to be sceptical at the inability to remain anonymous on a professional development website

[thedolly]

Is it just me who thinks that if you want people to self-evaluate in terms of the knowledge required for their job you should allow them to remain anonymous?

Much of the website is accessible without having to log-in and consists of lots of up to the minute related news and comment, details of professional development courses etc.

If you want to make use of the self-evaluation tools on an area of website you have to register with your actual name as well as email address.

What reason could there be for having to do this?

Use a pretend name and give them a throw-away email address. Go to summat like Hotmail or Yahoo and just create a quick email address. takes seconds.

The police won't come for you - honest!

The point is - why would anyone want to provide their actual name on a website that helps them to identify holes in their knowledge - presumably many do.

Anonymous from who though? The people who run the website or the general public who can access the website? If you have to give your full name and it is displayed along with your scores for everyone to see, then maybe some people wouldn't be comfortable, but then it also depends whether this is compulsory in some way or not?

Are their names made public on the site?

The names are not made public on the website. I have a feeling I may be BU but are people really that willing to put their name to their professional short-comings regardless of who it's for.

Why ask for a name - what's the point? I'm happy to use MN but not facebook for the same reason. It's all a bit 'big brotherish' for me.

So there is a professional website, and on the website there is a tool to allow you test your knowledge. You need to give a name to do this but no one sees it anyway?

Sorry, I can't see the problem. Sounds as though the only people who could if they wanted to look at your personal scores would be the administrators of the website, and I can't imagine for one minute they'd have the time and inclination to do so tbh. And if they were sufficiently bored, who cares what some anonymous administrator thinks about your professional knowledge?

If it were freely accessible to your boss, or something, that I could understand being a problem.

dolly- just do what doodle says... how do they know you're not called Amos Quito?

I think YANBU- I have issues with this too... hence using an alias on fb

It may not explicitly be available to your boss but some professional circles are quite small. Wouln't the administrators of such a site be involved in the profession in some way?

I am really uncomfortable giving my name on websites - surely I can't be alone in that.

I can't imagine for one minute that people who are involved in the profession to the extent that they are contacts of your boss or potential future bosses would be involved in the actual administration of a website. And even if by some stretch of the imagination they were, that they would actively look at people's scores on the self-evaluation tool and then contact the person's boss to discuss it.

It all seems very far fetched to me, but if you're uncomfortable giving your name to website administrators, make one up as others have said.

I've never done the fake ID thing and yes, that is obviously a way around it.

It just aurprises me how much of themselves people give away - you can't take it back and who knows what future uses your data may be put to.

If the website having your name is of no use to the administrators, why do they ask for it?

It also surprises me

I'm sure I could come up with something more imaginative than Amos Quito

Ah yes well whether they actually have good reason to ask for it is another question. Probably not!

: P How very dare you! That is my DH's name....

I completely concur btw- DH and I have unique names, so whatever field we work in we would be completely recognisable. It's okay if you're named Susan Jones but a little different if your name is Gertrude Reikonnen...

What good reason could there be for wanting to know a person's name if you have no intention of abusing using it?

Is it something that people are ignorant about just don't think about?

Why didn't my strike-outs work?

Is there anyone around today who would like to speak to me about internet anonymity or is this topic too too boring?

mumsnet ask for your real name when you register. Did you give a false ID?

I think it all depends on how much you want to stay off the grid to be honest.
Giving your name on a website is the least of it, you are traceable through so many more things than that. Your bills, bank statements, address you are registereed to vote at woud all be easy to find if you were that way inclined. So in the grand scheme of things, i'm not too worried about my reg details on a forum.

Presumably the site wants to sell you courses to improve your professional development, and if you provide real details, will spam you for evermore.

Usually only some admin or IT bod would ever see the names, but even so I'd prefer not to use mine.

< assumes EachPeach uses Gertrude Quito on facebook then >

I don't thing I used a false name for MN - AFAIR surname was optional

It's not just the spam thing though but it would be majorly annoying.

Anyones kids use Moshi Monsters? Do they send lots of spam?