--- Rich Mallard said...

"Solar Penguin" wrote in message

I only ask because when people are trapped in a losing argument
(especially in Usenet) they normally start bluffing about
non-existent
rights. It's the stage before mentioning Nazis. So I do tend to
get a
bit cynical when people start mentioning strange rights that
no-one's
ever heard of before...

It doesn't look like a losing argument to me.

Well, Nick definitely isn't winning. He's clearly outnumbered at every
turn. (And the fact that he reads and posts to uk.transport.london -
not uk.transport.kent - in the first place shows that deep down even he
doesn't really believe his claims! It's that hypocrisy more than
anything else which annoys me!)

So, if I decide to ban you
from being called Solar Penguin and dictate that you must now be
called
Lunar Rat, is that reasonable?

And what would give *you* the right to make that ban in the first place?

You would have "every right" to choose your name and label,
not because there is an specific act of parliament that says
so, but because it would be commonly held as reasonable IMO.

There are laws and acts of Parliament, etc. that relate to pseudonyms,
aliases, etc. One of them almost certainly lists the ability to choose
a pseudonym as my legal right. But if it didn't, and it turned out I
was mistaken, I'd be prepared to accept that choosing an alias is a
privilege, not a right, and I'd even stop using it *if* ordered by
anyone with the right to do so.