Fine.
Fuck it, then.
The number one message board in the world accepts nicknames representing real life celebs?
Just because?
Looks like we’ve hit a new low.
Qasi, I’m sorry but I just don’t get the outrage here.
I can use my real name can’t I? It is actually also the name of a well known English actor/ commedienne. I don’t happen to be that person, nor would I present myself as him, but I don’t see that we have the same names precludes me using my real name if I wish.
Yeah, no.
This is NOT the number one message board in the world. It’s a small piss in a big bay in a massive ocean.
For shits and giggles, I did a google search on J Michael Straczynski who has actually posted here under his real name. He’s not an A-list celebrity, but he’s relatively well-known amongst Sci Fi fans.
I couldn’t find any posts referencing him here until I cross-referenced his name with SDMB. Then, and only then, did I find any references to him on this board without searching through pages upon pages upon PAGES of results. Same with our new “Chuck Norris”
A-list celebrities are going to have billions of pages with their names on them - tabloid news, their own websites, fake twitters and facebooks. Someone would have to be specifically looking for Celebrity A in conjunction with SDMB to actually find any posts here. It’s not unfeasible but it’s a pretty damned slim chance.
And if on the infinitely small chance something like that does happen, once someone gets on here, and sees that it’s an internet community built around people posting under fake names, the story is going to die in the arse. There is not a 0 chance it will happen, but it’s so close to 0 as to be indistinguishable by the common man. In the decade+ that the SDMB has existed, how many celebrity-based lawsuits have been threatened over postings here?
In short - let it go. You are obsessing over NOTHING. The Dope is one of the more hypersensitive-to-legal-issues messageboards out there. If this was an issue, Ed and/or any of the other Admins would have jumped on it with both jackboots a long, long time ago.
♫ Cicero’s got a girl’s name 
♫
Guys, you do just get that he’s upset that he feels he was misled, right?
Come on, he’s the guy with dementia who doesn’t even attempt to hide it. If someone with dementia treats you like you’re really the celebrity your name says you are, you should have the presence of mind to tell them about the mistaken identity.
tangent: perhaps one day, judging by the current trend elsewhere on the Net, the SDMB might incorporated Facebook logins. not that this would eliminate anonymity. or be an improvement.
If he was just upset because he felt misled at some unspecified point in the past by someone who he admits didn’t out-and-out claim they were the celebrity, but he accepted that TPTB aren’t going to make a ruling based on that, then fine.
But he’s wanting a rule made because he’s upset that there MIGHT be a minute chance that a journalist MIGHT happen upon this board and MIGHT see a post in the name of a celebrity and MIGHT write a story based on a post here without doing any fact checking and it MIGHT cause a shitstorm.
That’s a whole lot of mights all up in there.
We don’t know how long ago this alleged “pretender” situation happened. We don’t know what the poster actually did or didn’t say, except for Quasimodem’s admission that they didn’t outright say they were the celebrity in question. It’s possible that the poster thought they were gently dissuading this person who thought they were really a celebrity without going “Don’t be stupid, I’m not such and such you idiot”, or possibly thought that HE was the one playing a game and were just being silly along with it. We don’t know if he was told and just overlooked or forgot that he was told. There are too many unknowns here.
He is fixating on something that is a complete and utter non-event. The implication being that he wants a rule made to stop people using “Celebrity” names because HE got confused one time, but is disguising it under concern about the good of the board.
If he’s so concerned about someone really being who they say they are, and he’s not getting straight answers out of them, he’s got enough friends on the board who he can ask to also check the person’s story out, without having to rely on the mods to play nanny on what names people can use.
It’s wholly possible the “celeb” doesn’t realize that though, BigT. I do, but that puts him in the 5% or so of Dopers I actively remember the personal stories of.
Mitch Benn popped in briefly but he’s not a huge celebrity (especially after the diet) unless you’re a Radio 4 listener.
I automatically assume that anyone using a celeb’s name on an internet noticeboard is not really the person until 1) they claim to be and then 2) they offer a convincing reason to believe that it’s really them and not a faker. I can’t speak for the OP’s person but in general it’s safer to be skeptical.
I’m Gumby. Dammit.
I’m sorry, but I don’t get it… What, exactly, would be the consequences for the SDMB if this were to happen? What, in other words, would “bearing the brunt of the fuck-up” actually entail?
I’m just not sure what it is you’re worried about here.
Long ago, on Fark, I was in a discussion with a guy who later contacted me privately for continued discussion. At some point he identified himself as (famous actor). I replied, “whatever” or similar.
He eventually convinced me. But I maintained that what he did IRL had nothing to do with our discussion.
Oh, and I thing most people with some degree of fame tend to post under nicks that are not immediately identifiable.
Whereas, I really am a sentient chocolate bar.
I’ve always hoped you were the hazelnut kind… Sigh.
I’m really Thomas the Tank Engine, but I don’t want people to know.
I am Spartacus.
No you’re not.
You’re Czartacus.
Quasimodem, I appreciate that you don’t want the board to get in trouble here, but there’s nothing to worry about. No journalist out there who would report that a famous person said something based on a message board post. I am sorry if somebody misled you or jerked you around, but if you see somebody with the same name as a famous person, the safe assumption is that they’re just a fan or possibly another person with the same name. That’s one reason I would not want to set up a new rule about this, incidentally. We have a few posters with famous-person usernames but I don’t think we need a new policy about it at this point.
That wasn’t Richard Sakai. But if we’re making a list, James Randi has posted here a couple of times.
Aren’t there “fake” celebrity names on Twitter and such?