Internet forums are full of armchair warriors and keyboard know-it-alls. At APK we strive to keep a particularly bullshit free forum, politely pointing out when information comes from the wrong end of someone's body, and working hard to keep posts and ideas on topic and at discussion vs. argument levels. The members of this forum are generally very bright and very courteous - and make this a fairly easy task most of the time. I think in our history we've had only 3 or 4 permanent bannings, not bad for 36,000 members!

At the Parkour Generations seminar hosted by Parkour Horizons last month Muhammad brought up a great point - nickanmes on the internet can be used to hide behind and just perpetuate the BS.

The real parkour community are the people who go to jams, the people out training, and the people who are helping out all the time (yes, even on teh internets). We should all act on the forums as we would when speaking to people face to face.

Muhammad's suggestion was that people use their real names on the forum. I think it's a great idea. CrossFit has had that as a mandate form day 1 and it has made clear impact on their forums.

I think it is usually easy enough to pick out who is spouting BS and who is genuine, but this step certianly can't hurt.

You can change the way your name appears in the forums by going to your profile >> account related settings and changing

Name:
This is the displayed name that people will see.

Then your posts will show your name. I think this is a positive step towards identifying yourself in a way that gives accountability. Posting responsibly gives you credibility.

Thanks Muhammad for a great suggestion that will surely help the community!

Im actually thinking of going the other direction to legally change my name to Skipper

Sounds like a plan.

One thing I would suggest - either post here and request a "title" that was your old handle, or put your old handle in your signature.

This way, especially if a lot of people are changing their names in a short period of time, it's easier for everyone to keep track of who everyone is/was.

Wow, that's a big change

I find handles appealing. I'm certainly no Mark Toorock, Steve Lowe, Chris Salvatto, Ozzi, etc., so I doubt anyone cares about what CptBongue has to say anyway. Showing my real name isn't going to change that.

Besides, if I meet up at a jam, introducing myself as CptBongue might be easier to remember.

Alas, I trust your reasoning, and I'm jumping in.

David Glass here... please to meet all of you

BTW, if you google me, there's a dude that makes the best cakes in the frigging WORLD!!!! If you ever decide to take a day off the Zone 

I agree with Robillard about there being privacy concerns.  I also believe that those concerns can only be assessed properly by the individual.  I think we're still stuck with the honor system - that those who use a handle, do so for a reason (other than trying to be a f*ckwad...).

For me, I'll stick with BobT - close enough.

giving yourself a nickname is pretty weak, imho

plus, i hate my "nickname" i just have used it as an internet alias forever, i much prefer my own name...

i do know that when i was living in NYC there was one particular "traceur" who was trying to get me to ditch my given name for a self-given nickname for some unknown reason.  maybe it has to do with separating out the parkour chris salvato from the real chris salvato....doesn't make sense to me but eh...what is for one may not be for another.

This isn't by any means mandatory. At Crossfit it is, here not so much. If you're worried about privacy, then by all means don't change your name. I've gone by Happydud on the internet for about 9 years. There's two of us. Me, and some really super creepy 35 year old guy from Montana who posts on dating websites all the time... However, you can usually trace happydud to Zachary Cohn, and vice versa.

To keep yourself associated with your handle (mostly so people can keep track of who you are), you can change your "Personal Text" in your profile to your name. Everyone has the ability to do that, and I think it would save a lot of confusion.

HAHA! Sorry Ryan, I didn't remember it as your idea and thus gave Muhammad the credit   - Have some credit

I can see both sides of the "argument" here - Parkour grew up on the internet where handles are very common - so I never minded going by a nickname - personally I never used mine to hide, and my real name is very much out there - as are my phone number and address - I personally prefer it that way. Yeah, I get a few weird phone calls every now and then, but Freestylefox isn't so bad when you get used to him

Just like CptBongue I think there are alot of peopel who would recognize "M2" the internet arguer before they would "Mark Toorock" - but I'm sure the two can peacefully co-exist after I go see my shrink today. We've all been working on getting along better.

Stop talking to me., What? Shutup!
No, you shutup.
I'm telling.