Alright, what on earth is going on??

The 'Suggestions for OLO' thread has DISAPPEARED!!

Usual Suspect,

Changing one's moniker shouldn't matter, should it?

The only reason it could matter to OLO is that the sustenance of multiple identities could conceivably be used to circumvent Forum posting limits, or to create an illusion of interest in a topic where in fact there may be little genuine response occurring.

Changing one's moniker may matter a lot to some other posters, however, for some posters may have invested a lot of time and effort in 'labelling' some other poster who has incurred their ire. Their approach of playing the man rather than the ball is threatened with negation by a change of OLO userID on the part of any poster who may have been perceived as successfully delivering any 'message' they (the man-players) don't like.

Perhaps, returning more directly to addressing Ludwig's opening post, a major significance of OLO is the opportunity it gives for ventilating subjects that, by seeming consensus, are censored out of mainstream media coverage. In this context, the prospect of OLO identities being able to submit articles under their nom-de-plume has great merit.

Some informed, articulate and challenging posts on OLO may threaten to open politically taboo subjects up to wider discussion. Not all within the community may want this to happen, and some may resort to ad hominem arguments to lower the quality of discussion. If the site is as well visited as the Google search ratings suggest, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some interests may actually attempt technical interference with the operation of the OLO site to the same end.

"I think it's funny if polycarp never admits to being BOAZ."

Should it be that posting difficulties similar to those I encountered figured in B_D choosing an alternative userID, he may feel that if he was to admit to having taken out a new userID he would be admitting to having violated Forum rules, when, acting in accord with the spirit of those rules, he was in reality merely overcoming a technical problem not of his making.

.Ludwig,

"Suggestions for OLO" is still there. Its just over one month old now, and so doesn't get displayed in the index if you use the default settings.

Forrest Gumpp,

I can't find the link quickly, but GrahamY has said explicitly in his posts he doesn't care about people changing their nym's. As you surmised, I don't think he would even care if you have multiple nym's provided he could guarantee you followed the forum rules - ie the nym's don't meet each other on the same thread, and they didn't collectively post more than 5 times a day. The one issue he would have with it is having multiple nym's makes it impossible to police those limits automatically. In fact I'd go so far as to say if the software let you create several nym's that were linked to the one identity so those limits could be policed, the restriction would go away entirely.

R0bert,

Your view matches mine I think. This forum isn't a bad way to test a viewpoint - put it out there and see what objections come up. It would be an excellent way to test a viewpoint if more people addressed the issue instead of the person. But even when they don't it can be illuminating. Sure the parlaying responses can be like playing tennis against a wall, but the random variation can make you think on occasion.

As for US not understanding why somebody would dig through someone's comment history - well it boils down to trying to empathise with them. I find myself wondering "how can they possibly think that...", and so go through their comment history to try and understand where they are coming from. Often if you want to my them understand your point of view, you first have to understand theirs so you can put your viewpoint in terms they can accept.

Ah yes, the other OLO thread is now over a month old, so it has dropped off the end of the default list. Well, if a seasoned OLO operator like Ludwig can get totally caught out like this, I’d suggest that it is something that needs to be changed.

It is still a current thread. The last post was two days ago at the time it dropped off the default list. I think that current threads MUST stay visible.

Forrest, yes OLO is a valuable sounding board for the general community. Politicians and researchers of all sorts can get a very good indication of the ‘mood’ on various subjects.

It is certainly much better than polls, with simple questions and no room for any explanation of reasons for voting one way or the other. It’s a whole lot better than letters or quick comments in newspapers. And it is at least as good as talk-back radio.