Very Important Poll Question for All Posters!

[Ekaterina]

You know Stephen is right. It is because of such attacks and such malice that it is not a good Idea to use your "real" names. The potential for harm to an individual is far greater than any one"need" or "right" to know.

I chose who should know me. If that cannot be respected ... well then I guess I need to reconsidered coming here.

What essentially is in a name? Does the fact that I use Katya as my name really mean anything? Would it mean anything if my name was Hannah? or Mary? or Robert or Paul? All it is is a label, a label that should not be used to judge who and what. Rather consider what I write and deal with that. At least I don't try to sell you a load of #### from some wacky cult.

Katya

[gphadraig]

I have now read page 5 of this thread, in particular the subdeacon Nathaniel's post at the foot of the page.

Words fail me. I agree wholeheartedly with Orthodox6 response at the top of page 6 and having gone over some of the subdeacon's threads simply been amazed that any site would allow such disgraceful and destructive posting to continue, let alone a traditional Orthodox Christian site.

Whether you take a secular or spiritual view colluding with this by allowing someone who elsewhere would have been banned to continue is not helpful. Not for him nor for anyone else, and I suspect is damaging to the reputation of this website.

And it goes on, why? Are there any moderators and why do you not act?

[Ebor]

If we just give first names, not jurisdiction or location, I dont' think it would be possible for any crazy people to track us down.

Rebecca

Well, in the initial post, it is mentioned of possibly requiring religious affiliation. This could possibly mean jurisdiction.

Orthodox6 is correct that people can let little clues and bits of information into postings without realizing it. An off-hand reference here and there can add up to alot.

Ekaterina= Exactly! I still have the question Why does one person desiring information trump another's privacy?

Ebor

[尼古拉前执事]

I thought that as Orthodox Christians we are always supposed to use our baptismal names....maybe I am missing something?

Natasha (baptized as Natasha, not Natalia, at the request of my mother)

I aggree with Natasha. Christians have to use their Baptismal* Names.
By coinsidence I had a relative discussion on Beliefnet Eastern Orthodox about the Name issue* few days ago.
If someone's Name has been already "taken" by an other user a Surname may be choosen eg. Christos_the_Greek or Christos_Vatopedinos etc so that privasy can be retained.

Obviously you cannot check if the members declaire their real names but this has to be requested by the forum and be left to the good will of the members.

*http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/liturgi ... aptism.asp
**http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/boards_ ... ategory=51
***http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/message ... nID=450116

Christos

Here is a recently published thread on exactly that:

http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4578

[尼古拉前执事]

Well with 53 votes, probably the most votes of any poll here, (almost 10% of the posters participated!) it was really too close to make a change in the policy.

However, seeing some of the concerns, OOD, who is on hiatus, decided he would switch to using his real name when he comes back and removed his moniker from the member rolls.

At this time we wopuld like to remind people that we do prefer that you post with your Baptismal (or legal name if not a Baptized Orthodox Christian), but we will not require it if you are laity. If you come and post that you are clergy, we are going to require that you use your real name and if asked, you should give out your church info too. If you do not want to give out this info and are clergy, then do not tell us that you are and you can follow the laity rules.

Some names are not allowed, including calling yourself a name like "Satan, Kali, Saint Vladimir, St Tikhon, Our Lady of Vladimir, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, etc.". All are examples of names people have tried to use. No name with Saint in front of it, no demon or false-goddess names, no proper names of the Holy Trinity.

Thank you to aall who voted and commented on the issue. It was very educational to see how everyone thinks on this.

[1937 Miraculous Cross]

Dear Moderators:

Aristokles wrote:

1937 Miraculous Cross wrote:
what is there to hide? I've always disliked it when people hid behind pseudonyms. I've always used my baptismal name, and even at times my last name and where I live.
nectarios

So may we then assume that "1937 Miraculous Cross" is your baptismal name?

Aristokles obviously missed the fact that I ended my post with my baptismal name, Nectarios. "1937 Miraculous Cross" is what I chose for
a general identifier. As you my know, if you've read my posts I always use my baptismal name and often list my last name and where I'm from. So, my question is, if I sign off with my baptismal name can I keep the 1937 identifier, or do I have to change that?

in Christ,
Nectarios

[尼古拉前执事]

So may we then assume that "1937 Miraculous Cross" is your baptismal name?

Aristokles obviously missed the fact that I ended my post with my baptismal name, Nectarios. "1937 Miraculous Cross" is what I chose for
a general identifier. As you my know, if you've read my posts I always use my baptismal name and often list my last name and where I'm from. So, my question is, if I sign off with my baptismal name can I keep the 1937 identifier, or do I have to change that?

in Christ,
Nectarios[/quote]

If you become clergy and make it known, we would ask you to change your username, but as laity we are not going to force people to change from a moniker to their real name.