http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=882759


in reply to Re^4: Anonymous Monk?
in thread Anonymous Monk?

I suggested a model similar to news sites where you provide a name, email (hidden from public of course) and probably one of those "are you a human" questions to avoid form spam. There would still be an option to post anonymously but if they sign in as a guest they would receive ONE email inviting them to sign up to the site.
I understand what you mean. What I fail to understand is which problem it solves.
I think that maintains a low barrier to entry for new visitors while keeping Anonymous Monk intact.
IMO, asking for an email address is a high barrier for many. I don't like to give out my email address just so I can respond to a query. And if I were to get spam in the form of "please, join our site, pretty please with cream on top", I'd likely never return. One question though, how would you know the email address you got actually belongs to the person giving it?

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Re^6: Anonymous Monk?
by luis.roca (Deacon) on Jan 18, 2011 at 00:03 UTC

    What this addresses specifically are new visitors who do not wish to try out the site by interacting anonymously (yes I believe they exist). I also think it's good to clearly see who is new other than checking the bottom of the Newest Nodes page.

    When I first discovered Perl Monks it was through the major Perl Books and Perl.org. I already assigned it a significant level of legitimacy and trust by the time I came here. I reviewed some of the tutorials, posts and chatter in the CB before signing up. (Maybe an hour at most) I can't believe I'm the only person who found Perl Monks and signed up in a similar manner.

    I wanted to sign on with my name (fill out my user page) and say: "1. This is who I am. 2. Why I came here. 3. Here are my questions" It took me months to actually do that. "Why? If I could just use Anonymous Monk to ask and say whatever I wanted?" Because Anonymous Monk is not a way (IMO) to build a place in a community. So I waited until I got the hang of things while reading a lot of posts, tutorials and — yes — voting.

    It would be great if there were something else between the Anonymous Monk who's actually a new visitor testing the waters and someone like me who didn't participate for months.

    I think it would add to the site if I could easily see if someone who posted is new here and welcome them. This is a great community that I value and being encouraged to post from the start as myself (even if I get corrected for not knowing the rules) that would be completely in line with how well I've been treated here.


    "...the adversities born of well-placed thoughts should be considered mercies rather than misfortunes." — Don Quixote

      I appreciate your concerns here, although I disagree with some of your assumptions. For example, the very idea of an anonymous communication to the public is to build a place in the community for your idea completely separate from yourself. If someone wanted badly enough to take credit for their idea, they would become a member and post their idea from an account with at least some minor trace of authorization, authentication, and accountability. Without the "three As", there's no place at all for the person in any group, but the idea is still out there. That's the very point.