FSLabs forum requires your real name to get liveries.

[G-RFRY 1,705]

I think all forums and app should req real names  then there would not be the online abuse and bullying that takes place today, resulting in some young person to take there own Life, instead of i can say what like and no one will know it`s me. 

[honanhal 1,420]

8 hours ago, w6kd said:

That's hyperbole--not a good analogy at all.  Walking around with hundred dollar bills taped to yourself would be more like posting your name, DOB, social security number, and credit card numbers on Reddit, not just registering your name on an obscure vendor's forum account and then never posting publicly. 

HiFlyer was responding to your extension of the (obviously true) point that it's tricky to maintain anonymity on the internet to your implied criticism of the OP. The fact that it's easy to have your privacy compromised on the internet is emphatically not an argument in favor of the proposition that we should make it easier for malign actors to compromise our privacy.

If the requirement was to make your username your social security number, would that bother you? Maybe not, but I have no doubt you'd draw the line somewhere. And your second post makes clear you don't believe categorically that any precautions are imprudent. So we're really talking about balancing what is and isn't reasonable. I agree with the OP that this is an unreasonable requirement, whether from FSL or PMDG. Names can be just as much a single point of identifying information as social security numbers. Not everyone has a name like Bob Scott.

And the fact that the username can at least be hidden by design doesn't really comfort me much. I've had my usernames and passwords hacked from more sites than I can count. That's bad enough without my username being my actual name! Again, why make things easier for the bad guys? As anti-piracy measures go, it's not quite as over-the-top as installing malware on users' computers, but it's still overreach in my book.

James

[Afterburner 374]

13 minutes ago, G-RFRY said:

I think all forums and app should req real names  then there would not be the online abuse and bullying that takes place today, resulting in some young person to take there own Life, instead of i can say what like and no one will know it`s me. 

If I start abusing and bullying other users, the forum moderator has the right to ban me, whether I use my full real name or not. In case of PMDG and FSL (forums where people normally don't hang around to contemplate taking their own life), they know my real name that is tied to my serial key of my software purchase. But there should be no problem if I only use my first name as the display name in that case.

How would a real name protect against insults and bullying?  It could actually make things worse in some cases when the young person who is being bullied displays his real name, which may attract unwanted attention or even more bullies.

[787flyer 633]

42 minutes ago, Afterburner said:

 

How would a real name protect against insults and bullying?  It could actually make things worse in some cases when the young person who is being bullied displays his real name, which may attract unwanted attention or even more bullies.

Answer. It doesnt protect you. There may be evidence or stats that displaying your real name has a less likelihood of come-back on a forum, but I am sure that wont dissuade all bad actors or bullies.

 

BTW: I really appreciate this post. I can see the different viewpoints everyone has on this and can certainly understand some of the concerns expressed here.

[Chock 17,769]

3 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

I think all forums and app should req real names  then there would not be the online abuse and bullying that takes place today, resulting in some young person to take there own Life, instead of i can say what like and no one will know it`s me. 

This would mean that people under risk of being bullied would not be able to use anonymity. It's a really bad idea.

What needs to be done is to educate people that being a bullying git, is not something anyone should ever do, whereas simply making it hard for someone to do it, is not solving the problem, it is avoiding tackling it.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Chock

[vadriver 247]

I'm confused by most of the above ....

PMDG asks for real names "to keep conversations personal and familiar"

sounds okay but more often than not, apart from RSR, non of their "staff / beta" team address a reply to your post "personally".

maybe it's me, but if you use any name / signature, real or not, i try to address a reply directly mentioning you somehow.

is there another reason .... how does anyone know your real name anyway ??

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Do forums that think this is a good idea make explicit promises to never sell or share your personal information? Just curious.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

I really don't get this concern about signing up to forums with your real name. As you can see, I have had no problem doing so here.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Christopher Low

[Ray Proudfoot 8,921]

17 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I really don't get this concern about signing up to forums with your real name. As you can see, I have had no problem doing so here.

I find that when walking around Cosford in previous years with my NWFSG name badge it resulted in me meeting a lot of people who remembered me from the forums. With a handle it never would have happened.

[overspeed3 410]

Slightly off topic but:

Iv'e purchased several FSLabs products over the years, and have been continually frustrated by the rather complicated methods they use to install/re-install payware, point of initiation (ready to fly), and their overly protective methods to protect this payware to the point that user-friendly is out the window...

 

[Rogen 1,087]

25 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I really don't get this concern about signing up to forums with your real name. As you can see, I have had no problem doing so here.

All good and well you might think.

But what if someone developed a grudge, I've seen posts appear here and disappear, where in the short time the post was visible it was plain the poster was going off the planet so to speak.

And a grudge or sleight can get quite nasty, you might end up a target for just mischief in general, or could be doxxed or swatted.

And it can be relatively easy via public records to track a person down.

I once tracked down a software developer (not for any nefarious purposes bty), by examining code in a hex editor where there existed a partial address embedded in a code signing certificate, then via multiple public online databases, where although none directly identified the person's details, as a whole they lay enough lines down to triangulate and thus in the end giving the full name, address and phone number of the software's developer.

Then again a phone book is usually enough 😉

Cheers.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

I guess I was scarred early. When I was still a teen, I encountered a forum with a women who was, lets say, quite extroverted. Over time, there were (I thought) several hints about who she might be in real life. ( A well known writer married to a state official, whose position might not be very well affected by her side activities)

Being a kid, and thinking I was being a clever little sleuth, I followed the breadcrumbs, tracked her down, and proud of my achievement, let her know what I had done, probably expecting a cookie for my cleverness. 😢

Not too surprisingly in retrospect, she was mortified and frightened, and begged me not to expose her, which had never even occurred to me.

When I reacted with confusion, she carefully explained to me the possible consequences of what I had done, and how it could hurt people. For me, it was like finding out (Enders game, anyone?) that my favorite pastime had been killing real people all over the world.

Believe me.

I can not possibly overstate how shocked, mortified and sad I was once I understood how badly I had violated her privacy and scared her. All these years later, I still feel ashamed and a bit sick, thinking about it, and how naïve/innocent/stoopid I was.

Eventually (God knows how these things happen) we became great friends for years, and I was horribly sad and affected (she was a much older lady) when she eventually died.

But the lesson has stuck with me and will remain for all my time on earth. I take peoples right to privacy extremely extremely seriously.

Extremely.

Edited April 23, 2021 by HiFlyer

[IanHarrison 521]

19 minutes ago, Rogen said:

Then again a phone book is usually enough 😉

Cheers.

Wow! Do they still have those in Out there ...thataway?

[Rogen 1,087]

12 minutes ago, IanHarrison said:

Wow! Do they still have those in Out there ...thataway?

Heh, yeah they still exist, typically electronic though, how else would the scammers get your number... in actuality corporations on sell their customer contacts lists which eventually makes its way to the black market. It's that little clause in their agreements, you know? The one that says they share with their "partners", ostensibly for our own good, so we can be kept informed of new exciting services and products etc. etc. etc.

Had a scammer call me  a couple of weeks ago, heavy accent, poor English, claiming to be from my bank, then he happened to give the name of the bank (whom I do not bank with) and I called him out, he stuttered about a bit and hung up.

I also collect tons of phone messages, saying things like I owed back taxes to the IRS (no IRS in my country), supposed calls from the Police where I'll be imprisoned if I don't pay a fine (Police don't process fines where I'm from), plus the bank scam, the computer support scam (I love to give those guys the run around to see how long I can keep them on the phone by speaking computer gibberish) and even some in robot voices and foreign languages. I think most of the time they just scatter bomb phone numbers and see what bites.

And that's why that particular phone number is always message bank first for human filtering.

Cheers

[W2DR 1,859]

I have many "real names". The only question is which one to use. It's no big deal.