Remove all posters who won't provide profile or e-mail.

[RS-1Alum]

After reading the way some folks hide behide their anonymity on these posts and talk so much trash with out any reason to show some intestinal fortitude, I for one think Firehouse.com should make it a requirement for those people to come strong and fix your profile! In a profession where most of us abhor cowardness this should never have been allowed to go as far as it has! Anybody else care or feel as I do?

Zeke Slavik
D.C.F.D

[Ten8_Ten19]

If you're saying Firehouse should tell the trash talkers to post their profile or they will be history you might be on to something.

If you want everyone to post a complete profile I'd say no.

If I posted a complete profile I wouldn't feel comfortable asking some of the questions that I have posted on this forum because I don't want any questioning of how we do something to reflect poorly on my department. I'm here to learn (and I have), not to run down my own or anyone else's department.

It amazes me when someone with a complete profile publicly slams their own or a neighboring department. I wouldn't call that intestinal fortitude.

[RS-1Alum]

I should have also added I would like to see this not for retaliation purposes but for the purpose of making some of our "bravest" think before they hide behind their keyboard.
Some people even hide behind a total false profile too. Hell, there needs to be a space for you to add your name too!

[Jake295885]

Well said Zeke..How are your new jammies?

[Dalmatian90]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the internet.

Even if they did require a full profile, there is no way to verify that the information is correct or accurate.

Email accounts are free for the asking; I currently use a free internet service at home(NetZero) until the cable modems are available in my area. Someone could very easily create an "alter-ego" to troll for trouble...and it wouldn't cost them a single cent.

Sometimes you just have to use the great big Ignore gene in your head.

[NozzleHog]

Sure, it would be nice if everyone engaged their brain first and spoke only of what they were truly knowledgeable about. Sometimes you have to weed through a lot of garbage on this board, sometimes you find some real pearls...you take the good with the bad.
Anyone who posts their real name publicly on the internet is either extremely brave or else hasn't really given it much thought. There can be consequences you never imagined for speaking ones mind. There are sometimes consequences for simply having your name out there. Anonymity gives people a free licence to B.S. but it also gives them the opportunity to freely express even a controversial opinion. Like Dalmatian90 said, even if they did require a full profile, there is no way to verify that the information is correct or accurate. E-mail accounts are free for the asking and can be just as anonymous.
Considering all that, I think the majority of the users of this board are responsible, and that the webteam does a good job of policing the site. In the meantime, YOU have the right to read or not read any posts however you choose. Why not simply exercise that right?

[This message has been edited by NozzleHog (edited 02-04-2001).]

[FFTrainer]

It would be nice, but I don't see it happening. There are people who blatantly admit to be posting under an anonymous id in order to protect their dept, their job or to obtain an 'objective' answer without any biased towards, career/vol., male/female, etc. It is unfortunate that some people choose to use these facts against others when submitting a reply but I believe they do.

I for one have a complete profile with the exception of a web page -- don't have one and without my email address. My email address was removed not to long ago due to the fact that some whacko decided to send me some unsolicited BS that was a little bit too personal in subject and a little to inflammatory in tone. Again, unfortunately our world has these wackos so we are forced to protect ourselves by 'hiding' behind our keyboards.

In the end, common sense is really the only thing that would help these forums. A complete profile means nothing to some people because they either don't think about the fact that they are representing an organization or they have provided false info.

[Quint1Medic]

I agree that it'd be nice to know who some of these opinionated weenies are when they're posting, but there's not much point in requiring information. Like dal90 says, it's not hard to fake. As for my own information, I removed my email address when I started getting spammed. However, there are plenty of people on here that know where I work and with whom I've exchanged emails.

[snowball]

Zeke, good question ask BOMBERODAVE abuout
that....

[Engine 101]

Good question I would love to hear the web teams 2 cents on this, Basically what I think should be done inform all users that do not have a profile or at least list there e-mail adress to tell them they must at least have one of those 2 put up with in a certain alotted time period or be banned from posting until done so

[comwhite]

I guess I'll play "devil's advocate" here for a minute. I came to this forum looking for advice, research, and some answers. I am not a fire fighter, although I'm deeply involved with our volunteer station. I've asked questions, I've given opinions, and on a couple of occasions given some advice.

"Opinions are like *******s, everyone has one", and you and I both know there are *******s in every walk of life. What would it matter if they had an honest profile written up? Would it stop them from voicing their opinion? It might stop them from asking questions that dealt with thier departments, but that would hinder a lot of the threads I read here. It would also stop a lot of the good advice that's given in these situations. It might also, cause some repurcussions on their jobs, and with their friends. It might have the potential to cause division in a department, that could have been eliminated by the answers received here.

No, I'm sorry I don't see the reasoning for having complete profiles, other than to cause problems with a department. The *******s are going to be here and everywhere else, why make it worse on the departments as a whole.

[4iron]

I have to agree with NozzleHog,unless you've ever recieved a computer virus/worm that can crash a hard drive or retrieve personal information,you don't understand.It's foolish to give an email address out to large forums.You're simply asking for trouble!Besides,many forums have flamers,that's part of cyber-life.This forum is actually fairly "flame free",compared to others.In fact,a forum I truly loved was cancelled because the flaming got out of hand.