Time to come clean

[Mithadan]

Ok. I've poked a bit of fun at this situation, together with my alter ego, Nonesuch (I promise to rep the first person to figure out the source of that nickname). I acknowledge that Boromir is experiencing a degree of angst and that some people may be annoyed with him, or at least a bit confused. I'm just not sure why and I'm beginning to find this whole thing a bit tedious.

The great thing about a bulletin board is that it is anonymous (more or less, anyway; we administrators have special powers - for example I know exactly who Ulumuri is). We can reveal as much or as little of our true selves as you may choose. Some remain entirely anonymous, others reveal their true selves to a select few privately and, sometimes, people are rather open about their identities.

This is the internet, people! I have exchanged my identity with a select few on this site, and assume, but do not know, that the names and locations I have been provided are real. I am not Mithadan. That is to say, the person tapping away on this keyboard, whether he is a 40ish lawyer in Miami, a 16 year old Orly fangirl in Hoboken, or whatever, is not Mithadan.

If I were 15 or 16 and determined to post on a Tolkien Board, I would certainly not disclose any real information about myself. This would be the case even if I were "close" with other posters and had created a PM, e-mail or Facebook relationship with other posters. We have had allegations made of potential stalking by parents of posters here. On each case, the alleged stalker and the alleged stalkee were in fact separated by a rather broad ocean. But we encourage everyone to be careful. A messageboard is anonymous only until you take the next step of communicating by PM, e-mail or other means. We can't control what happens then.

I don't blame Boromir for being careful. I don't blame anyone he (or she ) may have communicated with beyond this public forum to be a bit annoyed that he is not what or who he said he was. But again, I ask why?

It's good to be careful; we don't know who or what is posting here. So, I'm getting a bit bored of this thread. Boro, apologize privately to whoever you have to apologize to. Everyone, foregive Boro or not (I have). And let's get on with it...

By the way, Boro, you never communicated with me by PM or e-mail about whoever you said you were, but honestly, if asked on the basis of your posts, I would have pegged you as a late teen from day one. Everyone needs to understand that age has very little to do wth how well or much one can contribute here...