Thank you, Cerin. After all that devil's advocacy, I wanted to post something positive.
My point all along, though it may not have been clear, is that we are bound by the same rules of civility whether we post from one screen name or several. Those who chose not to be civil will not be stopped by regulations like requiring that we sign up for a secret registry or put an asterix after our names.
We must all be self regulating for the B77 community to work. The rights and responsibilities clause currently being discussed is simply our collective idea of "civil" within the context of a message board. It should apply equally to any number of names we might choose to use.
You are right, Holby, I withdraw the spam clause.
Voronwe - these are not restrictions, they are elaborations.
EDIT to clarify: These are not restrictions (except the one-body-one-vote limitation). I am proposing that we allow secondary IDs without specific limitations beyond those required of all civil posters. The statements I made below Item C, were simply to remind the member of ways that the secondary ID could be misused and stray from B77's overall intent.
Prim, I was hoping that "appearing to inflate one side of an argument" covered your concerns. I welcome a better wording.
EDIT again: OK, there should be something else in there as a restriction:
Question 1:
C. Members are not limited to one screen name. Posting under the guise a secondary screen name does not relieve a member of his/her rights and responsibilities of Board77 membership. Members may not use a secondary screen name to vote or to serve as jury member, admin, mayor, mediator, or other in any other official capacity. If you choose this option, skip all of Part II.
Or I suppose you could say that option C is simply option B, with only Part II question 13 affirmative and part of question 5 affirmative. Part II question 5 states that the secondary ID will be restricted from voting, which I agree with, but also restricted from posting in any forum in which there is an active poll. This is not self-regulating.
Jeez, I'm starting to sound like a Libertarian!