I would rather the name list was housed on site and only available to users who are logged on here

But that obviates the function -- if you can't get to it before you pick a user name, then it's not serving its stated function.

But yeah, having that list available seems a lot of info to hand "just anyone."

I do not see it as remaking the place to suit newbies -- it's a suggestion to support a decision we made a long time ago.

I just think it's the wrong suggestion, and that we should go the manual route we've been doing so far instead.

JesseBelle (who I imagine must wear a pink cowboy hat).

Hee!

Gronk.

What are all these West Coasters doing awake. It`s still too early to be up for me, and you`re four hours behind me. Go back to bed, while you still can!!

"illiminating" wtf?

Cross between illuminating and eliminating, which, actually serves the purpose very well.

amych, thank you for that. It's not exactly my squick, but it certainly comes close. I think

having that list available seems a lot of info to hand "just anyone."

comes closest. I think I've condensed my feelings on the subject to, "I don't want random unknowns unwilling to exchange information to have access to that information." And as I said before, it makes me feel squirmy.

I'm the one who asked the ingenuous question to start with. It seemed innocuous enough then. But ramifications, etc. I think a new registree will have to be willing to modify his/her username if the chosen handle is too similar to one already in use. And they're not going to know that till they either lurk awhile and run across a wide sample of user names, or register, post, and then ask a stompy for a change if necessary.

Is any of that unclear? (edited to add: I haven't had my daily ration of caffeine, so I make no claims to clarity)

Again, amy, thank you for being outspoken. And please don't go away.

But that obviates the function -- if you can't get to it before you pick a user name, then it's not serving its stated function.

Wow. I am posting more "duh" things in this thread lately, than... well than in quite a while. Duh. Yeah. So not so useful, huh.

I just think it's the wrong suggestion, and that we should go the manual route we've been doing so far instead.

I agree. It also seems to me, the people who oppose it feel much stronger in their opposition, than the people who were interested in it. It also seems to me (and this is total conjecture) that the users here who share similar names kind of get a kick out of it. That could be me, being transfer-y. I like having to pay attention to which JessX is posting, and which amy, etc.

I do not see it as remaking the place to suit newbies

Yeah, I realize that wrt the user list, that's just my gut reaction talking, and it's probably mixed in with a good dose of my reaction to other aspects of the recent flood.

Still, as it is my reaction, I'm going to let it stand. I'll even take another pass at making it sound somewhat civil: We are who we are because we built this community for us; the "us" there should always be read to include new folk who make the effort to learn our ways and contribute to the collective brilliance that is the buffistas. I've never been an islander, and I love a lot of the recent delurkers who are rapidly becoming home folk.

However, I don't love just anybody who passes by, and I really don't love just anybody who registers to not converse, not join in our strange ways, but to post memeWFroolsNOIwon'tlearnyourwaysTIMTIMTIMOVERHEREILOVEYOUTIM without making the effort to really be a part of this thing. I get snarly when I see what looks (again, in my callous and strange view of things generally) like accommodating those folks at the expense of the wishes or comfort of the ones who contribute something.

t addressed to amych's head, not her gut

It's much easier for a new person to go ahead and sign up, than do research. And the readers are the ones that suffer if the names are messy.

The suggestion becomes more important when there's a flood of new users, but we haven't even had any name confusion with the cancellation-induced batch.

And who'd have thought that Ro and Rio would be more confusing than amych and amyth? I mean, really. If it turns out your name is confusing, or you just don't like it any more, you can change it. Because our Stompies KICK ASS.

This week, it feels like we're talking about remaking the whole place to suit an army of starfucker newbies who want to use our place to organize a campaign that won't work, and maybe get a VIP sighting in while they're here.

Oh dear. I tripped and fell in the Bronze.

Thing is? Tim comes and goes. We could be without a Joss or a Tim post for months and months when they get busy. Plus, he leaves his email addie, people who want to talk to Tim don't have to pig-pile, they can just write to him, directly. I bet most people don't know that Joss stops in from time to time, anyway.

Mounting impossible campaigns? There isn't another place to discuss/mourn Wonderfalls. We're the host for that. Kristen is also getting inundated with emails and posts at TimMinear.net from upset fans, venting.

I can steer a campaign away from crazy!land.

There is the problem that arises when there's an avalanche of newbies who create their own subculture that can twist across the grain of the existing culture, and that can suck.

I don't see that happening. I see that people are grateful for the thread, and in general stay in that thread.

I admit having that "this is our Tim and YOU can't play with him!" moment in my head. And then, I laughed at myself, clunked myself on the head with a frying pan, and stopped being Gollum. He's not our preeeeciooousssss.

Sure, some of the posts have been "driveby drama," but that's usually just one post, and gone.

It's a growing pain. I think Buffistas are mature enough to protect our board culture while being hospitable.

It's much easier for a new person to go ahead and sign up, than do research. And the readers are the ones that suffer if the names are messy.

No question. And actually that gets to my other problem with publishing a list: I think it's utterly useless.

People (and I mean people generally speaking) don't check such things first. People don't even the FAQ or the etiquette or the GO READ THIS NOWs first. The ones who lurk first aren't going to be the issue anyway.

I agree that name confusion hasn't been a problem with the current batch; in fact, I don't actually think it's ever been that big a problem, and I'm not so sure we need to do anything about it at all. I do think we're putting a lot of energy into an imagined potential for name confusion because the "how do we deal with all these new people" anxiety is otherwise very hard to pin on anything all that tangible.

(edit: and thanks, Allyson, for the good sense. I really didn't mean to turn this into a discussion of my weirdo anxieties.)