# The real life of posters: Private or public? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 19, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798 "2013-02-19T15:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/41 "2013-02-19T18:52:04Z")
This is a tricky one. What is it that should be punishable? -Finding out someone’s information? No. That’s off board activity. -Posting someone’s real life information? Yes. Hell, not even the Snackpit allows that. -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information? Borderline but probably ok. -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information and telling others how to do the same? Yes. It’s as good as posting the information yourself. If what **SL** did was wrong (and I think it was), then how about the [James Otto Sweetheart](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=682843) thread where now we can easily find a poster’s Twitter account and other real life stuff? That is nearly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/42 "2013-02-19T18:58:22Z")
That’ll be a warning, **Garfield226**. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/43 "2013-02-19T18:59:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’ll be a warning, **Garfield226**. Decision accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/44 "2013-02-19T19:00:31Z")
Deleted ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/45 "2013-02-19T19:07:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > When you figure out I was talking about SDMB policy and not the entire internet, let me know. When there’s a difference… you know the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/46 "2013-02-19T19:15:32Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’ll be a warning, **Garfield226**. Why have you warned him for asking you a question about your moderation, in the thread where you announce your moderating decision? And also, why did you not answer his question? This is not a hijack, it’s questions asked in the correct thread, in the correct forum. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/47 "2013-02-19T19:16:38Z")
Because he could have looked up the answer himself in about eight seconds, probably. He wasn’t asking about moderation. He was asking about the underlying posts. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/48 "2013-02-19T19:23:29Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Why have you warned him for asking you a question about your moderation, in the thread where you announce your moderating decision? And also, why did you not answer his question? This is not a hijack, it’s questions asked in the correct thread, in the correct forum. I “ignored moderator instructions.” Which ones, I’m not sure: Marley specifically said if I read the linked thread and this one and still had a question, I could ask it. I read that thread and this one and still had the question. _shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/49 "2013-02-19T19:30:18Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Why have you warned him for asking you a question about your moderation, in the thread where you announce your moderating decision? And also, why did you not answer his question? This is not a hijack, it’s questions asked in the correct thread, in the correct forum. Because his first post in this thread was off-topic and the answers to all of his questions were obvious, and because I would like to see this thread remain on topic so actual questions can be answered instead of having the thread used to air years-old complaints. If you’ve read the Pit thread, you can see what **Simple Linctus** posted and I explained in very simple words why he’s been suspended. > [@Garfield226](#): > > I “ignored moderator instructions.” Which ones, I’m not sure: Marley specifically said if I read the linked thread and this one and still had a question, I could ask it. I read that thread and this one and still had the question. _shrug_ If you read 600 posts in five minutes, I am not surprised you still had questions. Since you don’t seem to be interested in the subject of this thread, I’m instructing you not to post in it again. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/50 "2013-02-19T19:31:08Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > -Finding out someone’s information? No. That’s off board activity. Agreed. > [@hajario](#): > > -Posting someone’s real life information? Yes. Hell, not even the Snackpit allows that. Agreed. > [@hajario](#): > > -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information? Borderline but probably ok. This one is sketchy. If it’s simply a claim that you found out someone’s real life info, that’s one thing, but if you are either validating or invalidating someone’s claim then it seems to me that this will ultimately lead to releasing that information or telling others how to access it. Perhaps I’m wrong though. > [@hajario](#): > > -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information and telling others how to do the same? Yes. It’s as good as posting the information yourself. Agreed. > [@hajario](#): > > If what SL did was wrong (and I think it was), then how about the James Otto Sweetheart thread where now we can easily find a poster’s Twitter account and other real life stuff? That is nearly the same thing. I didn’t read that thread, but it would depend - what do you mean by ‘real life stuff’? If it’s simply a twitter account, that doesn’t seem to instantly mean to me that any real world information was passed along. All of this said, the other category, which may fall under 3, is: finding information on another doper and then contacting that doper. I do not think that should be a board violation - it’s off board activity. That said, SL’s announcing he did it seems to fall under 3. I do not think it’s appropriate behavior, but I’m having a problem seeing how it would be violating the rules. Suppose SL called pC and did essentially the same thing, yet he did not announce that he did so on the board. Would he be banned for that? How far does that extend? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/51 "2013-02-19T19:37:49Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > -Finding out someone’s information? No. That’s off board activity. > > -Posting someone’s real life information? Yes. Hell, not even the Snackpit allows that. Agreed. > [@](#): > > -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information? Borderline but probably ok. Saying you found something doesn’t mean much of anything. > [@](#): > > -Claiming that you found someone’s real life information and telling others how to do the same? Yes. It’s as good as posting the information yourself. I agree that telling posters how to find the information isn’t substantially different from posting it, but that kind of direct instruction isn’t really necessary anyway. > [@](#): > > If what **SL** did was wrong (and I think it was), then how about the [James Otto Sweetheart](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=682843) thread where now we can easily find a poster’s Twitter account and other real life stuff? That is nearly the same thing. None of that is the same as contacting someone. That was a link to her Twitter account and to other message board accounts she has started under the same name she uses here. I didn’t see anything particularly personal there. > [@Meatros](#): > > I do not think that should be a board violation - it’s off board activity. That said, SL’s announcing he did it seems to fall under 3. I do not think it’s appropriate behavior, but I’m having a problem seeing how it would be violating the rules. Suppose SL called pC and did essentially the same thing, yet he did not announce that he did so on the board. Would he be banned for that? Then we wouldn’t know about it. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/52 "2013-02-19T19:38:45Z")
I still don’t see why why what **Simple Linctus** did resulted in disciplinary action. What’s wrong with calling and leaving a poster here a voice mail? Are we not allowed to do that? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/53 "2013-02-19T19:40:05Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Suppose SL called pC and did essentially the same thing, yet he did not announce that he did so on the board. Would he be banned for that? It’s really a logistical problem. How would we know that he did? If someone claimed that he did, how would we know it was true? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/54 "2013-02-19T19:40:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > None of that is the same as contacting someone. That was a link to her Twitter account and to other message board accounts she has started under the same name she uses here. I didn’t see anything particularly personal there. I agree with this. > [@Marley23](#): > > Then we wouldn’t know about it. Well, you might - it depends on the contact. For instance, what if PC simply announced that someone using the info Melon posted was harassing him. Melon would be implicated, but it wouldn’t necessary have to be Melon. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/55 "2013-02-19T19:41:05Z")
> [@](#): > > What’s wrong with calling and leaving a poster here a voice mail? Are we not allowed to do that? Not if the poster didn’t give you his/her number. Again, what if the guy he called _isn’t_ **pchaos** (as that poster has intimated)? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/56 "2013-02-19T19:41:07Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > I still don’t see why why what **Simple Linctus** resulted in disciplinary action. What’s wrong with calling and leaving a poster here a voice mail? Are we not allowed to do that? Look, AU, I’m not going to call you back no matter how many messages you leave me. Please get the hint. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/57 "2013-02-19T19:42:20Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > I still don’t see why why what **Simple Linctus** resulted in disciplinary action. What’s wrong with calling and leaving a poster here a voice mail? Are we not allowed to do that? I’m not sure that there should be a board response to this. To be sure, the SD should not encourage this. That said, you might find nothing wrong with receiving a phone call from a doper, IRL. It is an invasion though. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Not if the poster didn’t give you his/her number. Again, what if the guy he called _isn’t_ **pchaos** (as that poster has intimated)? Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/58 "2013-02-19T19:45:34Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > I still don’t see why why what **Simple Linctus** resulted in disciplinary action. What’s wrong with calling and leaving a poster here a voice mail? Are we not allowed to do that? NO. Whether **Simple Linctus** gets some other kind of punishment or not, don’t do this. It’s a creepy and stupid thing to do. If you don’t understand why, I don’t care - don’t do it anyway. > [@Meatros](#): > > Well, you might - it depends on the contact. For instance, what if PC simply announced that someone using the info Melon posted was harassing him. Melon would be implicated, but it wouldn’t necessary have to be Melon. It would be unfair to punish **AClockworkMelon** if we weren’t sure he’s responsible. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/59 "2013-02-19T19:47:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Not if the poster didn’t give you his/her number. Again, what if the guy he called _isn’t_ **pchaos** (as that poster has intimated)? Then someone who isn’t **pchaos** will get a confusing voice mail from someone with an English accent, I imagine. Or is there some other potential consequence I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798/60 "2013-02-19T19:52:09Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Then someone who isn’t **pchaos** will get a confusing voice mail from someone with an English accent, I imagine. Or is there some other potential consequence I’m missing? Am I the only person dying to know what the secret password was? I’m hoping something like “Bob’s your uncle” or “Spotted Dick”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-life-of-posters-private-or-public/650798.md?page=4)