Ronald Raygun wrote:

What I'm saying is that you should be able to judge (i.e. agree or
disagree with) the suggestion on its own merit, irrespective of who
made it, or even of whether anyone actually made it at all ...

Your statement leads me to suppose that the US and the UK really _are_ two
bodies of land separated by both a different language, _and_ different
credibility standards. It has been my experience here in Leftpondia that
the utility and reliability of a suggestion is _strongly_ related to the
source. Would you, for example, give much credence to anchoring
recommendations from someone who has never used an anchor?

... [you are] writing under what appears to be a nom-de-Usenet ...

It isn't my real name. It's a pseudonym I've been using for many
years ... in order to limit the amount of spam I get ...

Unless you receive email addressed to your name rather than your email
address, this justification is invalid. Spam is sent to an email address
that is independent of the actual name associated with it. I write under my
actual name but, depending on circumstances, associate my name with
different email addresses to keep things at least a bit organized. You can
confidently use your real name and _any_ email address, "munged" or
otherwise, with no fear of spam based solely on your actual name.

Do you have a problem with that?

Yes, but then it's certainly _my_ problem and perhaps not a problem to
others. I first started writing to r.b.c in 1997 under my real name. From
time to time I have written posts that perhaps should not have seen the
light of day, but it can be hoped that one learns as one goes along.
However in all cases I realized that whatever I wrote was associated with my
actual name and that I would have to live with the consequences. My
personal view is that same standard is not applied in many (but not
all) cases where the writer uses a pseudonym. I don't expect all share this
view, but it is _my_ view and it serves me well.

BTW, would you not agree that this discussion is a bit far afield from my
original intention of trying to save a few bucks on antifouling?

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare