msm@sri-unix (07/21/82)
Regarding ittvax!sii!mem's comments concerning signatures on newsarticles: I am sure that most places on the USENET receive from lines of over one line in length. Just trying to read all that garbage is difficult; most people usually don't bother. A "real" name is easier to read and therefore easier to remember (when compared to the "garbage"). Why would people want to remember a name? To try and provide some continuity of discussion is one reason. Michael S. Maiten Silicon Gulch, California
martin (07/22/82)
i would far rather see readnews show the 'site!name' or 'name@site' than the long route is came via. it can also show the real name as in 2.8 news and later. the long path can still be kept around in the spool file. Mail shows you only the person and site, could we lift that code?. martin levy bell labs, holmdel, nj.
eric@seismo.UUCP (07/25/83)
What burns me is people who only put their first name. Keith who? * Eric Holstege * Caltech, Pasadena, CA. * (eric@cit-vax) * (...!ucbvax!cithep!citcsv!eric) * (...!research!citcsv!eric)
goutal@decvax.UUCP (Kenneth G. "Kenn" Goutal) (07/29/83)
(With reference to person who doesn't like first-name-only signatures:) Oh, bother! I generally use only my first name because my last name is included in my Usenet address. Or sometimes I don't include my username because it's the same as my last name (well, except for initial case). But there are some folks who don't have that dubious advantage who don't sign with their last names (Mark Horton and Lauren Weinstein come to mind), and I'm not about to suggest they stop. Surnames are a relatively recent invention, and one of the more popular types of surnames are place names, or expressions thereof. Perhaps it's a folk etymology that like "O'Foo" come from "Of Foo". Anyhow, I have no trouble thinking about certain people by the names they happen to be assigned by the net, or that they take. It took me a while to realize that cbosgd!mark had another name (Horton), and, for me, that was just his name. Just like "REM@MIT-MC" (Robert Elton Maas, it turns out) or sun!kas (Karen Shannon) stolaf!borman (beats me! To me, that's his name!). The net (*any* net) is a different culture. It is not mainstream American culture, nor the mainstream of any other continent or nation. It is derived, of course, as are all cultures, from those that came before, and it is influenced by outside cultures. But it is its own. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When on the net, do as the netlanders do, which is pretty much as you please, as long as it isn't nasty. -- Kenn (decvax!)goutal