Okay there are a few exceptions, and you are one of them.

There are some technical listserver groups (subscribed)
where a few people had handles but most people really knew
who those people were because of their standing in their field.

The use of a persons real name is a lot more friendly and carries
on the tradition of peer to peer help in these newsgroups.

I'd say people who use their real name and email address are
more likely to have all of the following traits which is appreciated:
-- act in a professional manner
-- respect the time that others spend answering their question
-- try to reciprocate by answering questions that they can answer
in the same newsgroup or another unrelated newsgroup, in fact
you might even recognize them from another group.
-- take the time to research their problem first in HELP, in
Google Groups, and in Google.
-- ask a question that reflects what they already know and
what they need to know toward a defined goal. So people
have a lot better idea on how to respond.
-- ask in only one newsgroup because they do respect other
people's time.

Getting an alternate email address is not a problem, and it
provides protection of your business email and personal
email, while providing an actual contact point.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

"Lady Layla" wrote in message ...
Am wondering why you are placing such an emphasis on real names and real
addresses? It does not reduce the problems or change the questions posted
here.



"David McRitchie" wrote in message
...
: Hi Sheila,
: It's times like this that you might have wished you'd used first and
: lastname and real email addresses for both newsgroup and
: email response, but the current widespread lack of such
: means no one even bothers looking anymore because of
: so many anonymous and bogus email addresses.
:
: Though usually by the time you see such a problem it is too late.
:
: Anyway having backups of your data is very important.
: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/backup.htm
: which provides some suggestions on what you should be
: backing up --- user data, bookmarks, profiles, toolbars,
: lists of what you have installed, etc.
:
: If you just upgraded your system, there is a better chance
: that you took backups first. Hope so.
: ---
: HTH,
: David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
: My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
: Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm
:
: