Have Anonymous Posts Contributed Anything?

[Tim_Weiman]

Dan Kelly:

Actually, I have received private emails from people raising the same issue that concerns Rich. The most vehement have come from folks overseas who get a bit turned off by back and forth chatter. Conversely, at least one American participant has expressed privately that he likes the informal nature of many threads.

I don't know if the discussion would be dull, but Rich will have to run with it if he has the energy.

[ACR]

I am a frequent reader on GCA, but have been only an occasional contributor.  So, this thread about anonymous postings brings me to a question.  Do all of you frequent contributors know each other.  Everyone is sort of anonymous to me, because I do not know who anyone is.  Is there some spot on the site where personal profiles are provided? I would love to know the backgrounds of the regulars (home course, profession, how you got interested in architecture, etc.), but I sort of assumed that this site was a little more "anonymous" than that.

Sincerely,
Anonymous

[marbleman]

'Coral Ridge'-"Public Golf Course, Architect's Finest?" 6 replies(one from Ron Whitten), 235 page views
'nandoal'- "Top 5 courses in the world that you've played?" 64 replies(including ones by you), 1332 page views
'eshortz'- "The Doak Scale" 23 replies( you again, Doak, TEPaul, Ward) 586 page views
'ET'-"Courses With 0 Trees" 22 replies, 299 page views
'SGD'-"The Golf Architect of Light"(actually a thread about Fazio, many familiar respondents) 36 replies, 596 page views
'ccr'- "Tom Bendelow"(respondents included Ran Morrissett, Tommy Nacarrato, Stuart Bendelow) 17replies, 505 page views
'eduedo'- "Rakes"(enjoined by many of the usual suspects), 26 replies, 439 page views

[SL_Solow]

ACR; There is a prior thread entitled "Who Are You Guys" in which many of us supplied our particulars.  Additionally, over time many of us have become acquainted.  Turning to the larger topic, I have been one who from time to time has criticized anonymous posters.  But that has only been in circumstances where the poster has engaged in personal attacks on architects or other posters.  If someone wishes to make a substantive point without identifying themself for whatever reason, I have no issue with their choice.  But the practice of challenging another person's competence or integrity under the cover of an assumed name strikes me as unfair.  It seems to me that the line is not too hard to draw.  With that qualifier, I think we have gained from many anonymous posts.

[Gary_Smith]

Tim

[I think there are more more anonymous but valuable posts out there than you (or I) are able to remmber.]  

You've got it, sir.

[Gary_Smith]

Thanks, Marbleman, for taking the time to do the search, and providing a valuable post.

btw, are you posting anonymously??  

[Tim_Weiman]

Marbleman:

Thanks. I have no doubt that many people have viewed or posted on threads intitiated by anonymous posters. Not surprising at all.

Less clear is the actual contribution by the anonymous posters themselves. In other words what interesting facts or controversial opinions came to light from them? That's the part that seems very difficult for people to express, even more so than I thought when I initiated the thread.

ACR:

Many frequent posters do know eachother through private emails, phone calls or GCA related outings. In fact, this goes back even before Golfclubatlas came into existence.

[David Wigler]

I am a frequent reader on GCA, but have been only an occasional contributor.  So, this thread about anonymous postings brings me to a question.  Do all of you frequent contributors know each other.  Everyone is sort of anonymous to me, because I do not know who anyone is.  Is there some spot on the site where personal profiles are provided? I would love to know the backgrounds of the regulars (home course, profession, how you got interested in architecture, etc.), but I sort of assumed that this site was a little more "anonymous" than that.

Sincerely,
Anonymous

ACR - There is a thread called "Who are you Guys" where most of the regulars have posted their brief life stories.  It has been a terrific resource as around five times a year, a GCAer will be coming through Detroit and know to give me a call.  Between that, Golfapalooza, the King's Putter and the fact that a large number of the frequent posters are Golfweek panelists (We intentionally excluded Huckaby for his lack of a critical eye  ) most of us have gotten a chance to personally get to know one another.

[THuckaby2]

Wisest thing GW ever did, Dave!

 

TH

[marbleman]

Gary Smith,
Yes, I am.

The search took about 15 minutes, typing them in took longer.

One more:
'Joe'- "Toughest Forced Carries You Have Played", 52 replies
(from Ran Morrissett, Gib Papazian, Patrick Mucci, TEPaul, Chipoat, john conley, JohnV, Matt Ward, Scott Burroughs, Shivas, Bob Huntley, Rj Daley, A ClayMan and Brad Klein), 1,069 page views.  

[TEPaul]

Johnny Thunders asked;

"Shouldn't Tom Paul wade in about now and hit us with a 30,000 word pontification?"

Johnny:

No!

(I hope that wasn't too wordy for you)  

[ACR]

Not that anyone asked for it, but here is a brief bio on me (just so I am not included in the dreaded ranks of the anonymous)

Name: Art Roselle
Residence: Charlotte, NC
Occupation: Banking (like the rest of Charlotte)
Family: Married, 3 children
Handicap: 4
Club Affiliations: Capital City Club (Atlanta); Belle Meade CC (Nashville); Wilmington CC (DE); Cullasaja Club (Highlands, NC)

Note: Somehow I have ended up with a bunch of memberships, but none in the town I actually live in.  That, combined with 3 kids, makes golf an infrequent occurence these days.

Favorite courses I have played: Merion, Oakmont, Sand Hills, Cypress Point, Kings Barns, Prestwick, Linville GC, Yeamans Hall, Peachtree GC

Courses I am hoping to play (soon): PV, Maidstone, NGLA, Shinnecock, Pacific Dunes, Royal County Down

Best Shot I Have Ever Hit: Driver to 2 feet on a 124yd par 3 at the age of 7

Worst Shot I Have Ever Hit: Cold top that just missed my left ankle in front of 30 people on the first tee at Carnoustie.  The starter almost sent me home right then.

Greatest Golf Skill:  Ability to move heaven and earth in order to say "yes" to any attractive golf invite, no matter the cost in career, family, sleep or unreasonably gruelling travel arrangements.

I started to get interested in architecture after receiving Doak's Confidential Guide about 6 years ago.  I have been an observer on GCA at various times over the past year or so.  I have plenty of opinions, but not nearly as much knowledge as many of the participants here (not that ever stops me).

Thanks

[THuckaby2]

You sound like a kindred spirit, Art - welcome to the treehouse.  And you will be a true brother if your employer is who I think it might be.... see, my wife is a VP for Bank of America....

TH

[Dan Kelly]

You sound like a kindred spirit, Art - welcome to the treehouse.  And you will be a true brother if your employer is who I think it might be.... see, my wife is a VP for Bank of America....

That's quite a coincidence! Art's wife is a VP with Ajax.

[TEPaul]

Tim:

I tried to read most of this thread. I think there've been some anonymous posters who've added termendously to this site (although never having been that concerned about anonymous posting I've never been that sure whose anonymous and who isn't) and I think there've been other anonymous posters who should be deleted and barred from access. rpurd is certainly one of the latter and not only contributed nothing but was a menace.

As for those anonymous or non-anonymous posters who frequently criticize this site and it's contributors for taking themselves too seriously or whatever else they criticize them for I say the hell with them--and that includes JakaB/Barney/John who sometimes contributes some stuff that although pretty damn funny and sure makes me laugh seems to be mostly non-productive vis-a-vis architectural discussion. I mean why does he write the kind of mostly "off the wall" posts he does anyway? Does he just like to read his own writing on the Internet and/or how somebody out there may react to it?  

[Tim_Weiman]

Tom Paul:

It is pretty clear from reading the feedback that many people support the privilege of anonymity. Apparently, they share your view that anonymous posters have contributed "tremendously" to this site.

What still surprises me is how few examples of those contributions have been cited. People have mentioned names (or pseudonyms) and counted page views/posts, but offered very few specific examples of interesting facts or controversial opinions that anonymous posters have brought to light.

Oh, well.  

[Bye]

Tom Paul:

It is pretty clear from reading the feedback that many people support the privilege of anonymity. Apparently, they share your view that anonymous posters have contributed "tremendously" to this site.

What still surprises me is how few examples of those contributions have been cited. People have mentioned names (or pseudonyms) and counted page views/posts, but offered very few specific examples of interesting facts or controversial opinions that anonymous posters have brought to light.

Oh, well.  

What, you want people to now do a term paper for you titled, "Interesting Facts from Anonymous Posters on Golf Architecture in Public Forums?"

[Dan Kelly]

What still surprises me is how few examples of those contributions have been cited.

Tim Weiman --

Few examples have been cited, I suspect, because virtually everyone thought: What a waste of time -- going back through old threads to find valuable contributions by anonymous contributors. We may not have lives, but we have something closer to lives than that!

Tell you what: I'm going to make it my personal assignment, for a time here, to show you some of those valuable contributions by anonymous contributors.

You'll see a previous post quoted, with this simple note from me: "Tim Weiman -- Anon."

[marbleman]

Mr. Kelly,
You shouldn't waste your time, Tim is never wrong and is stubborner that a mule in a mud puddle on a hot day.  

A quote from Tim weiman:
..... "but offered very few specific examples of interesting facts or controversial opinions that anonymous posters have brought to light."

I doubt he even bothered to find or read any anonymous posts on his own. Of the several I found, in a 15 min. search, a few were interesting and one was a bit controversial.
Tim doesn't think they were so I take that to mean he must have been rather bored when he made replies on two of them. And boring, uninformative topics they were, considering that these 8 threads garnered 246 replies and 5,063 page views.

Good luck amigo.

 

[Tim_Weiman]

Dan Kelly/Marbleman:

Actually, I would have been delighted to be proven wrong and people could cite numerous examples of where interesting facts and/or controversial opinions came to light by anonymous posters.

But, if I’m going to be accused of being “stubborn”, I might as well stick with it and point out that anonymous posts are frequently justified on the basis that we would lose something valuable if they weren't permitted. If that is true, wouldn't it be EASY for people to cite examples of what I was asking for?

My guess? The value of anonymous posts has been exaggerated, we wouldn't lose much without them and we just might find more industry folks would post rather than just lurk if they were eliminated.

But, as Pat Mucci likes to say, it's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

[Ingmar_Bergman]

Johnny Thunders,

D'you vant to be in von of my movies?  I just love (no that's one of my big subjects) agree with you.

Ingie

[Evan Fleisher]

ACR,

Welcome to the gang, here is a direct link to the "Who Are You Guys Thread" in question...have at it!

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=240

[HamiltonBHearst]

With anonymous posts how do people ascertain what clubs they can gain access to?

And how do people ascertain who might have connections at other clubs to gain access to?