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

Well, it's not a weirdo anxiety. Your fears are real, they came to pass in the Bronze when Buffy got REALLY POPULAR.

"Is this the place where Joss posts? I'm a writer and want to send my script!"

"13 F fit r u a QT boi? lol lol"

The first post can be dealt with easily. "Joss posts at the bronzebeta sometimes. He doesn't read other people's scripts, sorry. Get an agent."

Person goes bye bye.

The other? ignore, or go TWoP and clean it off the board so it doesn't attract flies (i like the latter option, actually, we're not a dating service, and those posts attract pedos and morons).

Still, none of that is happening. And it may not.

And if it does, there's not many of us that believe in "Troll Training" anyway to allow a huge disruption in board culture.

It's okay to talk about how we'll protect what we love about Buffistas. Doesn't make us assholes. I'd rather have newbies that love us for all of us, and not just the one of us with the handsome smile and overall deal, too.

Also, with shrift on Salad Shooter.

Yeah. A good salad shooter debate should separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some of this discussion may have come from my proposed wording for the FAQ, which included a suggestion to choose a name that's fairly easy to type and one that would not be easily confused with existing posters. I was just thinking of that as a suggestion to help new people fit in with what I perceive as the existing board culture, not as some edict from on high. We tend to have a more conversational tone and write things like, "What Scrappy said." I was finding it kind of awkward to phrase a post in response to "Mxplx*, The Grand High Minister of What Scrappy Said" without cutting and pasting. I recognize that in some cases these may be long-standing noms de Internet, but they just looked odd here. My suggestion about not choosing a name similar to an existing poster was just to ward off potential problems, plus I may have been thinking, "Lurk long enough to see who's here."

I am finding myself a teeny bit grumpy with the flood of new people, which is ironic since I'm part of The Great Firefly Onslaught. I would like to issue a blanket apology to anyone I may have annoyed.

I was just thinking of that as a suggestion to help new people fit in with what I perceive as the existing board culture, not as some edict from on high.

Ginger, I think everyone is fine with this suggestion; there's some anxiety with some of the places that solidifying it as a kind of policy will go. I don't think you should have to be anxious that we're specifically directing concerns at you.

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.

Agreed.

I'm of the mind that we probably don't need to get too wordy with the name registration thing -- we've weathered the influx of newbies many times.

The drive-by posters don't usually bother to read the FAQ. The ones who come to commiserate and find that they like it here in Buffistaville tend to acclimate pretty well. Don't they?

(This post is in no way influenced by the fact that I have no plans to ever start posting with my real name. Heh.)

But it is your real name.

The name registration thing would appear on the registration page. In addition to what Ginger wrote already, maybe we could add a sentence saying that we* may ask you to change your username if we deem it confusing?

* "We" being the stompies, since it doesn't seem important or meddlesome enough that it would need to be brought up here.

Yeah, shrift.

I mean, I know your legal name, but dude--your real name's still shrift.

maybe we could add a sentence saying that we* may ask you to change your username if we deem it confusing?

This alone would probably be enough, IMO. Unless you want to note the specific confusions (with another poster or a celebrity).