Anonymous/Burner Accounts and CD Etiquette

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

When I was starting out on CD and posted a lot of stupid things, I would just PM the big names in FRC and ask for advice. Literally every time they would reply with essays. With them knowing my team, the situation, and the context of the problem, they were able to help more than random shots in the dark like most anonymous threads asking for help end up. Additionally, it creates an unfair bias because the person answering cannot know other sides of the issue. They can't reach out and really help the team itself

If people want real advice about their teams, just PM someone. I encourage students and mentors to PM me if you want, but there are much better people who can dish out advice and I've never met one who won't help.

-Akash

It's plausible that those in distress are also ignorant of this channel at the outset.

I do believe that moderators control the queue of new threads from new accounts, so those that fall into the center of the Venn Diagram of "CD Mods" and "wise mentors" in theory could keep those threads on ice and handle it in PMs themselves.

That's a hypothetical, however.

[efoote868]

My biggest problem with anonymous accounts is not that they are anonymous (most accounts are anonymous - you get to control what others know about you), it's that they're often used as "hit and run", which in my opinion is a form of trolling. "Hey everyone! Start Discussing This! I'm not going to contribute any further!" or, "Snide, unprofessional comment. Hahaha, you can't do anything to me!"


In the "A(nother) Sad Day For FIRST", the OP posted once and then went dark. They're not posting again, so the entire thread draws attention to something that was not meant to be public FRC knowledge; and there's no accountability or further discussion with the OP (are they apart of the team? how did they become aware of the tweet? do they know what they're posting would be frowned upon if it was true, or outrageous if false?).

There are other popular anonymous accounts (Does anyone know the mystery identity of Looking Forward?), but the crucial difference is that they respond to feedback and are active after the original post.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I do believe that moderators control the queue of new threads from new accounts, so those that fall into the center of the Venn Diagram of "CD Mods" and "wise mentors" in theory could keep those threads on ice and handle it in PMs themselves.

There are some specific circumstances that will cause a post from a new account (or an account with few posts) to go directly into moderation. Most posts, however, do not need any approval from mods before showing up on the forums.