[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I give a lot of credit to those Forum members, like JRutledge, Mark T. DeNucci, Sr., Camron Rust, and others, who use their real name on this Forum. It certainly gives them a degree of credibility that anonymous posters, like myself, have to work a lot harder to achieve.

Regarding MTD, Sr.'s statement, "I am surprised at BillyMac being told not to use his real name". I was not told. It was only suggested to me, and since I have a lot of respect for the person who made this suggestion, I decided to do what was suggested.

Regarding JRutledge's statement, "As time has gone on I have realized what conversations I should have in public and which I should have in private. Since this is a public site, I use similar standards as to what I would say here as I would off this site". I had problems distinguishing between public and private. I made a few posts giving an interpretation by my interpreter, I believe involving advantage-disadvantage, mentioning him by name. Even though the information that I posted, attributed to him, was an accurate description of what he stated at our local meetings, he told me that he did not appreciate his name appearing all over the internet. Even if I hadn't used his name, and just referred to him as "my interpreter", if my real name were part of the post, it wouldn't have been too difficult to find out who "my interpreter" is, because his name, and title, is published all over the place, both in written publications, as well as our local board's website. So, at his suggestion, my real name, exact location, and local board affiliation, simply became BillyMac, an IAABO official, from Connecticut.

Another reason that I followed his suggestion, was that he pointed out to me that his friend, ChuckElias, had also decided to stop posting under his real name. At the time, I had a lot of respect for ChuckElias. I looked forward to his posts because they had a lot to offer, good solid advice, offered in an educational, not condescending, tone. For those of you who only know of ChuckElias as the "annual baseball guy", or don't remember why he left the Forum, let's go down memory lane:

The main reason I have always liked to use my real name is because I wanted anything I said about my experience, my philosophies, my accomplishments and the organizations and people I know can be verified. I have been on other boards where my name was not listed and I feel it is always harder to verify things because people come to you as if you have something to hide. I have been on association boards, I am a clinician in basketball for my state and I have worked D1 baseball. I have had people question those things because I might say something they disagree with. I want people to know I did not just pull it out of the air or I have had experiences in which I am speaking from. And when I have met people off this site or met people that read this site, they already know something about me and can easily figure out where I am coming from. That is not for everyone to do and I would not advocate it, but you are right that when someone uses their real name it does add a certain level of credibility to them at first. But they can quickly lose it or gain it under the right reasons. And many of the "vets" that are on this board have also been around that most of the people like myself know something about them and have know those things for years.

Now if I ever get to the point where Chuck is I might have to reconsider the actual using of my name, but I am not at that point yet. It did not affect me when I was working D1 Baseball, but D1 basketball is a little different level of scrutiny. As a matter of fact I had a person claim I would never do a lot of things in baseball only to be a step away from the State Finals in that sport this year. Using my name does not bother me, but I can see why it does other people. I just like having to be accountable for what I say.

Peace