So, as a bullshit consensus kludge, we should email them back and invite them to join!

...And then they'd come in and blurt all over the wrong thread and we'd have to explain what guacamole is. Good times, good times.

Real names should be explicitly opt in as opposed to opt out.

I don't know why you put an extra burden on thank-you letter writers to include in their letters that you have explicit permission to publish their name. When people write letters to any public organization, and sign them with real names, they expect those names to be shared with the public.

At worst, maybe you can email the person back and ask if it's okay to publish the letter with the writer's real name.

I don't know why you put an extra burden on thank-you letter writers to include in their letters that you have explicit permission to publish their name.

Of all the burdens placed on these guys these days, I think ours is the most irrelevant.

People thank us. That's cool enough for me.

People thank us. That's cool enough for me.

Yeah. I guess I just don't see why this is such a big deal. Except that we're Buffistas...

When people write letters to any public organization, and sign them with real names, they expect those names to be shared with the public.

I think internet ettiquette is different, though. We tend to lean towards privacy. As someone upthread said, you opt in to publishing your real name, rather than opting out.

Besides, not knowing lets us imagine. I choose to believe that Amy Sherman-Palladino is our new best friend.

It's safer all around to err on the side of not publishing names without express permission. So I for another won't fault DX.

Done.

Thanks, Jon!

I know I wouldn't feel comfortable posting real names without express permission. I get a warm fuzzy reading the text of the e-mails, so thanks for posting them.

dana can imagine it's Amy S-P. I'm imagining that it's Eric Kripke.

(If only I could spell.)

I get all warm inside just thinking of all the wonderful possibilities of who they could be from. And since there's more than one, they could all be right! Thanks for the wonderful idea, Dana.

Seriously, it would be fun to know who they are, but I don't think it's a big deal and I would hate to cause any extra work or distress for any of our stompies over this.

Count me as agreeing with discretion, unless permission is explicitly granted. There could be many reasons for retaining anonymity, and without express permission, none of those reasons are trumped by curiosity.

ed. for frelling spelling