Need to remain anonymous forum?

Disappeared. It seems like it had gotten a little trollish lately. Maybe that's why they got rid of it.

The intent of the forum was that a banker could ask tough questions there without the risk of identifying themselves. But when users hide behind the veil of anonymity to attack others, it has to go. It may come back, we'll have to wait and see.

Tell us WHY you miss that forum when there are so many others? You can always post in private and start with "I have a friend..."

Self preservation, mostly. Never know who's out there and watching what you say.

Alternatively, sometimes it's just a really stupid question and you feel better asking when your name isn't next to it

But, everyone's more of a jerk behind when behind a monitor, even more so when they aren't identifiable. Sad that adults need to be reminded to be civil in such interactions though.

Matt, I heard of a "friend" who used a teller's email address to set up a another BOL id to use when asking "stupid" question. wink wink

Agree with Matt, and would add that I think it allowed new posters to ease into it.

I admit that one reason I'll miss it is the occasional off-the-wall topic or discussion. But I understand what was fun for us was mostly a headache for y'all. And absolutely no reason for the anonymous attacks.

I will admit to having posted questions there when I was embarrassed for not knowing an answer to something I felt I should.

May it RIP. There has never been a question in "Need to be Anonymous" that could not have been posted in a forum specific to the topic. Being anonymous to the point of not even having a screen name allows some people to be irresponsible in what they say and how they say it. That cost outweighs any potential benefit.

When posters do disclose at least what state they are from it's oftentimes helpful in answering their question, but it still would not help in picking someone out in a line up. The only posters I can identify in this string are Andy (photo gives it away) and BeechFlyboy (assuming the person listed in the signature line is not a victim of identity theft). Everyone else is "anonymous" even if they have a cool name and an avatar that I recognize.

The only poster whose identity I ever figured out from scratch was Retread. That's because he knew stuff that only one person I've ever met knew, my mentor. That's his burden to bear.

So can we not at least have the posts (absent any attacking posts which can be sanitized) from that forum available for search and reference even if we can no longer post to the forum? There was some useful information there, including some responses to questions I had posted.

The only people who have to know who you really are is BOL Admin. Leave off your bank name and job title and all you have left that is visible on your profile is a pseudonym of your making. Don't make it something anyone else will identify with you and POOF! you're as good as anon. Add on the 'I have a friend' question starter and no one will ever be the wiser.

And remember, you can always click on a user's name and select 'send a PM' to ask a particular person for an answer. I've found most everyone here to be really helpful when I reach out to them privately.

Trolls and trouble makers, why do we have so many of both? And going to such lengths to hide an identity by using unknown IP addresses. What cowards.

Don't get me started on the folks that troll and hit notify!!!!

I suppose admin could take the time to individually move each post to the most relevant forum, assuming that the title to each post is written in such a way that one could tell to which forum it belongs. It should only take a couple of months to do.

(This is what a couple of us BOL Mods did when the Cooler was created - we took the time to move frivolous posts from the General Discussion forum. What a pain.)

well, thanks for volunteering to head that up QCL!

I'm sorry, but this needs to be said, BOL, you have gotten to the point where you seem to be afraid of your own shadow. So sad.

I think we have to remember that the purpose of the forum is to exchange banking information. The mods have better things (like jobs) to do that to have to police some of the nonsense here. It's sad to read about personal attacks in the anonymous forum. We all get a little carried away in the cooler, but let's try to self-police. We all know politics is off limits, and religion only goes in prayer requests in the BOL Couch.

Agree, Brain. There are a few that ruin things for all. I refuse to be party to that type of nonsense and hating.

Rant warning - Andy's opinions follow.
What you guys have to think of is what Brain said - first mods are volunteers and many, many times a day have to respond to "he's looking at me" type complaints. Some complaints are valid, many are not, all take time. Could things be simpler - absolutely, but read on. Second, BOL is what the users make it. Sometimes they make a day long and hard regardless of the good things posted but its usually just a few instigators. Did one bad apple spoil it? Pretty close. Because who has the time to clean up after one idiot. (My term, not mgmts or other mods.) Third, the forum may come back, we don't know. It may be possible to bring it back for searches, I'm unsure at this point. Yosemite, I'm not sure what you mean. There's no shadow, there's just too little time to spend in such a popular area of the site when we have jobs to do that pay the bills. As an example I was out several days last week teaching. That gives little time to police threads. The days of reading all the posts are LONG gone. Then factor in all those who try to insult, flame and make fun of others thru innuendo. They know who they are and they don't fool anyone. But they too take up time and effort.

By in large BOL users are a great group of people. But how much should be expected for free? As Jim noted this is a tremendous resource and it's worth supporting. That makes me ask, when is the last time you bought a webinar, a product from the store, clicked on ads and searched vendors here first? It reminds me of a banker friend of mine who was always critical of every lunch he had at ALCO meetings, on Board Meeting days or when we went out for a business paid meal. He never skipped a meal, but he was never happy. What's up with that?

I've used and financially supported BOL for 12 years now, to the tune of many thousands of dollars. If time is your issue fine, that I can understand, but I think it is also at least 50% risk adversity. If there is that much concern over what people think and say in this country, even in a "private forum", then perhaps it is time to close up shop, turn out the lights, and just chuck the whole thing? This country was founded on the free exchange of ideas, and this site should learn from that lesson and by willing let iron sharpen iron to a greater degree than currently is the case. Frankly, it has gotten just plain boring in here. And I do feel the Anon forum it an important gateway for new users, who now may decide this place just doesn't have enough to offer to make it worth their time to visit and use your services...just sayin'.

I say, who cares. BOL is free for all of us to use and the forums are a privilege, not a right. At the end of the day, BOL is a private company, free to govern the forums as it pleases. If you like to stir the pot, just take it somewhere else.

I like to have fun in the Cooler like everyone else (Political Plants :D), but I respect the right of the Admins to ax my thread when I cross the line. It is their right.

At the end of the day, the forums are a resource for us to reach out to other professionals, the Cooler and rants are just a nice addition.

So, carry on BOL Admins. This is your site, not ours.

Thanks.

Leave the lights on, please, for those of us that still appreciate BOL for what it was intended - a helpful tool for bankers. Those that don't appreciate it for what it is should move on.

This is a banking website, first and foremost.
The cooler was created as a sidebar after BOL had been up and running.
Things went well for quite awhile but then they ran amuck.
If you look now, the cooler is used mostly by a certain group of posters.
Andy has said more than once, if you wouldn't say it at work or want your boss to read it, why are you posting it here?
People do comment about what appears in these threads.
And if they don't like it, they're not likely to use BOL services or allow their employees access to the website.
If you want to be free to say whatever you want, go to FB or some other website.
Like Okie said, many of us rely on this as a helpful tool.

I love BOL threads!! I find them very useful and hope they continue, despite some bad apples.

guys, I think everyone needs to take a small step back here...BOL eliminated one forum, the Anonymous thread...I have seen nothing that says BOL itself is going to take away the remaining threads...in the remaining threads that require a user ID to reply, they simply remove the bad apples...they only removed Anon thread because there was no ability to remove the bad apples, so they removed the tree...

^ spoken by the guy that knows bad apples!!!!