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How do I: How to contact an MO user

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    Wish to find quid's real name in order to acknowledge help given with an answer that helped complete a paper. Or at least ask if he or she wants to be acknowledged.

    Is there any way to do this, other than via comments to his/her answer.. (have done this but no reply yet)
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    I'm also interested in this. There's a pseudonymous user here (not quid) whose help I'd like to acknowledge in a paper, once I get round to writing the thing. They have no email address on their profile. I don't mind whether I use their real name or their MO user name in the acknowledgement, but I'd like to be able to ask them for their preference.

    • CommentAuthorgrp
    • CommentTimeJan 25th 2012 edited
     
    You might see if they have left contact info somewhere, if not on their user profile then perhaps on math.stackexchange. You could also try a web search using their handle and the word gmail or some other popular service.

    I think the two surest methods are using comments and moderator assistance. In quid's case, he will likely reply in this thread to demur, although if gordon-royle leaves his address, quid might do so privately. For Tom, I recommend asking for help from Anton to forward a letter, with the assurance that it won't be repeated and that Tom hopes for but does not require a response. However, if you comment on one of their recent answers, they are most likely to notice that and use whatever address Tom or gordon-royle provide to reply.

    Gerhard "Just Call Me Sweet Smelling" Paseman, 2012.01.25
    • CommentAuthorquid
    • CommentTimeJan 25th 2012
     

    Regarding the general point, I think a comment is a good way. If this fails and you want to follow-up further, it is possible that some anon/pseudonymous users left an email address in the signup process that is visible to moderators (but only to them), so that when asked the moderators could contact the person by email. (Yet since this causes work for the moderators, not sure if this is something one should do, and in my and I guess some other cases it would not even work as I did not leave an email, although I should eventually change this...)

    Now, for the specific cases. I just read this meta thread and subsequently logged in to read the comment. (For various reasons I am rarely logged in on MO lately, but passively read this and that and most of all meta but then do not notice comments; so in my case to ask here was perfect.) Sorry for the delay, thanks for asking, and glad to hear my answer was helpful.

    I would prefer not to be acknowledged under my real name for MO activity. Somehow I would enjoy if 'quid' was acknowledged. However, please do not feel oblidged to do this as I can see why somebody could find this 'silly' for a paper; in that case you could just abstractly acknowledge MathOverflow.

    Thanks again for asking and the good news.

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    In the case of anonymous users, I would recommend using the user number in addition to the pseudonym since the user number is more permanent than the name.

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    In certain communities (professional gaming, for example), people are refered to by their handles. Check out http://www.lowlandlions.com/2011/team/ for instance- these people really call each other Cowking or Burnyourbra or GrandmasterJ (online and IRL). Check out their fora. So, by the same token, it makes sense to me that users with pseudonyms on MO should be acknowledged by their pseudonyms (with user number); their permission for you to do that seems implicit in the choice not to use their real names.

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