General Discussion

Firstly, Nelson, please do not make it your goal to try and guess or point out who people are on here just because you may know who they are. As I've said before, it doesn't matter, it adds nothing to the debate and it is just a negative act that we can only interpret as attempting to incite a conflict or argument, which is against the forum terms.

I think I need to try to clear up some confusion about anonymity on here.

Since this is a forum and not a social network, there has never been a requirement for people to use their real names. Some people choose to and some choose not to, and this is their choice. My understanding is that public internet forums are impersonal and designed to discuss issues such as 'how to fix my car', 'how to build a website' and 'where to get legal advice', just to provide some examples. There is generally never any need to discuss the members of the forum. This is what makes a forum impersonal.

I understand that the forum on dawlish.com is slightly different to the examples I have given because people are mostly discussing things that are personal to them because of their affinity to the town and their concern about changes that may affect their lives. However, I believe it is still possible to discuss, debate and disagree with people without resorting to name-calling, bullying or trying to reveal more information about a person than that person wants to reveal.

So lets just remember that this is a forum and not a social network, and the aim here is to allow anyone, and not just people you know or are friends with, to take part in the debate.

I hope this makes sense.

Many thanks Webmaster for explaining to Nelson, and I think many other posters to this site what a forum is and its purpose.

Excellent post, Webmaster.

I would only add that, because this is a local forum, there is a significant chance that posters will know one another and that their choice of anonymity should be respected.

I can't argue with that Webmaster, well said!