Am I completely out of line when I think it must be up to each and every user to decide how much information they make public about themselves? Those who wish to clarify their affiliation, past contributions to the community or whatever it may be are free to do so with signatures or profile information. That's really all that is needed in my mind. We can't make anyone provide personal information they do not want to provide

Having said that -- and I say this as a newbie .-- it really doesn't take long to identify "important" people -- those who are active on the forum that is. Ultimately it is of course also up to each individual to decide what is interesting and important, and who posts in line with that and seems trustworthy, but even generic labels such as Nokian, Developer or Community Veteran doesn't take that long to get in place.