Crossword Help Forum
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Not quite, Paul. My initials are AJT, but you only have my word for that. I could be anyone - I could be your neighbour, and you wouldn't know.

wetblanket

There is a difference between the trolls abusive comments, the regulars getting a bit shirty with each other, and the non-crossword comments that friends may exchange on a day-to-day basis.

We don't have any control over the first, it seems. The second is, perhaps, inevitable at times and usually amically resolved. The last should be encouraged or this site will become sterile and boring, and will lose its unique style.

By the way, my real name is Sue, but as there are so many of us, I shall remain

as ever
Siamcat

Well that's certainly true for London - you can spend years and never know who your neighbours are!

Paul I use my real first name and my real initial. I feel no reason not to, but I don't care if people use a pseudonym, as long as they don't morph into other names in order to bully or harass or impersonate another postee in order to cause trouble.

You're missing the point - I could say my name is Snow White, and you wouodn't know I'm telling the truth. And what difference would it make anyway. In this kind of chat environment we're all anonymous.

That is the point AJT, it doesn't matter because who knows?

Terry & acolytes
I did not claim that I only comment on abusive or bickering threads. Terry's assumption that "wetblanket" is a pseudonym is yet another manifestation of the witch-hunt style of paranoia which he and other regulars like to whip up whenever anyone dares to contradict their Weltanschauung. However, we should not be surprised if people do adopt a nom de guerre, because of the levels of vitriol which have, sadly, become a commonplace on this site.

It's extraordinary how we all seem to see things differently.

To me it seems straightforward. You pick a user name (anything you like)and stick to it.

That way people come to know what to expect from a particular "name". The only reason to morph (apart from just to be abusive) is because you are afraid to say whatever it is you want to say, in your usual name.

Why should anyone take notice of "wetbanket", or anybody who to all intents and purposes is writing anonymous poison pen letters.

This reminds me of that old Yorkshire saying:- "Everybody's queer but thee and me, and even thee's a bit queer" - and I use "queer" in the old, almost lost, meaning

Straightforward indeed. Why would anyone be afraid, Terry? All I did was point out that this is a crossword forum and now I've been verbally hounded by you for several days. You bestride this forum like a malevolent Colossus, a digital McCarthy, a modern-day Matthew Hopkins, a virtual Pharisee. Let go of your anger, Terry. Quell the raging beast that dwells within you.