Anonymous Users?

[George H. Smith]

I sometimes check the bottom of a page to see who is logged in, and I don't understand the difference between a "guest" and an "anonymous user." We don't know who the person is in either case, so what's the point of the distinction?

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

I sometimes check the bottom of a page to see who is logged in, and I don't understand the difference between a "guest" and an "anonymous user." We don't know who the person is in either case, so what's the point of the distinction?

I figured it all out by logging out and going to the log in page and you can too. I lost my post explaining it all and it's too trivial to rewrite. You'll need about 60 seconds for the round trip including the figuring it out.

--Brant

[George H. Smith]

I sometimes check the bottom of a page to see who is logged in, and I don't understand the difference between a "guest" and an "anonymous user." We don't know who the person is in either case, so what's the point of the distinction?

I figured it all out by logging out and going to the log in page and you can too. I lost my post explaining it all and it's too trivial to rewrite. You'll need about 60 seconds for the round trip including the figuring it out.

--Brant

But why would someone log in as an "anonymous user" instead of as a "guest"? That's what I don't understand. What's the point?

[Brant Gaede]

I sometimes check the bottom of a page to see who is logged in, and I don't understand the difference between a "guest" and an "anonymous user." We don't know who the person is in either case, so what's the point of the distinction?

I figured it all out by logging out and going to the log in page and you can too. I lost my post explaining it all and it's too trivial to rewrite. You'll need about 60 seconds for the round trip including the figuring it out.

--Brant

But why would someone log in as an "anonymous user" instead of as a "guest"? That's what I don't understand. What's the point?

If I knew the point I might do it myself. I don't get that either.

--Brant

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

And anonymous user is a member who is logged in, but doesn't want his name to appear at the bottom. A guest is a person reading the forum who is not a member.

Michael

[tjohnson]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I speculate, but I imagine if a topic is getting heated, and a poster wants to pretend he is "above it all," he would want to browse the posts of others anonymously.

Another case is if a poster says he will no longer post on a topic, but time passes and curiosity starts eating him alive...

And so forth...

Michael

[CNA]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

To my understanding and experience, an anonymous user who is a member can post to threads when logged in anonymosly; whereas, a guest cannot post to threads. I sometimes log in as anonymous because quite frankly it's no one's business if I am on the site and their being snoopy as to where I am on the site and what threads I am looking at but I can still post to threads if I wanted to. BUT the last time I logged in as anonymous was on the old board/site so I am not sure if this is the case with the new set up. I have an issue about being "tracked" and those here who know what happened a few years back will understand why.

Edited April 18, 2010 by CNA

[George H. Smith]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

To my understanding and experience, an anonymous user who is a member can post to threads when logged in anonymosly; whereas, a guest cannot post to threads. I sometimes log in as anonymous because quite frankly it's no one's business if I am on the site and their being snoopy as to where I am on the site and what threads I am looking at but I can still post to threads if I wanted to. BUT the last time I logged in as anonymous was on the old board/site so I am not sure if this is the case with the new set up. I have an issue about being "tracked" and those here who know what happened a few years back will understand why.

After I recently became active again on OL, I was taken aback when I learned how the details of one's reading habits can be accessed by others. I don't understand the rationale for this, and I don't really care myself, but I can understand why some people would.

Ghs

[George H. Smith]

Another case is if a poster says he will no longer post on a topic, but time passes and curiosity starts eating him alive...

Nothing like that has ever happened to me! Ahem....

(Ghs looks in mirror to see if his nose has gotten any longer.)

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

To my understanding and experience, an anonymous user who is a member can post to threads when logged in anonymosly; whereas, a guest cannot post to threads. I sometimes log in as anonymous because quite frankly it's no one's business if I am on the site and their being snoopy as to where I am on the site and what threads I am looking at but I can still post to threads if I wanted to. BUT the last time I logged in as anonymous was on the old board/site so I am not sure if this is the case with the new set up. I have an issue about being "tracked" and those here who know what happened a few years back will understand why.

After I recently became active again on OL, I was taken aback when I learned how the details of one's reading habits can be accessed by others. I don't understand the rationale for this, and I don't really care myself, but I can understand why some people would.

Ghs

All I read is crap so don't bother checking up on me--save your time; check up on someone else.

--Brant

one of these should work

[CNA]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

To my understanding and experience, an anonymous user who is a member can post to threads when logged in anonymosly; whereas, a guest cannot post to threads. I sometimes log in as anonymous because quite frankly it's no one's business if I am on the site and their being snoopy as to where I am on the site and what threads I am looking at but I can still post to threads if I wanted to. BUT the last time I logged in as anonymous was on the old board/site so I am not sure if this is the case with the new set up. I have an issue about being "tracked" and those here who know what happened a few years back will understand why.

After I recently became active again on OL, I was taken aback when I learned how the details of one's reading habits can be accessed by others. I don't understand the rationale for this, and I don't really care myself, but I can understand why some people would.

Ghs

Hi George,

I'm not sure the reasons why others may choose to log in as anonymously, aside for my reasoons. But I would imagine it's because they don't want others to know where they are on the board. To my understanding and Mike can correct me if I am wrong, even when you are logged in as anonymous and if you check the Online list and where everyone is, it still does not show where this anonymous user is and what they are doing on the board; hence, complete anonymity.

Unfortunately, since my activities on the internet are now impossible to track with the exception of OL, my ordeal from a few years back, even as recent as a year ago, is now very peaceful, no more harassment and so forth. Since my website that I have for my photography and other interests is completely anonymous, life has been WONDERFUL in that aspect. BUT as soon as I am found out and who I am, this is when problems begin to resurface. Even on my facebook account, everything is set to private. If I get a request for a friend or what have you and I don't know you personally, I will heavily research who the person is, who their mutual friends are, their contacts, their activities, etc., before making the decision to add them.

It's very sad that one has to take such extreme steps to ensure some peace and quiet. For those that know what happened and some of the details of it, that was just the lighter side of it. There are other sites that I was on and when my identity became known what happened there became exponentially worse than it was in the past.

But no need to continue to rehash up all the drama and what happened. But these are or may be some of the reasons why one would choose to remain anonymous and to keep those at bay who have ill will and prying eyes away.

[CNA]

Yes, but I think George wants to know why a member would log in anonymously - a much harder question to answer!

To my understanding and experience, an anonymous user who is a member can post to threads when logged in anonymosly; whereas, a guest cannot post to threads. I sometimes log in as anonymous because quite frankly it's no one's business if I am on the site and their being snoopy as to where I am on the site and what threads I am looking at but I can still post to threads if I wanted to. BUT the last time I logged in as anonymous was on the old board/site so I am not sure if this is the case with the new set up. I have an issue about being "tracked" and those here who know what happened a few years back will understand why.

After I recently became active again on OL, I was taken aback when I learned how the details of one's reading habits can be accessed by others. I don't understand the rationale for this, and I don't really care myself, but I can understand why some people would.

Ghs

All I read is crap so don't bother checking up on me--save your time; check up on someone else.

--Brant

one of these should work

LMAO :lol: :lol:

[George H. Smith]

All I read is crap so don't bother checking up on me--save your time; check up on someone else.

Gee, I was going to start a thread on "Objectivist Pornography" and clock how much time you spend there. 8-)

Speaking of Objectivist porn, does anyone remember those sexually explicit Objectivist comic books that came out during the 1970s? There were very pornographic and had Randian characters speaking Objectivist jargon during sex acts.

I used to know the illustrator, though I cannot recall his name offhand. Although his comics (I think he only published a few of them) struck most of us as high camp, he took them very seriously. He was a good illustrator and a nice guy. The last time I talked to him was around 1980, shortly after he had purchased a bar directly under a major L.A. freeway.

Boy, those were the halcyon days for libertarians in Southern California. Lots of interesting people.

Ghs

[George H. Smith]

Unfortunately, since my activities on the internet are now impossible to track with the exception of OL, my ordeal from a few years back, even as recent as a year ago, is now very peaceful, no more harassment and so forth. Since my website that I have for my photography and other interests is completely anonymous, life has been WONDERFUL in that aspect. BUT as soon as I am found out and who I am, this is when problems begin to resurface. Even on my facebook account, everything is set to private. If I get a request for a friend or what have you and I don't know you personally, I will heavily research who the person is, who their mutual friends are, their contacts, their activities, etc., before making the decision to add them.

It's very sad that one has to take such extreme steps to ensure some peace and quiet. For those that know what happened and some of the details of it, that was just the lighter side of it. There are other sites that I was on and when my identity became known what happened there became exponentially worse than it was in the past.

I don't know anything about the details of your situation, but I can fill in the blanks in a general sort of way. Sounds like you have been put through hell.

Ghs

[Robert Campbell]

George,

I think the porn comics were called Armageddon, by Barney Steele (which might not have been his real name).

Any surviving copies must be collectors' items now.

Robert Campbell

[George H. Smith]

George,

I think the porn comics were called Armageddon, by Barney Steele (which might not have been his real name).

Any surviving copies must be collectors' items now.

Robert Campbell

Oh, right! Barney! I don't know if that was his real name or not, but that's what we knew him by.

I lost my complete set (given to me by Barney) years ago. They were fairly scarce even then.

Here's a webpage about "Armageddon." There may be others.

http://lambiek.net/artists/s/steel_barney.htm

None of the hard-core stuff is shown on this site.

Ghs

[CNA]

Unfortunately, since my activities on the internet are now impossible to track with the exception of OL, my ordeal from a few years back, even as recent as a year ago, is now very peaceful, no more harassment and so forth. Since my website that I have for my photography and other interests is completely anonymous, life has been WONDERFUL in that aspect. BUT as soon as I am found out and who I am, this is when problems begin to resurface. Even on my facebook account, everything is set to private. If I get a request for a friend or what have you and I don't know you personally, I will heavily research who the person is, who their mutual friends are, their contacts, their activities, etc., before making the decision to add them.

It's very sad that one has to take such extreme steps to ensure some peace and quiet. For those that know what happened and some of the details of it, that was just the lighter side of it. There are other sites that I was on and when my identity became known what happened there became exponentially worse than it was in the past.

I don't know anything about the details of your situation, but I can fill in the blanks in a general sort of way. Sounds like you have been put through hell.

Ghs

That is an understatement. Please no offense or disrespect taken but I don't want to bring up what happened and I am sure Mike would also not want this to be brought back up because it will give reason or an opportunity for continued problems now. There's other things I want to say but will not do so in public. George, you are familiar indirectly with some of it as I am sure a few here on OL may discuss it briefly on this thread now and this may trigger a memory for you. But for me, it's done and over with. It is in the past and I and hopefully others have moved on.

I would be most interested to see the O'ist porn and what was being said in these comic books. Sounds like it would or may be a great laugh.

Edited April 18, 2010 by CNA

[anonrobt]

Unfortunately, since my activities on the internet are now impossible to track with the exception of OL, my ordeal from a few years back, even as recent as a year ago, is now very peaceful, no more harassment and so forth. Since my website that I have for my photography and other interests is completely anonymous, life has been WONDERFUL in that aspect. BUT as soon as I am found out and who I am, this is when problems begin to resurface. Even on my facebook account, everything is set to private. If I get a request for a friend or what have you and I don't know you personally, I will heavily research who the person is, who their mutual friends are, their contacts, their activities, etc., before making the decision to add them.

It's very sad that one has to take such extreme steps to ensure some peace and quiet. For those that know what happened and some of the details of it, that was just the lighter side of it. There are other sites that I was on and when my identity became known what happened there became exponentially worse than it was in the past.

I don't know anything about the details of your situation, but I can fill in the blanks in a general sort of way. Sounds like you have been put through hell.

Ghs

That is an understatement. Please no offense or disrespect taken but I don't want to bring up what happened and I am sure Mike would also not want this to be brought back up because it will give reason or an opportunity for continued problems now. There's other things I want to say but will not do so in public. George, you are familiar indirectly with some of it as I am sure a few here on OL may discuss it briefly on this thread now and this may trigger a memory for you. But for me, it's done and over with. It is in the past and I and hopefully others have moved on.

I would be most interested to see the O'ist porn and what was being said in these comic books. Sounds like it would or may be a great laugh.

I have those - there were three of them... wonder how much they're worth now...

[CNA]

Unfortunately, since my activities on the internet are now impossible to track with the exception of OL, my ordeal from a few years back, even as recent as a year ago, is now very peaceful, no more harassment and so forth. Since my website that I have for my photography and other interests is completely anonymous, life has been WONDERFUL in that aspect. BUT as soon as I am found out and who I am, this is when problems begin to resurface. Even on my facebook account, everything is set to private. If I get a request for a friend or what have you and I don't know you personally, I will heavily research who the person is, who their mutual friends are, their contacts, their activities, etc., before making the decision to add them.

It's very sad that one has to take such extreme steps to ensure some peace and quiet. For those that know what happened and some of the details of it, that was just the lighter side of it. There are other sites that I was on and when my identity became known what happened there became exponentially worse than it was in the past.

I don't know anything about the details of your situation, but I can fill in the blanks in a general sort of way. Sounds like you have been put through hell.

Ghs

That is an understatement. Please no offense or disrespect taken but I don't want to bring up what happened and I am sure Mike would also not want this to be brought back up because it will give reason or an opportunity for continued problems now. There's other things I want to say but will not do so in public. George, you are familiar indirectly with some of it as I am sure a few here on OL may discuss it briefly on this thread now and this may trigger a memory for you. But for me, it's done and over with. It is in the past and I and hopefully others have moved on.

I would be most interested to see the O'ist porn and what was being said in these comic books. Sounds like it would or may be a great laugh.

I have those - there were three of them... wonder how much they're worth now...

Too bad you couldn't scan and post some of them that aren't too explicit. There may be some copyright issues involved if you did. But it would be a much needed good laugh perhaps.

[Chris Grieb]

The Armageddon comics were just awful but I heard that a chairman of a state LP tried to get other couples interested in swinging by offering them as reading material. I don't know how well it worked

[syrakusos]

I sometimes check the bottom of a page to see who is logged in, and I don't understand the difference between a "guest" and an "anonymous user." We don't know who the person is in either case, so what's the point of the distinction?

Ghs

I never perceived the Anonymous feature before, but now that I know what it is, thanks. I have to wonder why you care one way or the other. If I saw the option and wondered who was online enough to care, I might try to figure that out somehow, but getting around a block to discover is not the same as demanding that other people adhere to your standards. Why have usernames at all? What are you trying to hide, claiming to be "George H. Smith," a likely pseudonym, like Mr. John Q. Public, and without a picture of yourself: typical rightwing paranoia.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Michael E. Marotta

[George H. Smith]

What are you trying to hide, claiming to be "George H. Smith," a likely pseudonym, like Mr. John Q. Public, and without a picture of yourself: typical rightwing paranoia.

In 1971, when publishing one of my first articles, I decided that my name needed some sprucing up, so I adopted the conceit of some British philosophers, such as P.H. Nowell-Smith, and signed the article "G. Hamilton Smith."

I quickly realized this was pretty lame, so I never did it again. Nevertheless, from time to time I still get emails from Jeff Riggenbach that are addressed to "G. Hamilton Smith."

One youthful indiscretion and some people never let you forget. 8-)

Ghs

[Rich Engle]

But no need to continue to rehash up all the drama and what happened.

And yet, there it is. The fact is, my dear, you are bringing it up, at the first opportunity. Anyone that's been here for any length of time knows the what's and the who(s). I see no goodness in this. But sadly, I have to say I'm not suprised.

C'mon Angie, really...leave it alone, it's better that way, is it not? For everyone?

And no, folks, she isn't talking about me.

I think the explanation for the anonymous option is fairly clear, now.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Rich Engle

[CNA]

But no need to continue to rehash up all the drama and what happened.

And yet, there it is. The fact is, my dear, you are bringing it up, at the first opportunity. Anyone that's been here for any length of time knows the what's and the who(s). I see no goodness in this. But sadly, I have to say I'm not suprised.

C'mon Angie, really...leave it alone, it's better that way, is it not? For everyone?

And no, folks, she isn't talking about me.

I think the explanation for the anonymous option is fairly clear, now.

*phew* Rich, YOU of all people. I don't want to get into it with you, trust me. Was there any name brought up? No. There was not. George asked a simple question and many of the responses thereafter with the exception of mine did not have an adequate explanation as to WHY some people would choose to use the anonymous feature. I explained why someone would choose this option based on my own experience and WHY I do it sometimes. Plain and simple. If you read my last post to George, it says point blank, it's done and over with and the past. FYI, not everyone here as there are many many new people are not aware of what happened or the details of it. And there is no need to bring it up and rehash the past as I stated and I will not do so now..

What appalls me is YOU of all people know more information than anyone else, especially the last incident and that website and YOU have the nerve to come here and attempt to say that I am bringing it up at the first opportunity. Hardly. Because of my post and explanation to George, he now has a better understanding as to why some people choose this option. You are the one that is now bringing it up again. Not me. So leave it alone just as I told George to leave it alone because it's over with and in the past.