Want to be REBORN?

Some of you may have noticed that we recently changed the way the comments associated with posted articles are handled. It used to be that everything got posted as "Anonymous" and while some may have been able to follow the conversation, it was often difficult to see who was responding to whom. Additionally, a thread of conversation could be hijacked in mid-stream by someone other than the original poster. Lastly, (and the last straw) was somebody decided it would be cute to start posting the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. This wasn't about patriotism, quite the contrary. It was about clogging the blog and impairing the free speech rights of others who wished to comment on the blog.

I want everyone to have a voice, to get their two cents worth in. The new mechanism for posting does nothing to limit speech. What it does do is give this online community a way to police itself.
Now when you post, you have a reputation to build or destroy. No more hiding in the noise. This does not mean that you aren't anonymous to the real world if you choose to be!

For those who are unsure about signing up because they worry that big brother will be watching and come after you, or you just aren't sure how to get back in the game, follow these steps:

1) go to this link http://www.gmail.com/ .
2) fill out and submit the form - you don't have to give your real name and you don't have to provide an e-mail address. The form contains...

• First name: This is what will appear on your comments
  Last name: This only appears in the profile that nobody sees
  Desired Login Name: This is what you will type into the username box when posting a comment
• Password: (twice to make sure you have what you intend to have)

Write it down where you will remember to look for it next time you want to use it or you might have to start all over again with some other name...

• Security Question: This helps you recover your password if you forget. I like to put in my own question so I can make it obscure and be certain of remembering what I answered!
• Answer: Your answer
• Secondary E-mail: You don't need one if you are worried that it could be tracked to you - leave it blank if you choose.

But Google will be the only one to know and it is another way to get your password back if you forget it and your security question or response.

• Word Verification: This is something Google does to ensure that only real people get accounts - it is mandatory, don't forget it.

That's it. Just that easy. The next time you want to post a comment use the login name and password from the process above. Your post will go on the comments as usual except that the First Name: above will be on the post.

This is a good thing folks. If you want to bawl somebody out for something they posted, you can just name them instead of having to quote them for context. You can duke it out mano-a-mano while the crowd roars it's approval, and nobody can pretend to be you and discredit what you have to say.

As a bonus you now have a google mail account that you can use to submit articles or trade private emails with others on the blog. If you need help setting that up - gmail has instructions or I can help if need be.

Welcome back with your shiny new Secret Identity fellow citizen!