# guest user? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 27, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036 "2001-02-27T07:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@They\_Call\_Me\_Sneeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/They_Call_Me_Sneeze)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/1 "2001-02-27T07:19:26Z")
so while i’m all the way over in this forum, i’m going to ask something else that i wonder. a couple of times, in threads i generally dont remember (but i think one was the big long foreskin/noskin thread, kind of towards the end) someone will start posting who isnt a user and isnt a BANNED but is “guest” or “not yet registered” or the particularly troubling “n/a.” or something like that. how can he post if he (or she or it) is not registered? and what would it mean if they were n/a? (when the guy in the foreskin/noskin came in and started backing “JDT” i figured it was really cecil adams coming in to stur the turd, as it were. cause if i was cecil adams, that’s what i would have done. am i right? do those things mean it is cecil? that is my guess, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/2 "2001-02-27T07:48:23Z")
Well, there are a couple explanations. The first is that they asked to be unregistered, and were. This only happens rarely, as the name is removed from the database, so it could be used by others. Another is that they were banned prior to the great software switch of April 27th, 2000. Due to the fact that the old software allowed an unregistered status for a poster without removing them from the database, banning someone meant unregistering them. Another explanation is that something screwed up when the message board changed software, and a poster in good standing shows unregistered status in that post. In that case, often the next post is blank, and attributed to someone named reg. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/3 "2001-02-27T14:08:37Z")
Eh, Sneeze, Cecil doesn’t need to use a sock puppet to be obnoxious and “stir the turds”. He can be plenty obnoxious all by his own self. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/4 "2001-02-27T19:05:40Z")
One other point which I think **waterj2** was alluding to but never explicitly said: If someone posted **before** the 4/27/00 switch from UBB to VBB _but has never posted since_, he or she shows up as a “Guest” with **not yet registered** below his/her name. Obviously, this person did indeed register, and is on the server’s accepted users list, and the first post he or she makes in VBB will rectify this glitch. Tuba? Lynn? Are all the details of that last paragraph on target? I know the gist of it is, but I’m not positive about details – like needing to refresh one’s registration and such? ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/5 "2001-02-27T21:57:30Z")
On some of the really old threads, long before the switch, everyone is listed as a guest. Other times, random people, for example I saw one the other day where it happened to DSYoungEsq, have their status listed as guest, with a blank post by reg following. Since DSYoungEsq has posted many times since the change (though not enough recently, IMHO) I doubt this is the phenomenon you are referring to. Oh, another thing is that before the software switch, if you changed user names, the first became unregistered. Thus, posts by Flora McFlimsey, SmackD, or Puffington will all say unregistered. That reminds me, who did Puffington become? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/6 "2001-02-28T01:09:28Z")
**puffington** became **neutron star**. ---
**Author:** ![Show\_Biz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Show\_Biz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Show_Biz)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-user/56036/7 "2001-02-28T15:17:27Z")
I was going to post that **Ed Zotti** had posted recently with the status **Guest**. But when I went to paste the thread number I realized it must be an old one that was raised. **[How to get your own post removed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=5666#post5666)** Ed’s post was on 08-09-1999 02:40 PM, but everyone was talking about it as if it were recent information. So, what I’m saying is that a raised thread can fool you into thinking the Guest status is new when it isn’t.