# Appropriate user name, tho
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [April 16, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277 "2014-04-16T17:34:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/1 "2014-04-16T17:34:30Z")
Chance gave me a Official Warning for “Appropriate user name, tho.” (He said it was a “Personal Insult” due the the posters Posting ID.) in Great debates, so apparently they changed the policy about “it was only a joke”. I wish they had mentioned it.
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17057395#post17057395](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17057395#post17057395)
I requested nicely that this be made into a Note and not a Warning. What do the Teeming Millions think?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/2 "2014-04-16T17:37:10Z")
I’ve warned people for trying to get away with that type of insult in GD, and I’m glad **Jonathan Chance** is doing the same. You were insulting another poster and he was right to warn you.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/3 "2014-04-16T17:40:22Z")
It was pretty funny, though.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/4 "2014-04-16T17:40:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> I’ve warned people for trying to get away with that type of insult in GD, and I’m glad **Jonathan Chance** is doing the same. You were insulting another poster and he was right to warn you.
People make jokes about my user name quite often, I see no Warnings. Has a warning ever been issued before when a poster referred to a user name as being appropriate? It’s a classic joke around here.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/5 "2014-04-16T17:42:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Chance gave me a Official Warning for “Appropriate user name, tho.” (He said it was a “Personal Insult” due the the posters Posting ID.) in Great debates, so apparently they changed the policy about “it was only a joke”. I wish they had mentioned it.
We have not changed the policy on insulting people “as a joke.” I’m not sure what this is based on.
What you did seems to be a clear instance of a personal insult. From the rules:
> [@](#):
>
> Generally, you may not directly insult or personally attack other posters. The strictness of this rule varies a bit by forum, but the basic rule is that you should attack what the other person says, not the other person. This rule applies to all insults, including jokes and quotes from books & movies, as others may not get the joke. Using smilies (e.g., "You’re a jerk ") does not make insults okay.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/6 "2014-04-16T17:43:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> People make jokes about my user name quite often, I see no Warnings.
Do they do it to insult you?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/7 "2014-04-16T17:44:52Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#):
>
> It was pretty funny, though.
It’s less funny when you’ve seen it a couple of dozen times and half the posters have said “but that’s his _naaaame_.”
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> People make jokes about my user name quite often, I see no Warnings.
I’m not seeing how a joke about your name would be an insult. Do you have an example?
> [@](#):
>
> Has a warning ever been issued before when a poster referred to a user name as being appropriate?
I am not sure I could find out easily. But I’ve either warned or mod-noted people for taking that kind of shot at posters like, say, **Really Not All That Bright**.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/8 "2014-04-16T17:47:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Do they do it to insult you?
I don’t know, I can’t know their intent. Maybe it’s a insult, maybe it’s a joke. I just assume they are making a joke. The user I posted this about assumed the same. I mean, \*he \*picked a funny user name, didn’t he?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/9 "2014-04-16T17:47:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> People make jokes about my user name quite often, I see no Warnings.
Have they been insults outside of the Pit? Have you reported them? How was the reference insulting to you?
> [@](#):
>
> Has a warning ever been issued before when a poster referred to a user name as being appropriate?
I believe I may have when the remark was intended as an insult, although I can’t recall the specific instance. Not that many people pick usernames that are potentially insulting.
> [@](#):
>
> It’s a classic joke around here.
Not as a deliberate insult.
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### Author:  [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/10 "2014-04-16T17:48:56Z")
Interesting. Could a person’s choice of username, _alone_, be trollish behavior? I’d think if it was too egregious, the name wouldn’t be allowed.
Still, I have to wonder.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/11 "2014-04-16T17:49:45Z")
NM, all points ninja’d.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/12 "2014-04-16T17:50:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Have they been insults outside of the Pit? Have you reported them? How was the reference insulting to you?
>
> I believe I may have when the remark was intended as an insult, although I can’t recall the specific instance. Not that many people pick usernames that are potentially insulting.
>
> Not as a deliberate insult.
You seem to infer here that somehow Jonathan could read my mind, and somehow knew it was an insult, thus I meant it as a insult. I did not, nor did he take it as one. Only Chance seems to have thought so.
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### Author:  [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/13 "2014-04-16T17:51:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> People make jokes about my user name quite often, I see no Warnings. Has a warning ever been issued before when a poster referred to a user name as being appropriate? It’s a classic joke around here.
Trying to think how any reference to your id (or my id, or MOST other people’s ids) being appropriate could be taken as an insult? That is not the case for the person in question; the implication is obvious. Maybe there should be tighter rules for ids so this situation can’t arise, but I agree that saying that particular person’s id is appropriate is an insult.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/14 "2014-04-16T17:51:43Z")
You may think it’s funny, but the same sort of derogatory humor is exactly what made **Dumbass Troll** and **Slobbering Fuckwit** retire from the board, to the detriment of our community.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/15 "2014-04-16T17:51:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> You seem to infer here that somehow Jonathan could read my mind, and somehow knew it was an insult, thus I meant it as a insult.
It’s a plain reading of the text. If you call someone a halfwit, it’s an insult.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/16 "2014-04-16T17:54:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> It’s less funny when you’ve seen it a couple of dozen times and half the posters have said “but that’s his _naaaame_.”
>
> I’m not seeing how a joke about your name would be an insult. Do you have an example?
>
> I am not sure I could find out easily. But I’ve either warned or mod-noted people for taking that kind of shot at posters like, say, **Really Not All That Bright**.
Yeah, sure and now we’re Warning posters for jokes that have been over used here? You guys will have to put in some serious OT for\* that\*.😛
So, what you’re saying is that “Appropriate user name” applied to **DrDeth** can not be a insult, but when the user picks **" Half Man Half Wit"** it becomes an insult? :dubious:
Warned?
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/17 "2014-04-16T17:55:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> It’s a plain reading of the text. If you call someone a halfwit, it’s an insult.
\*He calls himself \*a Half Wit. Do you issue a Warning every time he posts or someone replies to his post? I did _not_ call him a half-wit.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/18 "2014-04-16T17:57:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> So, what you’re saying is that “Appropriate user name” applied to **DrDeth** can not be a insult, but when the user picks **" Half Man Half Wit"** it becomes an insult? :dubious:
Halfwit is an insult. To the best of my knowledge, DrDeth isn’t. I’m open to correction or to the creativity of Dopers surprising me, which was happened before.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/19 "2014-04-16T17:58:10Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#):
>
> Interesting. Could a person’s choice of username, _alone_, be trollish behavior? I’d think if it was too egregious, the name wouldn’t be allowed.
> Still, I have to wonder.
We occasionally get new users signing up with names that are clearly intended to troll. We give them the choice of picking a new name that is not intended to troll or to have their posting privileges suspended.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/20 "2014-04-16T17:58:15Z")
So if we want to call him out on something he said, we have to use his whole name? We can’t just say “Hey, Half Wit, what did you mean…”? Or are we not allowed to use his name at all?
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