Don't let users hide

[Ken Leung]

Well, let's just assume there are "hackers" spreading disinformation around here... What's going to stop them from registering as one of the teams who don't have any members in this forum? They can easily sign up as one of those teams, make up a random name, and start posting anything. So, scrapping team #000 isn't the most effective way to solve them... Are you saying now we will need full security check on people's identity that trace all the way back to their internet service provider, to make sure no one will be spreading disinformation? Isn't that a little extreme?

Well, I am not saying that will never happen... After all, it's a free web, and there are all sorts of people out there, but there is more effective way of stopping disinformation from coming in than having people give up their privacy...

If you find out some of the posts are really disinformation, then report it to moderators, and we will have Brandon log their IP and make sure they don't return, or ban their account.

This is the internet, and you always have to watch out for weird people, because you are not seeing them face to face. Even on different chatting programs like AOL or ICQ, there can be someone pretending to be someone else and play "games" with you... Are you going to stop chatting on those programs?

So people don't want to share their team numbers... Chances are, you will never ever see those people in your life anyway. They could've stayed silent and not post anything at all, and remain as a guest, but no, they are posting and sharing whatever thoughts they have.

So that person is another random person within FIRST. I get instant messages and e-mails from random person within FIRST all the time. I learn to share my thoughts with whoever I come across, and don't worry too much whether they are going to deceive me or not.

They are not trying to deceive you (at least I don't think) by using team 000... Maybe he/she just want to make sure whatever they post in here doesn't represent the opinions of their team. They take full responsibility for whatever they say in here, and people can tell if they are messing around with us or not.

There are so many non-team participants in FIRST who are the ones keeping this program going¡K FIRST wouldn¡¦t be what it is today if not for them, and I welcome them to come in and share their ideas. Keeping team 000 is just a way to let us see, how many non-team persons out there are working hard within FIRST. FIRST isn¡¦t just all the teams out there anymore. And, for any reason people don¡¦t want to be associated with their team number, they can just become 000 and keep posting as themselves.

A lot of people don¡¦t think the internet is personal enough¡K And they don¡¦t want to use internet to replace normal daily face-to-face conversation, or phone, or mails¡K Or they don¡¦t want people sneaking around finding out information about them or their team¡K Then let them keep their privacy. Like I said, they could¡¦ve remained as a guest.

So, what I am saying is that IF they are hackers, they could so much worst than just sign up as 000 and start messing around... Are we going to spend all our time playing around in their games instead of keep sharing and taking advantage of this board to communicate with random FIRST people out there?

But I do thank you for bringing up these points¡K Let us know if there are people around posting false information, and we will work together to get rid of those people (they have too much time, in my opinion).