From technology to politics to video games; these are the random thoughts of a geek with too much time on his hands

Time to retire the current poll asking for feedback on the new WinCustomize.com.  In the two weeks we ran the poll, 1,024 votes were cast, making it one of our more successful polls to date.  We were looking for the general reaction to the new site design and here's the general gist of things:

Fully 58% of you either loved it or really liked it.
About 16.8% of you are OK with the site.
5.96% are simply indifferent.
And we've inflicted emotional pain and suffering upon a whopping 18.75% of our user base.

All things considered, those are very good numbers for a site redesign and launch!  We know people don't always like change and that it's hard to get accustomed to, but overall, the community here at WinCustomize has handled it well and embraced the new site.

With that said... it's time for a new poll...

Here at WinCustomize, we interact with many people from all over the globe each and every day.  We take it on a certain degree of faith that the person we're chatting with on the forums or IRC that they are who they say they are... at least for the most part.  Sure, we may lie a little about our age, maybe fudge a bit on how glamorous our job may be, but we figure we've all been around enough to get a feel for who the person on the other side of the screen is.

Well, maybe not.

Read/WriteWeb.com has been running a reader poll asking users "In your current web activities where an identity is required, do you ever fake all or part of your identity?"  Turns out this question has yielded some interesting results.  Fully 55% of the respondents say they regularly or always use fake web personalities.  Only 12% claim to always be honest about who they are.  This is particularly interesting as increasing amounts of attention are given to sites like MySpace and other social network systems where teens seem to be giving away too much information about who they are.

So our new poll is more or less lifted from R/WW, but I'm interested in seeing how the WC community specifically responds.  My guess is we're more honest than most places.


Comments (Page 3)
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on Feb 02, 2007
This is my clone.
on Feb 02, 2007
I'm what i say i'm
A simple cash clerk in a Cinema. Dad of a small girl. Married. And 25 years. All that I say is true. I always say what I think. Always the truth.

on Feb 02, 2007
.... to my Wife " this is Me " No Doubt it's me ! (her).. ooohhh Michael ( she don't call me AzDude ) gonna be on the computer long ? ..(me)...No Hun .... an hour later ..(her) MICHAEL !!! ..(me)..ok honey almost done here .... 2 hours later .. (her).MIKE!!!! 988&^#$57848^$%^#%^ ... ( me ) .. OK Sweetie !!!! .. just one more min ........ and soooooooooo it goes ...sound like anyone you know ?????? .................. Hi - i'm Mike Watts A.K.A ( AzDude ) from Arizona originaly from So.Cal...... Nice to meet ya all !!!!


The same here lol

My name is not a secret: CUVELIER Quentin
Live in France In Val de marne 94("state")
on Feb 02, 2007
I am who I say I am.

My name is Derek, I am * years old. I live in Marietta, OH (I know my teachers would be yelling at me right now for giving out personal information but I don't think that's enough to identify myself by). I'm a computer geek (not a wannabe. I AM!). To prove that, most of the people in my city ask me to fix their computers. Once, I told someone that they had a fried CPU. They didn't know what a CPU was. I said it was the Central Processing Unit, or brain of their computer. They said "What does processing mean?". Oh well, this is me, I build/fix computers, modify GUI's (WindowBlinds, skinning, etc ), code webpages (pure HTML man. nothin else.), and write programs. That's me. Peace.
on Feb 02, 2007
Perhaps this wasn't the most well-advised poll I've put up.

The point wasn't to encourage people to bare-all about themselves and give out their full name and home addresses.  It's more of an academic question to see how we match up with other communities on the web.

You can be honest about who you are without explicitly identifying yourself.  My online personal matches who I am very closely.  I never preteneded to be older/younger, a different gender, or to lead a different life than I do.  But at the same time I guard my privacy.  This was more of what I am looking for.

And VistaRevolution - Your teachers' advice is spot-on.  Don't reveal more about yourself or your location than you have to.  You'd be surprised how easy it would be for someone to find you just based on what you've posted here on this thread.
on Feb 02, 2007
I wuz born a poor black child...

I once considered creating another online personna,but just so I could badmouth and argue with my "real"self.    
on Feb 02, 2007
I could badmouth and argue with my "real"self.


on Feb 02, 2007
yes, the big difference is I have witnesses and we all have our tinfoil hats ready
on Feb 02, 2007
I was standing on the Earth, facing away from myself.

Suddenly, at the speed of light, I ran around the Earth, snuck up on myself and went "BOO!"

As a result, I died of shock. ~Even though I should've known it was coming...

This is the other me.   
on Feb 02, 2007
First off, I don't feel that using a pseudonym is necessarily faking your identity. I use Tecumseh as my screen name because I like it; but the person behind it is the real me and all that it encompasses.
on Feb 02, 2007
I do not think that the pseudo one is the problem mentioned here.
But what one says of oneself in the forums for example. Or our description.
on Feb 02, 2007
Zoomba,

I told you not to give out free stickers for every response... nuk nuk nuk.....  
on Feb 02, 2007
I am clwoods on every site I go to.
on Feb 02, 2007

When I get run over by a bus.....the autopsy will identify me as 'Jafo' as it's tattooed on my left shoulder....

If they can't find my left shoulder then I'll be identified as Marvin - right shoulder.  Then there's forearms.... OK, so it might get confusing...

No, I'm not sad and pathetic having the tattoo 'Jafo' for my online personna.....I'm sad and pathetic for having the tattoo 'Jafo' for my position as Observer in Motor Races - it's that image in my Avatar...[to be fair that's been around 30 years now]...

Zoomba's right of course. It's never really a good idea to impart too much detail of your identity, and particularly that's an issue for the young.

on Feb 02, 2007
that's an issue for the young.



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