Well, not really but damn close. plainjane. What’s even stranger is that I notice from her profile that she also had Opiate ‘issues’ in the past (good for her that she, like me, is a couple of years clean).
I had a good friend once who I thought would be a perfect fit for this place so I encouraged him to join. He lurked a bit and agreed. He chose a username that included his real name but was (in his words) “aggressively discouraged” from using it because of its similarity to an established poster. Ultimately he chose not to join because of the fracus. I thought it was a stupid on his part but whatever.
Anyway, I’m curious if such things are the norm. Do admins/PTB discourage certain names? Especially if they are similar to other usernames.
Mind you, I don’t really care. I just hope she keeps us in a good light.
Depends on the circumstances. There have been trolls that deliberately chose a name very similar to an established member in good standing. Happened to me before I had my name change. Conversely, choosing a name too similar to an established member who is not in good standing can have problems as well.
Here’s MY weird thing. I have a very common name in India, but a very unusual name here. Dropped off my car this morning, and there is apparently another woman in this region with the same first and last name! I mean, my legal name and everything. That’s very rare.
I’m not sure who PlainJain’s friend was, but in situations like this, we usually send the newbie a private message that explains their username is similar to someone else’s and ask them to choose a new one. I don’t think we’re aggressive about it, but I’m sorry her friend took exception. We actually meant to talk to the new plainjane about the possible confusion here, but I’m not sure if it happened.
That’s strange, I wouldn’t even do it across other internet sites. If I see an awesome name on one site, I won’t “appropriate” it for use on another board. Some like to keep their one username across several boards. I don’t, but I respect others who do.
I never saw the correspondence but apparently he argued for the name and met resistance. Knowing him I think he just got pouty. He’s a clever guy and could have easily thought of a hundred other usernames that would have been just as good or better.
