CID as Name

[Chris Chadwick]

Hi,

When was the rule changed about using your ID as your name when on the network?

for example; https://prnt.sc/rplmmh

 

I see it quite a bit and wondered if the rule was relaxed.

 

Cheers...

[Andreas Fuchs]

You can use your first name only or your VATSIM ID only, yes. That was changed last year.

 

https://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=79102

[Chris Chadwick]

Thanks,

I've been away for a while so was just checking.

[Michael Eamer]

Why was it changed?

Sort of strange communicating with a number or a nickname, everybody should use their real name in my opinion.

[Mark Wolpert]

I personally think this change was a terrible idea.  You really lose the community feel when you can't see peoples names.  Over the years as pilots and controllers you get to know many of the people on Vatsim and see them flying on Vatspy or on your scope etc.  When it goes anonymous you really lose something great.  I am trying to think of a benefit to this....other than perhaps the one pilot in the witness protection program but other than that I have no idea.

[Ernesto Martinez]

Some people prefer to be more private. Not everyone wants their name to be publicly shown and this policy respects that decision. You also have the case with streamers that can get flooded with private messages when their name is recognized. Even with the rule in place for over a year, the majority of members still log in with their full or partial names.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

I don't disagree with you, Michael, but I think you'll find that the discussion was pretty well hashed out in that previous thread.  At the end of the day, it was a necessary change to address privacy concerns for some people; but I personally will very likely elect to continue using my full name indefinitely.

 

EDIT: oh, the link Andreas posted is to the old forum; I'm getting a 404 on it now.  I'll find it.

EDIT TO THE EDIT: here you go: 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 at 09:45 PM by Robert Shearman Jr

[Richard Walsh]

When controllers use the Vatsim ID as their name I cant leave feedback for them

[Tomas Hansson]

1 hour ago, Richard Walsh said:

When controllers use the Vatsim ID as their name I cant leave feedback for them

Why not? I am sure the facility that you are providing feedback to has a way to match the CID to the controller. If it is the feedback form itself that is the issue, I would recommend leaving feedback about the way to do feedback! 😂

 

[Richard Walsh]

It isnt in their pulldown for the controller list in the feed back form. Only names. Had some great ATC recently and I couldn't use the feedback form

[Simon Kelsey]

I've said it before and I've said it again: this is literally the worst decision I have ever known from the VATSIM BoG. It has fundamentally totally destroyed the communal nature of the network and it is a troll's charter.

Don't want to use your real name? Quite easy: nobody forces anybody to be on the network.

Yours,

810049.

Edited April 17, 2020 at 06:35 PM by Simon Kelsey

[Andreas Fuchs]

Dear 810049,

that's very rude!

Regards, 810809 😛

[Callum McLoughlin]

I think it is worth highlighting that whilst members may have less visibility of the identity of account holders, Supervisors and Administrators are able to trace all connections back to the account. Any trolling or other incidents continue to be managed in the same way.

Edited April 17, 2020 at 10:01 PM by Callum McLoughlin

[Andreas Fuchs]

Still, we are losing our group-feeling through this. I understand that VATSIM needed to give in to this stupid data-protection stuff, but it's not VATSIM's problem if somebody calls in sick, flies online and is then afraid of getting in trouble with his employer.

Edited April 18, 2020 at 09:19 AM by Andreas Fuchs
"in" missing

[Samuel Rey]

19 hours ago, Simon Kelsey said:

I've said it before and I've said it again: this is literally the worst decision I have ever known from the VATSIM BoG. It has fundamentally totally destroyed the communal nature of the network and it is a troll's charter.

Don't want to use your real name? Quite easy: nobody forces anybody to be on the network.

Yours,

810049.

Surely this is a good compromise... some people want privacy, and I think it's very reasonable to let them connect with their CID or partial name only. I mean, why force people off the network for just wanting some privacy?

[Andreas Fuchs]

Because it was okay for the last 20 years. Are people ashamed of flying online?

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Are you suggesting that nothing has changed with respect to online information security in the last 20 years? 

[Ross Carlson]

And just because we've been doing something for 20 years, that doesn't mean it was "ok", either in the past or going forward.

[Matthew Bartels]

Gents,

As was stated in the previous topic on the issue, this is purely an option and nothing more. It is an option that we hope most people in our community choose not to use as we believe in the community aspect of the network that comes from using your name. 

As of the time of this posting there are 1307 unique connection to VATSIM and only 24 people are using CID only.  That's only 1.8% of the total connections right now meaning that just over 98% of our connected members believe in the communal aspect of VATSIM enough to continue to use their name online. We're actually thrilled that the number is this low given the shear amount of people that are concerned about online privacy and wanted the CID only option.

However, those 24 persons flying CID only are an additional 24 persons for our members to interact with who may not have been participating had we not relaxed the name requirement. 

I continue to proudly fly on VATSIM with an approved shortening of my name, and encourage all other members to do so as well. However I do understand the privacy concern, and my desire to see VATSIM continue to succeed allows me to understand that these people are not comfortable with using their name, but still want to participate in our network. Perhaps in time, they may feel comfortable enough to use their name as well.

 

[Richard Quigley]

Yes things have changed in a lot of field in the last 20 years.  Not all of these changes have been for the better.  

I am of the same mind as Simon and Andrew.   It is as much a matter of politeness, good manners if you will as anything else.  Many would say that these are old fashioned values and I would agree.  Nevertheless, without these values, society crumbles. 

It is a bit difficult to respect a number let alone engage in an sort of relationship.

 

Quig
885897

 

[Ross Carlson]

I have a question for those of you who are against this policy change, and I ask out of genuine curiosity. Would you feel the same way if VATSIM allowed users to choose a "handle" (something like "SkyGeek1423") as is common in online multiplayer gaming?

[William Teale]

7 hours ago, Robert Shearman Jr said:

Are you suggesting that nothing has changed with respect to online information security in the last 20 years? 

I would. Your perception of it may have changed, but the risks haven't.

[Liesel Downes]

I'm personally opposed to using just your CID on the network, or even hiding your last name too much. I agree that VATSIM's sense of community relies on knowing who people are, and being able to identify those people on a personal level. You can't do that with a string of 6 or 7 numbers - maybe the most you can do is figured out when they joined the network.

However, especially in the age of increased privacy and the GDPR, I don't think it's reasonable to require that people expose their identity outside of the official CERT record. Some people simply don't want to be well known by their name, and that's OK. It's also fine for you to not want to form a relationship with someone who doesn't reveal their identity. It's just a flight sim game in the end, let's allow people to do what they want to do within reason.

12 hours ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

Because it was okay for the last 20 years. Are people ashamed of flying online?

I don't think this is why people hide their identity. I'm not ashamed of my hobbies, but that doesn't mean I expose my full identity to people on those platforms. It's a personal choice to reveal yourself online.

[Richard Quigley]

3 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

Would you feel the same way if VATSIM allowed users to choose a "handle" (something like "SkyGeek1423") as is common in online multiplayer gaming?

Yes, I would.  Again, simply from the perspective of polite, courteous and professional relations between adults and those learning to be adults. 😊  Very old fashioned. 

 

2 hours ago, Liesel Downes said:

I don't think it's reasonable to require that people expose their identity

 I would be surprised if more than three people out of the thirty-three on line when I counted have a real need to pursue this hobby in a state of anonymity. 

I also agree with with Liesel.  I don't think it is reasonable to require people to expose their identity.  

However, the policies we have in place to protect our privacy allow this public anonymity for those who feel the need so, with cane in hand, I shall hobble away!

[Andreas Fuchs]

7 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

Would you feel the same way if VATSIM allowed users to choose a "handle" (something like "SkyGeek1423") as is common in online multiplayer gaming?

I would. And I would not compare our rather serious approach to simulation with another multiplayer gaming network. In these networks, names do not matter that much, because you mostly shoot at each other and off you to your next round of shooting. I do it, too, I don't care about nick names in this environment. In VATSIM we actively communicate with each other, we form groups on forums that usually respect each other (no matter what the other's opinion is), because we have the guts to stand here with our names. When I control and see somebody without a name, usually my reflex of thinking "oh, another paranoid person, afraid of monitoring by the mean government or of identity-theft" is coming up and I have to suppress it, because I know it is silly. Data protection is good, but nowadays it has taken a route that I do not like.

Look, I am okay with people only using their first names. But just the ID is too little for me. Modern times, I know, I have to adapt. The decision has been taken and executed last year, it's done, I understand this, although I still do not agree with it. I think we can let this topic rest.

Edited April 19, 2020 at 09:59 AM by Andreas Fuchs
typos...