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I support the Stolen Valor issue wholeheartedly. Go for it.
Regarding the "real names" issue, I completely disagree. That will not work unless you are willing to completely uproot and change your entire business model of how you operate WIX.
These are the issues:
1) Some people post on this forum due to the anonymity it provides. In my case, it is NOT so I can "troll" different threads and say things that I wouldn't say in real life. Maybe some people do that, but not me. If I see something or take issue with what somebody says, I have no issue "calling them out", just like I do in real life. So, the fact that I post here anonymously has absolutely nothing to do with "trolling". I am heavily involved in warbirds and work with several organizations/museums/individuals and personally know several of the "high profile" people that we often talk about here on this forum. Because of my involvement in those groups, it has provided me access to "inside" information.
Even with my anonymity, I am only able to post a very small portion of what I actually know. Because the warbird world is so small, the more details one posts, the easier it is to narrow down the different personalities involved, just based on what they post here. I have figured out the identities of several "anonymous" posters here on WIX, strictly due to their associations and the information they post online.
Without anonymity, I would not post anything at WIX and would go away and never participate again. Due to the sensitive nature of different issues, projects, potential conflicts, safety, FAA scrutinization, etc., I have to watch very carefully what I post here, even anonymously. I post what I can without giving away any proprietary information that would get myself or other people in trouble. A lot of times I will post very vague, non-specific information that gives a sense of what is going on, but won't compromise the trust these organizations/owners have given me.
I know for a fact, because I work with them, or they are my friends, that there are several very important people in the warbird world who have so-called "anonymous" accounts that are registered at WIX in other than their real name. They mostly lurk here and read the forum for information, but occasionally drop some real "information bombs" that are revealing. If this forum were to require a real name and no protected identities, these people, for sure, would leave and never participate at WIX again.
2) Having someone register and post under their real name is practically unenforceable, unless you are willing to take extreme measures that will drive off the vast majority of your participants. Currently, if you just decree that somebody has to use their real name, what prevents them from using an "alias" or a different name? You would have to require some kind of "identification verification". That would open up a whole can of worms and could subject you to legal liability. There would only be 3 ways for "identification verification" to work:
a) Provide proof such as identification of some type - driver's license, passport, business i.d., W-2, or some kind of record of employment, or government document with a name on it.
b) Require people to pay for the use of this site through a credit card and/or paypal, etc. You would have to require them to only register under the name that is used on these payment services.
c) To require you or one of the "Mods" to have met or know, in real life, the person who is registering under their name at WIX.
If you require "a" from above, are you willing to accept the legal liability that might potentially come if that said person had their identity stolen and claimed that WIX mishandled their personal information? Also, that would be a very intrusive requirement that I don't think most people would agree to.
If you require "b" from above, do you think you would have enough participation to not only fund the site, but also to generate enough participation for discussions to make this forum a worthwhile venture? Let's face it, our little niche of "warbirds" is very small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I don't think there is enough demand to justify that WIX hide behind a "paywall". No offense to WIX, and I love you guys - but I don't think there is enough outside interest to keep this forum going should it require payments to use.
If you require "c" from above, that will eliminate 99% of all willing participants. Unless somebody just happens to know one of you personally, the chances are very remote that this method of identification verification could work on a large, international geographic scale, considering the amount of forum members outside of the United States.
In addition to all of this, people are a lot like water - they will seek the path of least resistance. That means other avenues for information sharing. Whether that means other or not yet developed forums, facebook, reddit, 4chan, or some other avenue - people will abandon this like a "hot potato" if the perception is that WIX is too much of a pain to deal with. A prime example of what could happen is the "Flypast Forum". It was a highly successful, credible and fantastic warbird forum for many, many years. Once that forum fell apart - and it didn't even require "real names" or a paywall - it has all but been abandoned. I fear the same would happen here should you require real names for registration or payment services to utilize.
Take it for what it's worth, but this is my honest 2 cents worth.
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Of course I guess if you're a former CAF member, maybe you lose the title?
