BlogaBarbara FAQs: What's in a Name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...although using the name "anonymous" when commenting will not be accepted beginning Saturday, you are not without the option of making an anonymous comment. Let's review the options:

• Google/Blogger Username: If you have a Blogger ID because you are a blogger, your display name will appear, along with a link to your profile and your photo (if you have one).
• OpenID: You can enter any OpenID account name like your AIM ID or LiveJournal ID, without having to have a Blogger account.
• Name/URL: You can enter a "Nom de Blog". This allows you to use either your own name if you do not have a Blogger or OpenID or allows you to become "Juan Jose Castillo de Cabrillo y Alameda". No URL or website address is necessary for this option to work.
  
• Anonymous: No identifying information is displayed. The comment is credited to "Anonymous" without a link. Any comments made with this button will be rejected beginning this Saturday, February 16, 2008.
  

I'm looking into whether I can just take out the "Anonymous" line to make it easier for all of us and those that might be new to BlogaBarbara.

Finally, I want to clarify what this effort is about. I'm not interested in taking away the ability to comment anonymously more than I am interested in having a more linear sense of flow to our comments and a sense of who is saying what. It will be much easier to follow who is saying what in our comments section if you were to even use a made up nickname on the "Name/URL" option. This will allow for anonymous comments but hopefully add a sense of responsibility to the process. Of course, the BlogaBarbara Guidelines still apply and I will not publish comments that are mean, use foul language, attack another commenter, etc.

In short, I am asking our readers to take another step which will take just a few seconds in order to improve the level of discussion and heighten our sense of community. I appreciate your understanding and welcome any questions you may have about this new guideline.