Somebody wrote:
> "Bryan" > wrote:
>
> > I've never understood why so many people try to hide their identity,

Usenet has enough freaks it makes sense to use a handle for many people
who have not been on Usenet forever. Some posters aren't anonymous
because anonymity was not allowed by our university or government agency
when we first started posting and it became long habit. Were I to start
now I'd use a handle though.

> > and even less why people nymshift when they're already anonymous. I
> > think kill filters are stupid, but folks who try to avoid them are
> > even more ridiculous, and the whole sock puppet thing even more
> > childish. Usenet is really bizarre.

Kill files are a blame-the-victim approach. Any lunatic can post to
Usenet and it's the responsibility of the reader to deal with the noise.
The security model is from a by-gone era and has not worked for
decades. The problem is lunatics know that. It takes being a lunatic
to want to be read in spite of being filtered but Usenet has drawn
lunatics ever since posting like a lunatic no longer caused you to flunk
out of college from your college computer account being pulled.

> more bizarre than the subway or bus?

Absolutely more bizzare than the subway or bus. On Usenet posters
regularly act in ways that would get them arrested or assaulted had they
said that in person. There are crazies on the subway or bus but even
they know relatiation is an option in person so they tend to not cross
the line. Lunatic posters hide behind the anonymity and cross the line
with impunity. The word impunity literally means immune to punishment.