Lately, I am seeing a lot of technical comments ... and even entire threads ... which are being made by Anonymous Monk.   These are not particularly negative comments.   These are not people dodging (or firing ...) the downvote-bullet to protect their precious-to-them reputations.   No, nothing “snarky” at all.   They are technical comments, and good ones, therefore by-the-way quite worthy of upvotes.   In one case today, Anonymous is heard saying, “if you remember my previous post [on the subject].”   Problem:   how easy is it going to be to find that particular post, and, having found it, to know that it’s the one referred to?   Now fast-forward six months ... a year ... the post is long forgot, but an intrepid soul with a problem is doing a Super Search.   Can he find your exact comment, quickly, now?

Oops, you see that you made an error.   Can you go back and fix it now?   Nope!   Not good:   now, and forevermore, the PM database contains an error, or at least, unfinished business.   The post belongs to no-one now.   From an information-quality standpoint, that’s not good.

I think that we should strongly encourage people to log in when they post comments.   (I have said, before, that I actually don’t like the idea of Anonymous at all ...)   But here’s the main reason for my suggestion:   if I know who you are, I can search for you.   I can find your other posts, probably without trolling through dozens of pages.   I can use your name as part of the Super Search criteria.   All of which cannot be so-effectively done in the case of our Anonymous brother.

We always need to keep in mind, not just the present, but the future.   More than its dubious value as a social gathering-place for geeks, PM is very much an information resource of very durable, long-lasting value.   People do look for information that is months or years old, and find it just as valuable as when it was written, if they can find it and identify it.   Therefore, sign your name to your posts.   It really isn’t a petty-game of pluses and minuses ... rather, it is something that I think adds real value to your posts when you include it; and removes much of that value when you don’t.

Another, related suggestion would be to emphasize the value of weaving searchable keywords into post responses, especially if the original thread or its title did not include relevant terms.   And, to be sure that posts represent complete thoughts, to include not only our suggestions but the context/assumptions in which they are made.   Searches consider individual posts, not merely threads.   The searcher will encounter the post before s/he encounters its thread context.   Therefore, make every post count.   Once again, we are pandering to our intrepid Super Searcher from the Future, and in so doing, helping PM to continue to be:   “the Go-To Site on the Internet™” for questions regarding Perl and technical computing.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: "Please, log in ..."
by chacham (Prior) on Jan 20, 2015 at 19:14 UTC

    Though i wish people would post under their normal handles, the idea of removing or even restricting is so anathema to me that proposing to encourage it already makes me cautious. We have to work with people, not against them. If they want to post anonymously, so be it. (It'll be blocked when required, as it has was done Oct 14-20.)

    Related nodes could be more easily linked, but that does require finding it, which can take a few clicks. If anything, i'd address finding and linking nodes to address the problem more directly.

[reply]

      I wonder how many "anonymous monks" were too focused on the content and didn't notice a switch from perlmonks.org to perlmonks.com ?

      It does seem rather easy to accidentally post as anonymous.

      Perhaps, when the session context is "not logged in", the "create" button could instead be labeled "post anonymously"?

[reply]
        Excellent idea!
[reply]
      A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.

      Being aware of such opposition to the notion of restricting our Anonymous friend, I am not here suggesting that.

      I see, here recently, many “valuable, but Anonymous,” posts, and entire threads ... which, I suggest, become quite a bit less valuable, just by being anonymous and un-owned.   Someone snapped-off a valuable suggestion, fortunately did not make any tpyos while doing it, deserved kudos but will never get them.   Referred to “my” previous post on a subject but we have no idea who “my” is, and so on.   So, I’m just expressing the sentiment that, yes, it does make a positive difference when you take the time to Log In.   (And to preview your post one last time, to be sure that you are still logged-in.)   That it’s beneficial that you took those extra few seconds.

Re: "Please, log in ..."
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 20, 2015 at 20:18 UTC
    Oops, you see that you made an error. ... the PM database contains an error, or at least, unfinished business. ... From an information-quality standpoint, that’s not good.

    Okay, you first: There are quite a few posts of yours in which a (purely technical) error was pointed out, but you did not reply or fix the node. Lead by example!

[reply]
Re: "Please, log in ..."
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 20, 2015 at 21:26 UTC
    Anonymous is heard saying, "if you remember my previous post ..."

    Anonymous Monks should be aware of the limitations of anonymously-posting, and not say things like that (or assume they can be differentiated from others), and instead just link to the post they're referring to. That's all

[reply]

      I think this anonymous monk made a good point about accidental "log out".

      I have followed links in posts that crossed between the .org and .com domain and accidentally posted a reply anonymously. I would be surprised if no one else has.

      The change she/he suggested should not be significant as the website already has logic to display this differently based on whether the user is logged in or not.

[reply]

        It would annoy some monks at first but I’d like to see URIs redirect/rewrite the extra domains to a canonical version. I’ve always thought it a little goofy that it doesn’t.

           (www\.)?perlmonks.(com|org)/ -> perlmonks.org/

        Sidenote: I set up my account to use tobyink’s themes and now it’s impossible to mistake the state of authentication.

[reply]
[d/l]

        Hi RonW, you wanted to reply to Re^2: "Please, log in ..." :)

        The current buttons I see are [preview][create]

        I also agree it would be better for the theme challenged if the buttons for anonymous monk were [preview][create anonymously]

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.
      and that is exactly what he did
[reply]
Re: "Please, log in ..."
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 20, 2015 at 17:57 UTC
    <popcorn>

    "Please, log in..."

    Nope.

    </popcorn>

[reply]
    A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.
Re: "Please, log in ..."
by Anonymous Monk on Jan 21, 2015 at 01:16 UTC
    Therefore, make every post count.

    Good idea. How about you help by making your posts readable?

[reply]
Re: "Please, log in ..."
by wjw (Priest) on Jan 22, 2015 at 16:53 UTC

    I agree.

    The suggestion of the "submit button" content depending on the session status seems a good one. It at least helps those who intended to post as an identified recognize that they are no longer identified. That makes sense and can be done without having to get into the underlying broader issue of 'anonymous' posting, the debate over which will probably still be going long after we have evolved off what we now call the web.

    I too dislike anonymous posts. But I ain't going to fight that battle. Making it simpler to not accidentally post as such seems like a positive thing to do without stomping on any other point of view.

    ...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it...

    A solution is nothing more than a clearly stated problem...

    wjw
[reply]

Back to Perl Monks Discussion