On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Andrew West andrewcwest@gmail.com wrote:
Totally agree. I think it is reasonable that candidates should be asked to reveal their wikimedia user names (I'm not sure it should be made compulsory though), but demanding that they reveal all their multifarious online identities unrelated to wikimedia is going way too far, and would be an unenforceable and unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Andrew
Personally I would also agree. We also have to balance the need for voters to have all the information they reasonably require to make their decision with a need to encourage people to come forward to stand for election.
Pseudonymity is still very much a part of the internet, and many people still run blogs, twitter accounts and so forth on that basis. If they're not related to Wikimedia, I'm not sure I understand why people should be compelled to reveal them - or indeed how such a rule could ever be enforced.
I'd rather leave it up to the voters to decide.