One other message board I belong to has a User Name History feature that allows you to keep track of name changes. Is there a resource to figure out who used to be whom on this board? I ask because it’s happened to me several times where a user disappears and it only dawns on me years later that the person had a different name when I started. Like I seem to recall Una Persson being somebody else in a different board life, but for the life of me, I can’t remember who. Or Anaamika. I know she had a different name, but what was it?
I’m sure there’s probably dozens of other name changes I’m completely unaware of, and it’s screwing with my board life continuity.
I don’t think this board has that functionality. But you can search the username and look through old threads hoping someone quoted the person. (The posts will be under their current username but anyone talking to them at the time would use their old username, obviously.)
For example, in this thread from 2004 that Anaamika posted in, someone quotes her post as Elenia28. Therefore Anaamika used to be Elenia28.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that, but there are some folks who have changed names way that don’t seem to come up in searches, and there’s probably a slew of folks I am completely unaware of having changed their name.
It’s not that important–I just know it’s happened to me several times where it dawned on me years after the fact that two different handles were the same person.
You might be thinking of my holding the record for the most different SDMB Member titles. One of them, which lasted for about a day, was that.
(FWIW, they were:
Member
Guest
Charter Member
Straight Dope Staff Science Advisory Board (for about 1 day)
SDSAB
BANNED (mistake)
On Sabbatical (for about a month)
Coal Goddess (changed by TubaDiva for 1 day) )
Since you mentioned that, I have quick question about Member and Charter Member that does not really warrant a whole thread. I’ve seen at least one Member who joined in 1999, but Charter Members who joined in 2001 or 2002. I thought Charter Members would be original members??
Also, Charter Membership dates to when this board became a paid-membership board, in 2004. The Charter would be for all the members who were among the first group to pay for their subscription, not for the founding members.