's next, doctors whining that giving all those shots takes too much "extra labor"?

that nearly all of the people clamoring for everyone to suck it up and use their real names are men? This is a perfect example of how men feel like they can float through the word, marking their territory at will, without fear of repercussion. Like other women have noted, being able to be tracked down irl and harmed is a real threat that women face - and that men seldom realize or acknowledge.

While you're on the subject of improving the letters section, why don't you make it so the letters sort with the first posts on page one and subsequent posts on subsequent pages? This would make it much easier to follow the flow of conversation in a chronological and top to bottom manner. To follow this discussion as it unfolded (and writers reference previous posts) I had to start on "page 6" of the comments and then read the letters from the bottom of the page to the top, then click on "page 5", and so on.

I have noticed occasionally you do get the letters sorted chronologically, so it rankles me that I have to look at the posting times of the comments before diving into a multi-page response to a hot article. I should be able to expect consistency.

I was a Premium subscriber for two years, after having been a reader via Site Pass for 5 or so years before that. The increasing appearance of obvious typos in articles, dumbing down of content, etc drove me back to Site Pass land. The new blog like comments feature has been a good idea for Salon and I think the new policy announced in this patronizing Update is ill-considered. In this age of the new McCarthyism we are sliding into you don't understand why people might not want to sign their name to a letter? You know, it shouldn't be so difficult. Remove the obviously over the line comments if and when they appear, and otherwise let the comments fly, real names or not. If people are using your site as a forum for exchange of ideas, you should be happy. And your advertisers also. Ideas don't have personal identities.

You realize that what you're asking is that people sign A name to their letters, don't you. Of course you do. Silly editor, anyone wishing to post with a name other than their own will do so.

Possibly;

A.G.Clothodi

Then again maybe not.

>>That'll work

You realize that what you're asking is that people sign A name to their letters, don't you. Of course you do. Silly editor, anyone wishing to post with a name other than their own will do so.

Possibly;

A.G.Clothodi

Then again maybe not.>>

but, I don't lie.

If you ask for my name, I'm not going to make up a fake name and hope you believe it's a real name.

Has no impact on anyone in this case, but I don't lie.

Posting under a clear psuedonym such as cosmicmojo is honest in that my post communicates that this is a pen name and I'm not claiming to be legit under false pretenses.

A few months ago we had a case of a girl being kidnapped by a man she met on the internet. There are predators out there and I'm not posting my name.

to live in fear-- fear of your boss and terrorism and nuclear winter and avian flu and Internet boogiemen crawling through your window. The odds of you getting killed by someone who tracked you down through the internet are of course astronomically small, while the odds of being a victim of random crime (while still very small) are much, much higher. 165 people A DAY are killed in this country by car accidents, but of course, nobody starts biking to work because of it.

-Freddie deBoer

I use spike on every website I frequent... it's an old college nickname. I would use spike here, but apparently somebody else already has that, so spike24 it is. It gives me a sense of continuity on the web without violating my privacy.

It seems like the only real point of signing letters is so other people can see the other things you've written on the site for context, etc., which a handle accomplishes just fine. Full Names seems like an invasion of privacy to me.