I often wonder if folks would write the same things if they had to sign their name and stand up for their words.

Sometimes "Anonymous" says things - - and then hides behind Anon. If you have a strong opinion - - why not have the guts to stick up for it!!

That's my "Oh Well" for the day.

Cheers - - JJ

Probably not.

Reason 1
There are many keyboard warriors.

REason 2

Look at how many people have been bitten by the facebook curse.

JJ
You know me - I'm as abrasive and opinionated a butthead in person as I am online. I use avatars (fake user names) to keep off both the spam and government radars - although it's a simple thing for the government to track me down, if I was especially naughty.

I intensely dislike being electronically profiled - and then submitted to infinite spam mails, telesales, etc for online gambling, viagra, etc ad infinitum. I haven't noticed any spikes from using gokm, so that's kudos to Dave for not selling off his blog list.

I've even gotten junk mail from NASDAQ IPO listed companies, presumably because their servers got hacked (from either inside or outside). China Mobile was infamous for selling off our private information and phone numbers to ... wait for it ... tencent.com and focus media. Focus Media (the pioneers of noise pollution in elevators and high density buildings) recently terminated their incredibly irritating spam SMS service. You know tencent.com as qq.com...china's pervasive IM platform.

So, for me - the avatars are disposable email accounts that I can dump when the spam exceeds my patience - which is pretty short. Nowadays, though gmail, yahoo, etc all have fairly effective spam filters - but spammers (thieves) are incredibly persistent and resourceful - especially in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Credit card companies do the same thing - our privacy is a joke. That piece of paper you sign where the company swears to protect your privacy is as effective as me telling my son not to fart. Insiders (always the weakest link in any organization) pilfer data, open gates, etc if the price is right.

Identity theft is and has been a growing crime over the last 10-15 years. Visa and Mastercard know all about this but accept the risk and losses (about 2% of their multi-trillion USD business). Most people tend to use the same passwords online - so what if your email avatar were hacked and the user managed to pilfer your bank info - it would be a simple thing to obliterate someone's life savings with a few keystrokes.

Even the SSL (https) is actually incredibly easy to hack without having to hash the encryption. We just intercept your internet traffic before it's encrypted - voila! For those of you who doubt this - wikipedia "man in the middle attack". Old school stuff.

for me, it depends on Is it worth going to jail for.

Actually JJ and Janice is just as anonymous for me as lets say laotou.
But if you wanna post your number and adress as well, to prevent anonymousity, then go ahead.
People can then, if they dont agree with your opinion, just call or visit you to discuss the topic.
but guess thats just not how forums like this work!

Hey chewbacca - - my personal info - - name, where I live, etc, has been on several msgs - - including profile. I've even invited some folks on discussions to join me for coffee. Ain't hiding behind 'nuttin!

As for as chewing tobacco, I usually use Beechnut.

Cheers - - JJ

JJ
Not betel nut?

Nice try Chinese government.

Laotou - - tried betel nut in Vietnam - - decided to stick with American chewing tobacco washed down with Chivis Regal!!

Then gave ALL that up - - and now stick with coffee.

JJ - although there's something inherently wrong with drinking BLACK colored water - I LIKE it...