Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 15:36:39 -0400
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: On Google and WSFA policy
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:

> If there are one or two people who strongly object to anyone searching
> for their name, we could replace every instance of their name on our
> web site (e.g. in the old WSFA Journals) with their initials.

If anybody is worried about the Wrong People finding their names on our
website, I'll just point out that fannish nicknames have a long and
honorable history.  Somebody wants their name changed, it shouldn't be a
problem.  Anybody considering this should keep in mind:

1.  Just about everybody leaves a paper trail everywhere they go,
nowadays.  You can get an amazing amount of information on just about
anybody from the Net; see "The Stalker's Home Page"
(http://www.glr.com/stalk.html) for details.  A few hundred bucks to a
private detective will get you essentially anything you want to know on
anybody who's not actively hiding.

2.  The WSFA Journal is a pretty unlikely place to search for info.

3.  If you start seriously using a nickname, it's awfully difficult to
get rid of.  Last I heard, Robert Asprin was still trying to kill off
Yang the Nauseating with little success.  It can also take on a life of
its own -- remember the TV show "Remington Steele" or Phil Klass's story
about the time he met William Tenn.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."