I think that solution would be worse than not addressing the multiple username issue at all.
The part that remains difficult to codify is a poster’s jerk quotient, which I suspect is part of the administrators’ formula for enforcement. There’s a handful of double identities out there who cause no trouble at all, but surface occasionally to let loose a witticism.
I’m an idiot.
I meant majormd.
What was I thinking?
Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue.
We could give it a try, PUN! 
I think Sue and Randy would probably hit it off . . . :rolleyes
-Melin
There’s also a question of what to do with folks who may post from a public venue like a school or library.
I would also suggest this rule NOT be applied retroactively to anyone who was a registered member (under no matter how many screen names) before the rule was issued, but rigorously against anyone who was not.
And, btw, the new rule (and any subsequent additions) should be placed at the very TOP of the rules page in the registration area. If a situation (such as this one, clearly) arises that is serious enough to call for a change/addition/deletion to the rules, it needs to be prominently placed.
This also will not deal with the situation where a person has access to more than one computer. Soo . . . there will be enforcement problems when there are more than one legitimate users at one computer, and when there is an idiot with access to more than one 'puter.
And what about if one 'puter has more than one ISP?
I dunno. I like the idea of waving a magic wand and getting rid of the idiots, but I don’t like the idea of the SDMB “Big Brother” peering into everybody’s monitor.
Really and truly, the best thing to do is just ignore them. Easier said than done, I understand.
-Melin
We’ve got a lot of people here who post from more than one machine (office/home) and quite likely several of those use more than one ISP. Then there are those situations where more than one user posts from the same machine and, likely, through the same ISP. Some people don’t use cookies at all, and you can flush your history easily enough. Other UBB sites show that the software does log your IP, but with most, that’s different every time you log on.
So it’s a grey situation that will likely, as with the rest of the rules by which we live, be somewhat haphazardly applied.
I’m with Melin…I post from both my office and from my home PC. Hell, I post from two PCs at home…depends on whether the roomie needs the desktop. So let’s see…one user, three computers. Am I going to get banned here?
Does Admin have any plans to deal with these problems, or is it going to be like beatle said…haphazardly applied. (In which case, why have the rule at all…)
“You are sweet, kind, and considerate… Like a grown up boy scout with tits!” - Brian, aka SDMB’s one and only Satan.
It seems like quite a leap to imagine that the administration will not consider the consequences of their decisions. I believe that they probably know what they’re doing, and will do everything they can to eradicate the crap and leave the good stuff alone. Any rule they make, they may apply with thoughtful discrimination because they represent the site owner(s). I advise that we trust them in this.
Umm…I suspect we may have made a serious mountain out of a molehill (or at least a raised area where hamsters can dance). The rule prohibits more than one online name per user. I trust that the administration here has sufficient common sense, especially after reading the posts of concern, to identify the fact that more than one user may use a given ISP or computer, and devise some means of distinguishing between, e.g., OpalCat and UndeadDude, without demanding they give up one identity or both be cancelled. Granted, we do have a tendency to pick some particularly small nits, but it’s my impression that Ed, Jenny, Lynn, CK, and the moderators do exercise a fair amount of common sense the majority of the time! (Don’t let the compliment go to your heads! :p)
I suspect that the administrators’ & moderators’ enforcement strategy can be inferred from the fact that notice of this rule was ONLY posted in Great Debates & BBQ Pit.
Now it could be that Nickrz, & St.Eutychus, & Jill, & CKDex, & Tuba ALL haven’t read some piece of e-mail explaining this, & asking them to post the notice on their respective fora, but I rather doubt that this policy was developed without input from at least some of them.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Falcon, the new rule does not apply in your case (or mine) because we post from multiple computers. So long as you post as Falcon from whatever computer you use, you aren’t in any danger of being banned.
The question about multiple computer use comes in when you have a troll that posts as Name1 from computer1 and Name2 from computer2 - how will the moderators be able to, with 100% certainty, prove that those 2 usernames are actually being used by only one person?
Having been a moderator at another discussion forum, I can tell you that they do not have the time to check every single solitary username against other registered users to ensure that no one is registered multiple times. They are more than likely only going to take the time to check this when it becomes clear that someone is trolling using two different names, and then once they can verify that they’re a single user, they’ll ban that person (both user names) based on this new rule.
Therefore, Melin, Majormd, PUNdit, UndeadDude, OpalCat, et al have naught to worry about when it comes to using multiple user names from one computer.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank
Shayna said, among other things:
I dunno. Maybe they’re going to hire Phaedrus as a consultant. 
Of course truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.
Mark Twain
Would the people that share a compter be willing to have a note to that effect appear in their member profile? Then if two usersnames use the same computer without having that notice, they can be banned. And if they do have that notice, then everyone will be warned that they might be the same person.
Guys, guys, guys!
You’re all assuming that they’re going to be limiting each computer to one screen name (i.e. one screen name per IP address).
They might instead be limiting each e-mail address to one screen name, and rejecting web-based e-mail addresses like xyzzy@hotmail.com or plugh@rocketmail.com . I know the Left Behind Message Board automatically checks the e-mail address you sent it to see if it’s on a POP server or an HTTP server, and rejects your request if it’s the latter.
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
Will usernames like “Cowardly Psuedonyms”, which certainly aren’t being used to fool anyone into thinking that this is a new poster, be banned? (And tracer- David did sort of imply that multiple posters from the same computer will be investigated.
Further, what about SN’s like “God” and “Dead Equine,” which we all know are regs who choose to make a point – and usually a good point – or have a little harmless joke? Shoot – there goes Santa Claus, too!
Now I had a little pet troll following me around a few months ago who was obviously a reg. IIRC her SN was “elle.” She’s a coward, more than anything; even in her emails to me she refused to identify who she was even though I pointed out that her opinion is worth than useless if she didn’t have the guts to put her real name up beside it.
Now, annoying as that was, and annoying as these reincarnated trolls are, I think that this new rule is worse. It does not seem that it can be enforced evenhandedly and consistently, and thus will lead to more accusations of favoritism and scapegoating.
There’s a legal saying to the effect that “hard cases make bad law.” I know that the administration is indeed facing a “hard case” in dealing with those who have come in here simply to troll, and that they are trying to deal with it in the best way that they can to keep this a nice place to play for all of us. I just become very uneasy at the thought of – as I said on the similar thread in the Pit – the SDMB Big Brother peering through our monitors for any reason at all.
Not only that, but what am I gonna do about those other 35 screen names???
-Melin
Melin, you know you’re just upset because you’re Phaedrus! ducking and running
Sounds to me like it would be difficult to enforce. I personally have 5 AOL email addresses (could have 7 but not using 5.0) I have my domain name with 4 email addresses (and can create up to 20), my work address and an address with my ISP, totally that is 11 active email addresses.
Course, I am not the type of person that would abuse the boards, so I don’t apply. Just trying to point out the flaws in this scenerio.
This isn’t the US of A, this is a privately controlled message board with a lot of public input. I doubt Santa and GOD are really at risk - but the recent troll flood has caused the admins to adopt a strategem that allows them, at their discretion, to toast a user whose jerk quotient factored by his number of apparent usernames reaches the toast threshhold.
OTOH, if I were Santa or GOD (I’m not) or whomever, I might hold off on posting for a bit.