We have obviously picked up a lot of new posters since the change in software.

I wanted to take the time to discuss a couple of issues that keep coming up and which are a concern to many of our current participants.

The first item is the use of fake names in your log in username.

This is getting worse and worse. We really do NOT want everyone using fake names and would much prefer that people use their real names. At the very least, if you could post a bio and let us know who you really are there. That would be very much appreciated. Beyond that know that our policy with fake names is to simply remove any thread where motives and intentions are in doubt. This community, more than some of the others, really values the connections that people make with each other. The use of fake names does little to promote the friendly interaction we hope for. On top of that it does little to encourage responsible communication. We feel that anything you are willing to post, you should be willing to stand behind it. If you are NOT willing to, then perhaps you should consider not saying it in the first place.

Currently we are not seeing a need to take hard action but if things get out of hand, our way of dealing with this will be to simply start turning off posting privileges.

I ask everyone to give this some thought as it is asked with an open heart and only to help keep this a positive community.

OK the second point is about links in the replies. I do NOT want this to become full of advertisers. Linking to your website in your signature file is really not what we would like to see. If you want to advertise, we accept advertising revenues and are willing to work with you in that capacity.

Regardless, we offer everyone the opportunity to log in and place a biography, which has been linked to your profile.

These forums are supposed to be consumer based forums. While we love industry involvement we do not want to see the interactions being used for advertising purposes. Trust me, I hold back myself on this a great deal so I don't think I am being unfair in asking others to do the same.

Both these situations have been brought to my attention by other users as well as the other editors.

We encourage anyone with a website they wish to promote to simply post a biography and let us know your affiliations there, beyond that and we will start editing out weblinks in signature files ourselves in the near future.

Thank you for your understanding.