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Assuming it wasn't too much of a problem logistically, I could see this working pretty well. Given that the board membership's restricted at the moment anyway, and that not everyone's going to necessarily want an alternative identity, and that anyone who did would presumably have to explain their reasons, and fairly firmly undertake not to be too much of a sub-cult anarcheest about the whole situation, it might be quite interesting. For those interested in serious debate, there'd be the option of playing Devil's Advocate with regard to what might be personally long-term, deeply-held beliefs, just to see what would happen - having the luxury of being able to argue against everything you hold dear without any 'real' consequences, in even the limited sense of your character on an interweb chatboard, might be quite liberating, or at least worth a try. And then there's the question of being able to hold together a consistent other identity - Not everyone could do it, it'd be a bit of a challenge.
And on a more prosaic level, it would be quite a lot of fun trying to work out who was who on a day to day basis - you could take nothing for granted, that might be Shaftoe, for example, who's arguing that it's not real music unless there's at least a three, four, or even five minute guitar solo involved, and that sampling is for people who need to learn to play their bloody instruments. Or Stoat who feels that the Queen is a national treasure, so much so that the cat's called Phil The Greek..
If being on Barbelith regularly is a bit like being in a soap opera, you've got the defined characters in a somewhat closed community, then how much more interesting if there were doppelgangers, masks, and these strange, oddly familiar, but you couldn't quite be sure, figures showing up in the local village pub ?
Granted, these are a bit the privileges of a slightly elitist social club, but seeing as to a certain extent that's the situation at the moment anyway, it does seem a shame not to take advantage. |
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