I would like to know why we allow users to change their names. It is confusing, and spawns new problems such as calling users by their old names as an insult, which has apparently necessitated yet another board rule and threat of banning. We don’t allow people to edit their posts, so why should we allow them to edit their names? It clearly causes mostly discord, and provides minimal benefits that appeal mostly to vanity. Can I get an opinion from an Administrator?
“We” don’t, bro, unless you’re undercover staff and accidentally posted this on ATMB instead of the Mods-only forum. TubaDiva does, and the rule is that persons uncomfortable with their old name for whatever reason get one name change, pretty much at their own option (though I’m sure she reserves a veto for particular cases). Any additional requests had better be backed by an extraordinarily good reason (and large quantities of chocolate).
As for why it’s permitted: AFAIK before the current p*ssing match in the Pit, there were only a couple of instances where the former name was used as an insult, in threads outside the Pit, and people were warned, not explicitly for using the old name, but for casting insults outside the Pit, the old name being an element in the name-calling.
To give you one exceptionally good example of why it’s sometimes a good idea, I was in e-mail contact with one woman who made an utter ass of herself, and I use the term advisedly, in Great Debates, to the point that she was Pitted several times. She was ready to quit the board but was wondering if there was any way to “redeem” herself by a changed attitude towards people. I advised her to take a short break, then contact TubaDiva for a name change – which she did, the problem being that one of the people she had offended the worst realized the identity. But her intent – to start posting more compassionately and less attitudinally – was a good one, and the name change would have distanced her from her old reputation.
But there are ample ways it can be abused. For instance, in this thread, there used to be a user who had signed up with the name Libertarian, and made some inflamatory posts. I erronously saw **Libertarian ** and thought Liberal, and made some unfair comments to our esteemed poster of long standing. Since then, the usurper has been not only banned, but the user name has been deleted and all his posts expunged. So now I look like an idiot in that thread, when it was all caused by the confusion due to a name change that was for vanity reasons only.
On review, I notice that in the thread I cited, the usurper formerly known as Libertarian changed his name to Feztickle, and was then banned.
Actually the user name was changed after he was banned.
I recall seeing ‘BANNED’ under the Libertarian name, as did Ilsa_Lund, in that very same thread.
What? You don’t like your new user name, TwoDogsHumping?
The case of the two Libertarians was a genuine source of confusion, but that case was an exception, not a rule: Ordinarily, when a name is changed, the old name is retired and made unavailable for further use. This step apparently slipped through the cracks in Liber[al/tarian]'s case, and another user happened to pick the same name. I wouldn’t imagine that either of these occurances is common.
There are often good and valid reasons for a name change, and so we allow one and only one. We suggest that people announced such a name change in their sig lines. Agreed, a name change sometimes screws up a reference in someone’s else’s post – another reason for not reviving old threads – but it’s a small inconvenience.
And what’s wrong with a little vanity, me bucko, hey? :mad:
When I joined, I used “nixmom1949”, an identity I’ve used in other places. Looking at all the creative names abounding here, I became dissatisfied with its pedestrian nature, and petitioned Dex for the change that has made me what I am on this board: EddyTeddyFreddy, the limericking tricat, or ETF for those in a hurry.
The fact that it bends my gender, with ensuing hilarity, is merely a bonus. 
Now, I changed identity shortly after becoming a member, and I doubt anyone had noticed the few posts I’d made before then. I can see much more scope for confusion when a long-established Doper alters screen identity.
Ok, but the change from Libertarian to Liberal just confused me, and I can’t see any good reason. It isn’t like he stopped being one and became the other. And then it caused several problems… :rolleyes:
ETF, yep, I thought you were male, not that it matters much here. 