The time has come

Guest Discussion
1

The time has come to close this forum to Anonymous postings. (I am a member, posting “anonymously,” to make the point.) The recent rash of anonymous and obviously axe-grinding postings – the Middle Eastern danger! wooden landing struts! “ask questions, ask questions!” – is going to destroy the value of this discussion space. It is impossible to have a sustained, serious discussion if you don’t know the bona fides of those you are talking with.

Two suggestions to the COPA management, which has done such a good job. Please immediately EITHER

  • Retain the “public forum” section, but change the software to prevent postings from anyone without an authenticated ID and e-mail address. The person would not have to be a COPA member, but he would have to register with his real name and contact info, and his name would be attached to his messages (as is the case in the Members section now).

OR

  • Fold the contents of the public discussion into the “members” discussion; let anyone READ those discussions; but restrict postings to authenticated COPA members.

Do I believe in free discussion? Sure. But certain rules of the road are necessary to preserve freedom of discussion – that is why nations impose libel laws. The rule of the road here is to make people accountable for their own views, and to make their background and possible biases obvious to others assessing their views.

[The COPA management can figure out who this post is from by inspecting its IP address. But it shouldn’t be necessary to do that – we all should have to be accountable for our views.]

2

I’m not posting anonymously. I agree. It is a waste everyone’s time to read the recent anonymous posts obviously posted by persons having no interest in Cirrus other than to “stir the s…t.”

3

I am repeating my post of December 17th below to underscore my concurrence with the spirit of “Mr. Anonymous’s” post under the title “The Time Has Come”. Go for it, COPA, to maintain the integrity and relevance of your otherwise excellent forum.

"This forum as presently conceived and used is becoming more and more boring, not to mention irrelevant.

This is not intended as a criticism, but as simply a statement of fact. Perhaps the only solution is to limit one’s participation to the member’s section only, and forget about this particular forum format for information.

In any event, I commend COPA for its fine efforts and work, both of which are commendable. Perhaps in the spirit of excellence COPA has shown, consideration should be given to revising how this communicative device is managed."

Pete

4

I agree - the value of this form is being undermined by the arrival of what seem to be mischief-makers. If requiring participants to register is the solution then that is a small price to pay to keep these people out