Q:
A: “no, there are not a fixed set of rules, it’s mostly common sense. If we had fixed rules, people would try to find ways to circumvent them, and we don’t want to waste time with that kinda crap.”
Yes, I know you said that. Didn’t know you were applying it to length as well, since that does not have to be subjective.
I thought of signing up under the name Tsarcasm, but figured that probably wouldn’t be appreciated by the Administrators (or the Mods).
Actually, dantheman, length can be subjective as well.
Which of these two names is “longer”?
illillillillillillil (20 characters)
mwmwmwmwmwmwmwmwmwmw (20 characters)
I didn’t say it couldn’t. I said it doesn’t have to be. Oh well, I was just looking for a simple answer - guess there isn’t one.
The cry of the Bantu warrior going into battle.
The cry of that guy trying to answer the “Who shot Alexander Hamilton” question on the first “Got Milk?” commercial.
PS: Arnold:
I was wondering about this, because in the last week or so I’ve noticed a couple of usernames that I thought would catch the eye of a mod or admin: dogshit and rhymes with duck cough.
I’m not offended by them, but I am amused that someone would voluntarily choose to be known by that moniker. Moreover, I’m curious about how closely these names tread to the edge of the ‘good taste’ boundaries.
I bet those guys are being watched very carefully, Audrey. 
I would think - and I’m only guessing, of course - that if the username had a cuss in it, the person would be emailed with a request to change it as soon as possible. Of course, with so many members and so few moderators and administrators, sometimes it’s just not possible to get them before they post. But they sure seem to do a great job of keeping the riff-raff out…
Of course, sometimes with similar usernames, one or both of the parties will ask the admins for a name change. That’s generally considered a reasonable request. And usually, one or both of the members in question has zero or one posts, so it’s not even an issue in the first place. Sometimes, of course, they just peacefully coexist: So far as I know, for instance, yojimbo and yojimboguy don’t have any problem with each other. There are also two names along the lines of “needs to know”, but I don’t think I would remember how to spell which one.
Is there really an “Ino” and a “lno”? I knew we had one of those, but I never bothered to check the letter to know which. And I certainly didn’t bother to check both!
And, of course, it’s only now that I notice that one of them has already posted to this thread.
Ino isn’t currently a registered username; at least, “http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&username=Ino” turns up nothing. But people frequently misread “lno” as “Ino”.
I assumed it was a whoosh.
Wasn’t there a member called Member?
I don’t see anything wrong with Tsarcasm. It’s not a curse word, it’s not offensive. Only reason I can see you would have been worried is something to do with implied superiority complex or something. Given that we’ve had a Satan and a Gawd, and numerous other names proclaiming themselves king or emperor or the like (no specifics coming to mind), nothing even borderline on Tsarcasm. Heck, there’s a Sarcasm running around, isn’t there?
Heh, Irishman, I hope you’re trying to whoosh us all… You know perfectly well that Czarcasm is a moderator… right?