[Sca-cooks] How to cite SCA cooks messages

Gaylin Walli gaylinwalli at gmail.com
Wed Dec 3 14:44:31 PST 2008


While satisfying whim is great, it may not be possible or practical in any
case. In general, the rule is use the real name if you know it, but use the
pseudonym if there's any question about who the person really is. For
example, say you think my name is "Gaylin Walli" (it is, by the way), but
what if you wanted to cite a post signed by "Gunnar Bjornson." They sign
their email that way, but the email address clearly says "Mrs. Sally Smith."
Is "Gunnar" the name you use or "Sally"? Clearly there's a disconnect. Most
style books and editors would tell you to use "Gunnar" because that is how
the person you're referencing signed their information and there is a
serious question as to who could be which person. Maybe the email got
mangled before it was archived. Maybe Gunnar is using is sister's email
while he's visiting. Doesn't matter the reason, just that you have a strong
doubt as to who the person is in the modern, legal world. When that doubt
exists, use the pseudonym or find a different source entirely. :)

Let me see if I can unsnarl some of this for you with an actual example to
help you along. I'm going to make the following assumptions:

1. You are citing someone's conversation in an email list.
2. You aren't sure who that person really is.
3. You're using the Modern Language Association Style Guide.

Let's say the conversation was the one we're having, about "How to cite SCA
cook's messages." You need to place a citation in your bibliography that
says where you got the information you have. Here is an example of how you
could note me.

"Iasmin" [Pseudonym]. "How to cite SCA cook's messages." Online posting. 3
Dec. 2008. SCA Cook's Online Discussion list. 3 Dec. 2008. <
http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org/>

Despite what people may say they prefer, this is what you can use. Broken
down, it looks like this:

ActualPseudonymInQuotes [The word "pseudonym" in brackets]. "The subject of
the conversation, exactly how it is spelled in the subject line, including
any funky characters and capitalizations." The words "online posting." The
date of the post. The name of the email or discussion list. The date you
found or accessed the information. <the url of the archives if they are
available>

The key points are this:

-- cite a real name if you know it
-- use a pseudonymn if you do not
-- make it possible for other people to find the conversation by giving them
as much information as possible. If you do not know some of the information,
fill in the blanks with things like "no date given" or "no URL available".
But always list when you got the information yourself.

What matters is the preference of your editor, publication, or style guide
that you're following (usually all of the above). If you simply don't know
someone's real name, then you can't use it. If you do know they're real
name, then most editors, publications, and style guides will tell you to use
their real name, not their pseudonym.

Does this help?

Iasmin



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