Hi, Phil Taylor!
I read your message from 10.08.2019 14:37

  ak>>>> But how a person in Fidonet can prove that his name is real?
  ak>>>> IMHO, I can't do it even if I wanted to.
  TK>>> You dont have to prove it, it is enough that you tell us so.
  ak>> I don't understand why they invented a worthless rule.

  PT> Some may think its worthless but that the ways is been for a long
  PT> time. Look at the internet newsgroups majority of the kiddies took
  PT> over and their is no accountability.

Strict accountability has a totalitarian smell. IMHO the main rule of 
free people - you are free in choosing your talking partners. Don't talk 
with a person you don't like. Don't participate in echoes you don't like.

  ML>>> it wasn't and still isn't worthless... it is a safety thing... if
  ML>>> someone posts something illegal, there's a known entity to look
  ML>>> at since their name is on the post...

  ak>> But it is a voluntary, unverified name. If nobody checks it, so
  ak>> the rule is worthless.

  PT> There is no way to 100% verify that the user is giving their real
  PT> name, but I check the accounts before validating the users. My
  PT> users on my system are held 100% accountable when they do not
  PT> follow the rules.

Besides, now every person can easily create his own Fidonet node and 
write anonymously anything he wants. Who should check him?
There are also people who use NNTP news servers for posting to Fidonet. 
Their users often located in different countries and nobody can check them.

Bye, Phil!
Alexander Koryagin
fido7.fidonews 2019
--- FIDOGATE 5.1.7ds