Straight Dope Message Board

[Omar Little]

Post: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb...7&postcount=45

Thread: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb...7#post21931667

Bone issued a moderation note to puzzlegal for her response to ftg's response to my post regarding how to avoid getting bumped by the airlines.

Originally Posted by Omar Little

The easiest way to avoid being bumped is to establish very high frequent flyer status with the airline you are traveling on. They don't bump customers who pay them a lot.

Originally Posted by ftg

"Easiest"???? So I have to fly dozens of times per year for no reason just to avoid being bumped for the once every two or three years times I fly for a purpose?

Originally Posted by puzzlegal

The EASIEST way is to pay a little more for the flight. Upgrade to "more legroom" or for "early boarding" or something. Yeah, it will cost you more, but they rarely bump people involuntarily, and when they do, they generally start with the people who paid the least among those who have no status with the airline.

Originally Posted by Bοne

No warning issued but the next time you post something similar your ass will get punted to Sweden.

I'm still trying to determine puzzlegal's infraction or even marginal infraction. 1

[begbert2]

Bone just posted a rather non-credible "official warning" on me - and no warning has shown up on my profile. And "Bone" joined today and has only three posts.

I suspect shenanigans. 2

[Ethilrist]

And doesn't have the Moderator tag legit under the user name. 3

[Velocity]

Ah yes, we have either a hacker, or a moderator-impersonator on our hands.

The comment about someone getting "their ass punted back to Sweden" didn't sound in the least like Bone's real vernacular, either. 4

[enalzi]

Originally Posted by begbert2

Bone just posted a rather non-credible "official warning" on me - and no warning has shown up on my profile. And "Bone" joined today and has only three posts.

I suspect shenanigans.

Yep, that ain't Bone. Looks like the "o" is special character. 5

[Omar Little]

Well it looks like Bone's account had been duped and someone is having a bit of fun! 6

[Folly]

Oops. They fooled me momentarily as well. 7

[begbert2]

Yep, he certainly gave me pause. And has now been reported. 8

[Omar Little]

Fake moderation 9

[Riemann]

Color me (albeit not in moderator red) impressed with how well the hacker faked it. And for the fact that the "moderation" was, in retrospect, quite funny - especially the Sweden one - rather than offensive. 10

[Walken After Midnight]

Originally Posted by begbert2

I suspect shenanigans.

It's skullduggery. 11

[begbert2]

Originally Posted by Walken After Midnight

It's skullduggery.

No it isn't!


It's skulduggery. 12

[Bone]

Seems to be a trouble maker. I'll take care of it. 13

[Folly]

Originally Posted by enalzi

Yep, that ain't Bone. Looks like the "o" is special character.

Apparently it's Unicode Character “ο” (U+03BF) - Greek Small Letter Omicron 14

[Folly]

Originally Posted by Bone

Seems to be a trouble maker. I'll take care of it.

But which one is the real one? Quick, someone ask a question that only Bone would know! 15

[Walken After Midnight]

Originally Posted by Bone

Seems to be a trouble maker. I'll take care of it.

How do we know it's you? 16

[begbert2]

I say if the impostor manages to ban the original, he's earned the right to take his place. 17

[Morgyn]

Originally Posted by Velocity

The comment about someone getting "their ass punted back to Sweden" didn't sound in the least like Bone's real vernacular, either.

For some reason, I was reminded of one of our former moderators, manhattan. He left a long time ago, though. 18

[Darren Garrison]

Gee, I wonder which poster banned by Bone today that might have been?... 19

[Riemann]

Originally Posted by Bone

Seems to be a trouble maker. I'll take care of it.

But who is this? The hacker seems smart enough that he might now have deleted his original posts, substituted a real "o" for the fake one, added the "Moderator" tag to his fake identity, and deleted all genuine moderator accounts. 20

[Procrustus]

Originally Posted by Bone

Seems to be a trouble maker. I'll take care of it.

Send him to Sweden. It seems most appropriate. 21

[Riemann]

Originally Posted by Procrustus

Send him to Sweden. It seems most appropriate.

I suspect that being flayed alive would be a less harsh punishment for this hacker than being condemned to live in that hellhole. 22

[ASL v2.0]

Originally Posted by Folly

But which one is the real one? Quick, someone ask a question that only Bone would know!

Who is stitifier? 23

[Bone]

Originally Posted by begbert2

I say if the impostor manages to ban the original, he's earned the right to take his place.

It's like Klingon promotion ritual.

The title is difficult to spoof, and I rather like mine so I have that going for me.

The person took the trouble of copying the avatar too. At least a few minutes of work for such limited return, while we can sit here and mock them for all time. 24

[Bone]

Originally Posted by ASL v2.0

Who is stitifier?

I know that name from an old board I used to post to. How do you know it? 25

[Isosleepy]

Originally Posted by Darren Garrison

Gee, I wonder which poster banned by Bone today that might have been?...

Ooh! Oooh! I know! 26

[ASL v2.0]

Originally Posted by Bone

I know that name from an old board I used to post to. How do you know it?

Well, from an old board I used to post to.

And no, I’m not stitifier.

But it’s a question only Bone would know the answer to... :shifty eyes: 27

[Riemann]

Originally Posted by Isosleepy

Ooh! Oooh! I know!

With that hacking prowess, must be someone who works at the NSA right? 28

[Bone]

Originally Posted by ASL v2.0

Well, from an old board I used to post to.

And no, I’m not stitifier.

But it’s a question only Bone would know the answer to... :shifty eyes:

He was a mod at an offtopic gaming forum for a long time, then we posted together quite a bit at a splinter board. I miss that guy.

The real question is how would you know that I would know? most curious. 29

[manson1972]

Seems kind of original. I mean, create a new account similar to a mod and then just give out almost warnings to a random thread? 30

[John DiFool]

Originally Posted by Darren Garrison

Gee, I wonder which poster banned by Bone today that might have been?...

Originally Posted by Isosleepy

Ooh! Oooh! I know!

Bill Barnaby or something, IIRC... 31

[Personal]

Intrigue. How fun! 32

[Dewey Finn]

Originally Posted by Folly

Apparently it's Unicode Character “ο” (U+03BF) - Greek Small Letter Omicron

Thank you for that. I was wondering how that was done. 33

[ASL v2.0]

Originally Posted by Bone

He was a mod at an offtopic gaming forum for a long time, then we posted together quite a bit at a splinter board. I miss that guy.

The real question is how would you know that I would know? most curious.

Well, as it happens, I too was a poster on a certain off-topic forum, a long time ago, for a certain... computer game (or rather its sequel), and I also ended up on that splinter board. Until it... fell on hard times. My current username is an abbreviation of my old one, though, and I have only had this avatar a few years.

Rest assured people, he's the real Bone. And if you can’t trust the guy who showed up and started posting three months ago, who can you trust? 34

[Isosleepy]

Originally Posted by manson1972

Seems kind of original. I mean, create a new account similar to a mod and then just give out almost warnings to a random thread?

Yes. It is both clever and funny. I sorta feel like a kid who had a buffalo following him home. I know I can’t keep it, I understand why, and I know in the end the buffalo would just leave steaming piles of buffalo dung everywhere, but for a second, just a second, I wished we could keep it. 35

[Darren Garrison]

Don't give up all hope--there are more mods with "o"s in their names. Maybe you can see Chronos suddenly start posting links to Armenian duck porn. 36

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by Folly

But which one is the real one? Quick, someone ask a question that only Bone would know!

How's this? 37

[Riemann]

Originally Posted by Darren Garrison

Don't give up all hope--there are more mods with "o"s in their names. Maybe you can see Chronos suddenly start posting links to Armenian duck porn.

That could be ambiguous though. It could be the real Chronos responding to suggestions in the other thread to make mod posts more prominent. 38

[manson1972]

Originally Posted by Isosleepy

Yes. It is both clever and funny. I sorta feel like a kid who had a buffalo following him home. I know I can’t keep it, I understand why, and I know in the end the buffalo would just leave steaming piles of buffalo dung everywhere, but for a second, just a second, I wished we could keep it.

It's the random "mod note" on some harmless thread that makes it pretty funny. 39

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by Velocity

Ah yes, we have either a hacker, or a moderator-impersonator on our hands.

The comment about someone getting "their ass punted back to Sweden" didn't sound in the least like Bone's real vernacular, either.

Sweden, you say. 40

[kayaker]

I wonder where Mrs Böne stands on all this. 41

[BigT]

Huh. It genuinely surprises me that it is possible. The lack of any such impersonation had led me to be believe that there was some sort of filter on names that would filter out names that look the same. Such would not be too difficult to code--remove all non-printing characters, and have a list of characters that look the same. Or maybe just have any that contain enough similarities have to be verified by the mods before being able to post.

Glad it was just a bit of fun. I even caught myself wondering if the mods were doing an early Halloween thing. 42

[kopek]

Originally Posted by begbert2

No it isn't!


It's skulduggery.

That isn't Skulduggery: THIS is Skulduggery. Now get out of my damn yard and take your football with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZZc5Gdgp1Y

PS -- turn your speakers up to 11 43

[Darren Garrison]

I prefer this skullduggery. 44

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by kayaker

I wonder where Mrs Böne stands on all this.

Mrs Böne bit mi sister ønce... 45

[kopek]

Originally Posted by Gyrate

Mrs Böne bit mi sister ønce...

If we had a Smilie for a standing ovation I would use it. But since we don't


\(*O*)/ 46

[ftg]

Originally Posted by kopek

If we had a Smilie for a standing ovation I would use it. But since we don't


\(*O*)/

Try

👫👏 47

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by Bone

The title is difficult to spoof, and I rather like mine so I have that going for me.

How do we know the "t" in "Moderator" isn't a tau? There are some holes in your story, "Bone".



_{holier-than-tau, one might say} 48

[carnivorousplant]

Watch the skies! Watch the skies! 49

[MEBuckner]

Originally Posted by Darren Garrison

Maybe you can see Chronos suddenly start posting links to Armenian duck porn.

Or rather, we might see Chrοnοs suddenly start posting links to Armenian duck porn. 50