Also wrt to Richard, I hope you don't take offense but it's really weird how whenever you find out someone's real name, from what I've noticed, you automatically stop using their forum name and start using their first names, regardless of whether or not they're commonly referred to that on the forum. Like everyone calls vic_orthdox Jack or AussieDomminance Rodgie, but why do you start calling me Zac or Adharcric Akhil when practially no-one on the forums ever refer to us/him in that manner? Like I don't care that much, but it is really quirky and a little bit cringeworthy I might add. I don't like to jump on any bash Richard bandwagon that seems to happen here every so often, but it's just something that has been annoying me for a while.
TBH, I found-out you were called Zac Gelman not long after I reappeared in January. With you, it's simply the fact that "pasag" was just you running your fingers over the keyboard, and because of that
I feel
extremely weird calling you something which I know is nothing more than a random set of letters. And TBH, I hardly ever see anyone call you "pasag", and it makes me think "haha" whenever I do.
As regards Akhil, I did used to call him adhar (CBA writing "adharcric" every time) but then I found-out that it was simply an initial followed by surname - which would be like me calling myself rdickinson - which also strikes me as very weird, even if adhar flows the way rdickinson doesn't.
Wherever I know someone's real name, purely and simply, I use it (unless they've specifically asked me not to) and given that I've been here a fair while and read most posts I know virtually everyone's real name unless they've chosen not to disclose it. There are enough of us, in any case (the boss, Neil, me, Craig, Pratyush, Sudeep even if he virtually never posts any more, Marc, SJS, Simon these days even if he virtually never posts any more, Jono, Tom Halsey, Jamee, Brumby, Matteh, PY in initials at least, Tim The Kiwi, Andy Cloete, Adam Collins, etc.) whose posting-IDs are simply our real names, and there are people like Fuller, Smith, Liam Camps, Kyle, Cameron, Bennett, Patrick, Dav, Colin even if he hardly posts at the moment, Xavier, Matt Pitt, Towns, Tarick, etc. who virtually never get referred to by their posting-IDs and almost exclusively by their real names. There are a few who get referred to by both (Hingston\Lang, Andrew Garven\age, Reuben\lord, Manan\ss, Moerk\Vimes, Brendan\Blewy, Thami\chaminda_00, Henry\sledger [and he's one of very few whose name I know but still think of him by his posting-ID], Jesse\Slow Love™, Kurt\nibbs, etc.). But very rare are those who're referred to by posting-ID almost exclusively (le, tec, Scaly piscine - though not by me - Voltman, C_C if he comes back, JASON).
It really does amaze me that it's anything anyone really takes much note of!
I could - and did not so long ago - name near enough every remotely regular poster by name. And I'd imagine near enough everyone wouldn't mind, or think "why's he referring to me by my name not my posting-ID?"
As for the "new posters don't know who we're on about" - I actually genuinely do have some experience of that, given the number of absences I've had. Usually, and more than ever on the most recent occasion given that I'd been away for over 7 months, there are people who at first I don't know who are being referred to. But I almost instantly pick it up. I'm amazed it's a big problem to some.
