OK, folks, I just checked my mail…and the rules have changed a bit. This is from the top, so don’t argue with ME about it. I’m sure you all know why we’re having to make this rule…it’s because a few scuzballs ruined it. But now we’ve got to do this, so take heed.
“Only one screen name is permitted per user. If you wish to change screen names please notify the webmaster and we will deactivate your old screen name. Use of multiple screen names is grounds for revocation of your right to post under ANY screen name. We reserve the right to refuse postings from screen names we find objectionable.”
There’s about 15 comments on this version of the thread existing in GD. The burning question is – how can you tell, and what about multiple screen names that live at one computer (spouses, SOs, families), and using someone else’s 'puter (as Ty, Jeff, Andrea and others have done at my house, and as I have done at Pam’s and Ty’s, for example).
I understand the reason for this rule, but it’s creepy. I don’t like it.
Keep the new rule more or less as it stands, but add a sentence regarding multiple users in a family. Then devise a way that will suit the time constraints of the administrators and the situations of people like the Melin and Undead families, to allow different family members to post under separate names without voiding the anti-wierdo rule. (Something about the phrasing of that last sentence worries me! :confused
My guess is that this rule is a subsection of the “don’t be a jerk” rule. I doubt the admin.s are going to bother with Santa or D. Equine. Using another name to be a jerk, confuse a discussion, second your own arguement or sow discord is another matter and are all good reasons to enforce such a rule. I’ve kept my former name (PapaBear) registered for mostly sentimental reasons (I also don’t want someone else to be able to register it). I’ve been totally open about my name change and hope the administation doesn’t feel it necessary to take action against me.
Ach, cousin; mayhaps ye ken what t’immortal Bard penned as advice. & if ye does, good luck to ye ‘cause I’ll avow I don’ ken anything at all of this matter!
FIRST AND FOREMOST: I use one and only one screenname (OK, several months ago, I was cajoled into participating in a prank, but I haven’t done anything like that since, honest and truly). I don’t like multiple screennames. On very rare occasions it can be funny. On the whole, I find it manipulates the discussion or distracts from the quality (and humor!) of the board. That being said…
A little more background is in order. I’m a reg who’s been to busy IRL to post much lately. Why? I’ve been drafting legislation. Thinking about how to make new laws has been about 90% of my life lately. So, Rulemaking, in Theory and Practice is a familar subject to me.
So… I respect this rule. If it works, I salute it. But, can it work?
As far as I know, anonymous e-mail addresses are easy to come by. As I recall, all it took to register herein was an e-mail address. (Perhaps I shouldn’t divulge this info – don’t want to aid and abet here – Mods, feel free to delete and treat this as a personal message if you wish). Therefore, all we can ban is an e-mail address. Since e-mail address are somewhat less than a dime a dozen, if we run across a determined troll (or demented reg) this rule is easily bypassed.
DISCLAIMER: My technical knowledge is limited in this area. Perhaps you can tell when one individual has created more than one username (If this is true, why haven’t you guys done something sooner!) If so, go for it. If not, while I applaud the intent of this rule, I’m dubious about it’s effectiveness in the face of posters who are determined to be jerks.
Please accept this post in the spirit in which it was intended – constructive criticism. Sometimes we lawyers forget ourselves – we’re trained to separate criticism of issues from personal criticism. Just debating the issues here. Keep up the good work.
Jill, as I understand it, there are technical ways to tell whether two posts came from the same 'puter, even if they are under different screennames. So – how do you know for sure that there is really more than one person posting from my computer, or whether I am just one person with multiple screennames?
If I am at Ty’s, and we are looking at the board, and she wants to post, and then I want to post something right after her, how do you tell whether we are two different people using one computer, or whether she has created another screenname for purposes of her own?
SanibelMan and Monty – I apologize for any confusion I may have caused. After 19 years in the U.S., 15 years as a citizen, and 14 years as a business owner, I should certainly have learned by now not to fall back on ignorant native colloquialisms to punch up the effect of a point when there are so many ignorant American colloquialisms available.
Allow me the luxury of rephrasing – “Yo! Dudes! Christ in a bowl of Quaker Oats! How am I s’posed to explain to my SO MsCrick that the rule states quite clearly that only one screen name is allowed per user? HunH? Our therapists will be in touch. Mother Mary in a small beaded purse from Macy’s! We’re really pretty pissed off, but only right this minute ;)”
(Admittedly this is me first attempt at mockin’ ya – how did I do?) Seems to me that in this, the least formal of yer designated forums, a bit less pressure is on the conformance. (Add luxurious dollops of sarcasm where required or as indicated.)
And be happy that MsCrick has still not yet chimed in on this board – My first indication that she’s annoyed is when the dogs slink out o’ the house.
As far as I know, there’s at least one other ‘user’ that represents the ‘anti-rule’ – rather than having more than one name for a single member, we’re two members registered under a single name. (I think tomndeb is the only other, if I got their name right, but there may be more.) It was a damned joke ye hair-trigger harridans!
Even the oddest of theories concerning ‘rulemaking, in theory and practice’ is no better than those making and enforcing the rules. Perhaps ye’ve both inadvertently illuminated that point better than such as I.
Dr. Watson
“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” – William Pitt
We don’t routinely match screen names with computers (IP numbers), and my guess is the majority of users don’t have a regular IP number anyway. (If they did, it would make it a lot easier for us to ban jerks.) If there are five people using five screen names on one computer, OK by us. The purpose of the rule is to give us grounds to ban multiple-personality pranksters.
its called DHCP…you log on to your ISP and are provided with an IP number thats available, not necessarily the last one you used. the chances of getting the same number twice in a row depend on the DHCP configuration at your ISP. normally you release your lease(for the IP number)as soon as you log off and therefor it isnt reserved for your computers “name or physical address”.
i really cant see a fool-proof way to make sure people arent posting under multible screen names(with different email addresses of course). but is the email checked? and what difference does it make? you can get a free account in hundreds of places on the internet.
its a good rule for what its worth…but a difficult one to enforce. given that someday it is proven that one person has many screen names, it is then possible to use that rule…so the world is a better one than without it.
