I agree, although I’m not so sure about warning newbies off choosing the name, might give them ideas. Or maybe not, but after the recent troll problems, I wouldn’t put anything past them.
I do think it would be an excellent idea to either have our own memorial page to Wally on this site, or a prominent link to Opal’s site.
It’d be nice if it was done.
I think retirement of the username and any similar is the best way to go in this situation. Vote me “yes”. A link to the memorial page might be nice, as well.
:wally
I would also like to add my vote
Aye!
It’s the least we can do. Yes. I would be a :wally not to!
You are talking about making sure that no new poster can use Wally in any form? Aye! :wally
Aye, too.
I am so appalled by this that I can’t even comment on it without letting go of my principles. I have already sinned in my mind and heart, and I don’t want to compound the sin by telling you what I think of any…okay, pond scum will do, I guess, that would do this in view of Wally’s tragic death.
Aye, and AMEN!
A totally enraged Scotti
I am not sure what everyone is really asking here. As several people have mentioned, you and you alone own the username you selected to use on the board so there is NO chance someone else can use the “WallyM7” username as is. However until the bug with non-printing characters and spaces being allowed to prefix and postfix usernames is fixed, people will be able to continue to fake other user names, but once that bug is fixed no one will be able pose as Wally or anyone else. As the mods have said to anyone who asks, they are pushing for that fix as quickly as they can, but sometimes these things take a little time.
As far as disallowing any usernames with the word Wally in them, this is going to require yet another software change or human overseeing of every account created. The list of changes wanted in the software is already long, so it will be some time before the software change could even be considered, if they are even willing to do it. As far as asking the mods/admins to monitor account creation, I think we all know how busy they already are.
The idea of changing Wally’s status from “Member” to “Retired” or “Saint” or “Member Emeritus” is a good one. If the admins can just create a new status in a table, much like they added a new smilie then I say we press for the addition. But if the statuses are hard coded then we are looking at another code change in the program before the new status could be implemented.
Aye, of course!
Aye, aye.
why not just regester every variant of WallyM7 and ban them all? then leave wally’s account active so no one can use the original name either.
This is just a suggestion …
I didn’t know Wally, and only signed on a couple months ago, but it was his posts that made me decide to stay (along with the welcome I received).
Anyway, I was flipping through my dictionary, and found as a guide word something that seemed fitting for what to render Wally’s status as, both for its etymology and meaning :
genius loci : [L., lit. the (guardian) spirit of a place], the general atmosphere of a place.
Whatever is decided, I think it would be good to change his status somehow, and, if possible, prevent unwitting newbies from registering his name.
panama jack
That is a wonderful idea, panama jack!
FWIW, Ayesha very kindly responded to an email from me, asking for explanation behind those puzzling posts in ATMB. I can’t fathom the shriveled mind and heart of someone who could do something that stupidly, pointlessly vicious.
Thanks to the posters, mods and admins who so promptly swept that crap off the board, especially before Amy could see it. My heart still jumps when I see Wally’s name on the threads called up in his honor. To see it deliberately, cruelly misused is obscene.
I don’t know if protecting the name Wally (and close variations) is possible, but it sure looks like there is a need.
Aye!
Veb
I like the idea of changing Wally’s status to “Retired” or something. And I would definitely agree with the swift banning of anyone who started trolling with a “WallyM7” ripoff. However, it occurs to me that someday a user named Wally may register, and want to use the name “Wally” or something similar. I don’t really know that it’s fair to not allow someone to use a similar name, especially if they aren’t doing it to be a jerk.
If I went somewhere and was told I couldn’t register as “Jeannie” or some variation because of any reason other than the exact name being taken already, I don’t think I would come back.
I’m not trying to step on toes here, but those are my thoughts.
Quoth eggo:
Because there’s at least 14,571 valid usernames which look identical to “WallyM7”, not even counting things like “WallyM8” or “VVallyM7” or “WaIIyM7”. What counts as a “variant”?
Chronos
Not that I’m questioning your count or anything, but how did you come up with “at least 14,571 valid usernames which look identical to ‘WallyM7’”?
Just curious.