Mal: You tell me right now, little Kaylee, you really think you can do this? Kaylee: Sure. Yeah. I think so. 'Sides, if I mess up, not like you'll be able to yell at me.

'Bushwhacked'


Bureaucracy 2: Like Sartre, Only Longer  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


§ ita § - Mar 13, 2004 6:14:06 am PST #7310 of 10005
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Asking a stompie to change your user ID is always the best.

When you create a user, we check for a unique e-mail address. This was supposed to prevent multiple registrations. But who has just the one anymore?


Frankenbuddha - Mar 13, 2004 6:47:29 am PST #7311 of 10005
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

So multiple logins are the new black? Huh.

Sorry, all, just kidding.

Anyway, if a stompy could change my user name to Frankenbuddha, I'd be much obliged. A transitional name, now that I've met some of the local Buffistas F2F.

Do I need to logout/in, or will it just change when it's changed?


§ ita § - Mar 13, 2004 6:54:44 am PST #7312 of 10005
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Done.


Frankenbuddha - Mar 13, 2004 6:55:12 am PST #7313 of 10005
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Muchos gracias!


Lyra Jane - Mar 13, 2004 7:18:04 am PST #7314 of 10005
Up with the sun

I don't think the pseud usage we're discussing is abusive. I do think that it's something that can easily become so, and it would be very hard to explain the difference other than as a like us/not like us issue.

As many people have said, I don't mind pseuds if they're either created and used for a specific joke (Clovis, the Ferrets), or if they're alternate logins that can be easily linked up (e.g., Xanderella/Cindy). But when a login is clearly a pseud and it's not clear who for, I can see why people get twitchy.

I wish I had a solution to offer. I don't. It would be nice if pseuds put who they were in their userinfo so anyone who was curious could check, but I don't think that should be a requirement. And if there was sockpuppet havoc someday, we could always invoke the "demon-like behavior" clause of our TOS, while still letting the ferrets and the lurkers frolic.

Two more things:

I'm fine with things like the ferrets or zombies posting as ferrets or zombies, especially since it's generally pretty clear who the actual person behind it is.

This may be a skimming-related issue, or a not-being-in-all-the-threads issue, or just me being oblivious, but I have no idea who types for any of the pseuds except Clovis. I assume the ferrets are victor-or-thessaly, because they're the ones who have ferrets, but I wouldn't put money on that.

I'd mentioned my "lurkers support" idea a few days back, and figured since I mentioned it ahead of time, there would be no "we're being played" issue. I must have mentioned it in Spoilers.

I'm sure you said this, but honestly? I remember the "lurkers support" conversation. I don't especially remember who said what. Even if I did, I couldn't have guaranteed that the Lurkers ID was you and not someone else who read the post and thought it was a cute idea.


vw bug - Mar 13, 2004 8:22:10 am PST #7315 of 10005
Mostly lurking...

I've been reading this discussion going, hmmmm... and ahhh...and, well, I had to change my psued about a year ago...and I had to do it without making an announcement on the board...not for board reasons, but for personal reasons. So, I totally get where Cindy is coming from here. While her personal reasons for not wanting to be "Cindy" and my personal reasons for changing from "vw bug" to "Elphaba" are very different, they were still personal reasons...ones that had basically nothing to do with the board.

I at first wasn't going to post, because I ususally just lurk in bureaucracy, but since I have some personal experience with doing this on this board, I thought I'd poke my head in.

People didn't seem to have a problem when I did this a year ago. I felt badly, because there was no way I could let everyone on the board know of my name change. I tried to let as many people know through backchannel, but it was very important that I seemed like a new member of the board, and I was somewhat treated as such. So, I couldn't put it in my tagline or anything.

Shit happens. People need to do things differently in their lives. If that includes changing their psued so they can stay a part of the Buffistas on a different level, and they're not doing it for problem-causing reasons, I don't see why this is such a big deal. I guess I felt the need to post, because now I'm all wow-I-wonder-if-I-caused-this-big-of-a-fuss-when- I-did-this-oh-but-yeah-it's-not-all-about-me-ish. I mean, I get why it may seem a little unfair to people not in the know, but honestly, if the person's not causing trouble...


Lyra Jane - Mar 13, 2004 8:36:32 am PST #7316 of 10005
Up with the sun

And, see, VW, that's exactly why it's so hard to make up Principles about this stuff. If someone has RL reasons for needing to change their login without an announcement, it's ridiculous and petty to say they can't.

It's all case-by-case. Cindy posting as the lurkers didn't bother me, and neither did your name change. But I can so easily imagine a circumstance in which a name change or second login *would* be worrysome.


Liese S. - Mar 13, 2004 12:57:56 pm PST #7317 of 10005
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Yeah, that's true. 'Cause I had no problem with your change, and I didn't know about it personally. And 'cause there obviously is room for abuse.

But anyway, right now I think we're pretty much okay with where we are and where things stand right now, yes? We're just talking, hashing it out, and there isn't action we need to take?


Steph L. - Mar 13, 2004 1:53:22 pm PST #7318 of 10005
I look more rad than Lutheranism

A post in GWW from a new-ish person made me think:

Ought "-ma" be in the FAQ? Like health-ma, job-ma, Wonderfalls-ma? We all request it rather frequently, so maybe an explanation is in order.

Deb's explanation is succinct and rather good, here: deborah grabien "The Great Write Way" Mar 13, 2004 12:43:13 pm PST


victor infante - Mar 13, 2004 1:55:42 pm PST #7319 of 10005
To understand what happened at the diner, we shall use Mr. Papaya! This is upsetting because he's the friendliest of fruits.

I assume the ferrets are victor-or-thessaly, because they're the ones who have ferrets, but I wouldn't put money on that.

For the record--Thessaly is the ferrets, I'm the remote-controleld robot zombies. Both are intended for humour's sake only.