# Attempting a name change **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 8, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202 "2004-05-08T18:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/1 "2004-05-08T18:29:20Z")
Several days ago I emailed TubaDiva about changing my SD name. I had dealt with her over a name change several years ago, and everything went smoothly. It’s been several days and I have yet to hear anything back, and I am unsure what to do. Try to email again? Try another admin? I really don’t want to try another person because of some stupid things my email provider tends to do (like putting my full name on my emails- !!! stupid farking sonofa…!!) so I just don’t use it generally for personal interaction. Because of the previous interaction with Tuba, (and her being female) I felt okay with using it to communicate with her, but I really don’t want to spread it around to other folks I’m not familiar with. (My name is distinctive enough that I feel justifiably nervous about it.) Can I perhaps take care of this here, or at least get her attention? And yes, I did put SDMB in the header so it wouldn’t be deleted as spam. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/2 "2004-05-08T18:40:57Z")
I would email one or two other Administrators, like **Lynn Bodoni** , or [Arnold Winkelried\*\*, both of whom I’d trust enough to give them a map right to my front door. However, if you are that concerned about privacy, you could sign up with an anonymous web-based email service, like Hotmail or Yahoo!, which you would then register here as your profile email address. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/3 "2004-05-09T04:08:04Z")
As it happens, TubaDiva is away from her computer for a couple of days, and we have been instructed not to allow the TMs to burn down the message board in her absence. All of us mods/admins do take occasional days off, and sometimes our computers crash and burn, as well. This is why we always advise people to write to more than one admin. ALL admins and mods can see your email address, if we need to. Generally we don’t need to. I regularly check new registrations, looking for problem names. If you’ve already had one name change, it’s unlikely that we will grant another. We don’t recycle names, so we need to limit the number of times that we allow people to change their names. Only admins can change usernames, by the way, mods don’t have the tools to do it. ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/4 "2004-05-10T03:20:53Z")
Thank you for your response. I’d just like to clarify that my email address isn’t the problem, it’s that sending email from it automatically attaches my name to it. I just discovered this when checking that my email to TubaDiva went through okay, and I was appalled. Also, the previous name change happened in late 2001-early 2002 just after I joined the boards. This isn’t a matter of whim, I assure you. I understand refusing repeated requests for name changes, but as this isn’t the case it never occured to me that it would be unlikely for my request to be granted. I am glad to hear that TubaDiva is taking a break, and that it is not something more serious, like a dead computer. I will wait patiently for her response now that I know the reason for her lack of response so far. Lastly, thank you for the suggestions, Q.E.D. A web-based email sounds like a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/5 "2004-05-10T14:17:18Z")
> [@Fairblue](#): > > I’d just like to clarify that my email address isn’t the problem, it’s that sending email from it automatically attaches my name to it. Just in case this is the problem … If you’re using Outlook Express, open it and click on tools \> accounts \> mail, then highlight your email account and click on Properties. Under User Information, the name you enter is what will be shown on your outgoing emails … and you can enter \*anything you like \* in this field. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/6 "2004-05-10T15:34:21Z")
> [@Shrinking Violet](#): > > Just in case this is the problem … The same is true of almost all web-based email services too. Come to think of it, I’ve never encountered an email client or web-based service where you _couldn’t_ change the display name to whatever you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/7 "2004-05-10T21:32:59Z")
Sometimes the From name is modified on the Signature menu and sometimes it’s on the User Profile or Account menus. I personally am amazed that the industry hasn’t figured out that this is a genuine WYSIWYG issue. I’ve been startled myself, upon sending people an attachment such as a spreadsheet, that there is a hidden name attached to it. It appears when you hover over the file name, and in my case it said the data’s “author” had been somebody I’d never heard of. Upon checking, I found that it was our company’s former techie, long gone, who had registered the original Excel product. There are ways to fix that, I’ve found, but as in Fairblue’s case, it should have been out in the open when the message was being formatted, so it could be addressed then and there. ---
**Author:** ![shewriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@shewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shewriter)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/8 "2004-05-15T21:01:56Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > If you’ve already had one name change, it’s unlikely that we will grant another. We don’t recycle names, so we need to limit the number of times that we allow people to change their names. You’re running out of names? How is that possible. You allow longer names than AOL, Yahoo, or Hotmail, all of which have hundreds or thousands of times the membership. It’s just too bad it’s not under user control, like the email address and password. At my online bank the signon name is in the profile and they let me change names as often as I like. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/9 "2004-05-16T12:20:02Z")
First, if you want to change your email address name on our Boards, that’s entirely under your control, change it every day if you want. But your screen name is your main identity on our boards, and we don’t let you change it. I bet that your bank doesn’t let you change the identification number on your account, nor the social security number, whenever you want. Second, it’s not that we’re running out of names, but we don’t want to run out of “good” names. AOL allows names like “Fred38.” We’d really rather not have 38 Freds running about, it causes confusion. Again, if we’re trying to build a community, we really don’t want people changing their names every time a whim hits them. Your name is your only identification on line – it’s not like we can recognize your face or sig line. Hence, changes are limited. ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/10 "2004-05-16T14:00:46Z")
**Fairblue** - I see you still don’t have your name change after two weeks since you wrote. But TubaDiva has been posting steadily through that time. So it’s time to either write her again or take **Q.E.D.**'s advice, get a more private Yahoo account, and write to a couple other admins. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/11 "2004-05-16T15:38:56Z")
Or she could just take it that she’s already had a name change and they aren’t going to change it again. > [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > If you’ve already had one name change, it’s unlikely that we will grant another. ---
**Author:** ![shewriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@shewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shewriter)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/12 "2004-05-17T13:16:14Z")
Welcome to the board **AveDementia**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/13 "2004-05-17T19:27:02Z")
What the heck, I changed the name. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/14 "2004-05-17T22:40:21Z")
Oh! Thank you so much. 🙂 Was holding on to a pretty thin strand of hope there, but I wanted to hear from you before I resorted to outright begging and pleading. Thank you thank you thank you, **TubaDiva**! Thanks, **shewriter**! You too! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/15 "2004-05-18T05:37:59Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > What the heck, I changed the name. > > your humble TubaDiva > Administrator After a batch of back-channel emails, add me to the list of people utterly thrilled to have TubaDiva among our administrators. She not only handled a name swap, but managed to skillfully meld two accounts together without inflicting so much as a mild rash on the hamsters. Brava! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/16 "2004-05-18T09:40:39Z")
You **will** all however note that the “Thread Starter” (in the Forum View) is still listed as **FairBlue**. So: **AveDementia** - congratulations! But - there seems to be a hiccup in the Board Software? Dani ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/17 "2004-05-18T10:20:32Z")
A quirk, not a hiccup. It doesn’t change the name on the forum pages, just in threads. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/18 "2004-05-19T13:13:17Z")
**Mods** , When I first signed up, it said that Go You Big Red Fire Engine was taken… I searched for posts by user, but I got nothing, so I figured, ok, maybe someone used it and didn’t post… So I decided upon my current name out off lack of ideas 😉 but is there actually someone with that name? And if there isn’t would I be able to get a name change? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/19 "2004-05-19T13:28:26Z")
Not sure why the system did that, (sometimes the ways of vB are passing strange), but since I have changed your name, all should be happy now. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202/20 "2004-05-20T10:38:24Z")
Woo hoo! Thanks a lot 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attempting-a-name-change/244202.md?page=2)