Are people really worried about the database becoming clogged? What are you worried about more, the minuscule disk space taken up or the non-existent performance drop from having a million rows in a table? Are we running the forums from a pentium 3?
Have you been on during a name change type. The site slows down, and you start getting database errors trying to view pages. Plus its a hassle for admins to put up with, and I believe, based on reading old threads, Tube got tired of it, and decided to put a stop to it.
Are we sure that's based on the name changes, or because it (lately) has coincided with the whining forum, which usually seems to explode into activity.
And/or people using mod tools they don't understand, and inexplicably have access to.
Which was really, really funny.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited November 2008
Yes, we are sure.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
Are people really worried about the database becoming clogged? What are you worried about more, the minuscule disk space taken up or the non-existent performance drop from having a million rows in a table? Are we running the forums from a pentium 3?
Have you been on during a name change type. The site slows down, and you start getting database errors trying to view pages. Plus its a hassle for admins to put up with, and I believe, based on reading old threads, Tube got tired of it, and decided to put a stop to it.
I'm not talking about the name change threads. I'm talking about allowing people to just make a new account with a different name, leaving the old one behind. Apparently the policy right now is to ban people who try this, because leaving a row in a database table is ever so taxing. Especially since there are a whole 36,000 users, which is just enormous compared to the roughly 7 million posts sitting in the DB.
But of course, if this was allowed, Tube would be denied his demented forum game, so that wouldn't do.
RandomEngy on
Profile -> Signature Settings -> Hide signatures always. Then you don't have to read this worthless text anymore.
Are people really worried about the database becoming clogged? What are you worried about more, the minuscule disk space taken up or the non-existent performance drop from having a million rows in a table? Are we running the forums from a pentium 3?
Have you been on during a name change type. The site slows down, and you start getting database errors trying to view pages. Plus its a hassle for admins to put up with, and I believe, based on reading old threads, Tube got tired of it, and decided to put a stop to it.
I'm not talking about the name change threads. I'm talking about allowing people to just make a new account with a different name, leaving the old one behind. Apparently the policy right now is to ban people who try this, because leaving a row in a database table is ever so taxing. Especially since there are a whole 36,000 users, which is just enormous compared to the roughly 7 million posts sitting in the DB.
But of course, if this was allowed, Tube would be denied his demented forum game, so that wouldn't do.
That gets annoying though, when every name you want to make is taken, plus people would make a ton of alts to try and get around jailings/bans. I thought policy was to ban all but one of the user names though.
That gets annoying though, when every name you want to make is taken, plus people would make a ton of alts to try and get around jailings/bans. I thought policy was to ban all but one of the user names though.
You could still punish people for trying to get around jailing/bans by creating alts. When you see two accounts posting on the same IP it shouldn't be too hard to find out if the old one was banned or not.
And really if you're having trouble picking a unique name for these boards, you're going to have much bigger trouble elsewhere, in much larger communities. And if all else fails you can delete old, inactive accounts, though I highly doubt you'd ever have to do that.
RandomEngy on
Profile -> Signature Settings -> Hide signatures always. Then you don't have to read this worthless text anymore.
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
Lewie's name would be so long by now if this happened, he has had so many infractions and jailings, and I wouldn't be able to change my name to keep up with them!
LewieP's Mummy on
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Are people really worried about the database becoming clogged? What are you worried about more, the minuscule disk space taken up or the non-existent performance drop from having a million rows in a table? Are we running the forums from a pentium 3?
edit: oh right you're just a tool I won't bother replying to you then
Although I will say that if you care to read the fucking thread it will be apparent that I find my "demented forum game" monumentally fucking irritating and as such its perpetuity is not high on my list of motivations.
Although I will say that if you care to read the fucking thread it will be apparent that I find my "demented forum game" monumentally fucking irritating and as such its perpetuity is not high on my list of motivations.
I'd just write it into the rules then if you don't wish to allow name changes by request anymore.
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Gosling on
I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Like with Thanatos. Maybe even combined with this:
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Like with Thanatos. Maybe even combined with this:
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
We already vetoed the second one because it would be a problem for who would soon be known as Lewie-P_infracted_again_Shibbythread's Mummy
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Like with Thanatos. Maybe even combined with this:
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
We already vetoed the second one because it would be a problem for who would soon be known as Lewie-P_infracted_again_Shibbythread's Mummy
Ah, and exempting Lewie P would bugger up the entire system...
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Like with Thanatos. Maybe even combined with this:
I'd rather see for every infraction add another random word onto his name. So infraction 1 would be winter_combat_knight_pony. Infraction 2 might be winter_combat_knight_pony_legalpad and so on.
We already vetoed the second one because it would be a problem for who would soon be known as Lewie-P_infracted_again_Shibbythread's Mummy
That, and it would only encourage people to act like dicks if they felt they could grab a quick 'comedy' name change out of it. The number of people wanting a name change in the hope the coin comes up tails is evidence of this.
Really how irritating can it be to not ban someone for making a replacement account?
I'm not going to explain anything to people who are unable to post without coming across as douchebags. It's one of my things.
I'm sorry, was I being too mean when pointing out how awful the current forum policy is? It's too bad we'll never know the perfectly valid reason for handing out bans over imaginary performance problems.
RandomEngy on
Profile -> Signature Settings -> Hide signatures always. Then you don't have to read this worthless text anymore.
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
Really how irritating can it be to not ban someone for making a replacement account?
I'm not going to explain anything to people who are unable to post without coming across as douchebags. It's one of my things.
I'm sorry, was I being too mean when pointing out how awful the current forum policy is? It's too bad we'll never know the perfectly valid reason for handing out bans over imaginary performance problems.
I don't know what your problem is, but whatever it is it's going to get you banned if you continue to troll the forums. You are done in this thread, that was your last post.
Maybe I can ask this without being a douchebag. I'll try.
So I get why we can't do actual name changes. That makes sense, because it creates very real performance problems for the server.
I get why we can't just let people create alts all willy-nilly, because we generally try to watch for alts of those that have been jailed or banned, or alts created for trolling purposes. This may create false positives? Anyway, it at least makes some kind of abstract sense to me.
What I don't get is why we can't allow that to happen in a controlled manner. You know, you have to ask a mod first, mod says yes or no, then you create the alt and they ban the original. Keep a thread, just like the banning thread, tracking these changes.
You could even limit how often this could be done...maybe once every couple years, or something. Because I also get that there are like a hojillion members, and some would want to change names like they change pants to boot.
I'd think it would be fairly trivial to come up with a system for requesting a change (and the reason), and for tracking those requests, which wouldn't place too much of an undue burden on the mods (which is a concern). Maybe require the PM have a specific heading (like start with [NAME CHANGE] or some shit), so they can ignore them until they have a few built up and deal with them at their convenience? Infractions for spamming more than one mod? A "name change" option for the reason for an infraction, so you can throw a yellow card when somebody requests one, then another yellow card on the "alt" if you let them?
Maybe it needs to be sketched out more, but I just don't see any real reason we can't create a system to allow limited name changes.
But then, I'm not a mod so I'd also be honestly interested in hearing why this wouldn't work (or couldn't), if that's the case.
Not everyone joins a forum already planning on hanging around forever. They join to see what its like, and just put in an easy username when they try it out.
Not everyone joins a forum already planning on hanging around forever. They join to see what its like, and just put in an easy username when they try it out.
That is true. I never actually intended to post in the forums.
Not everyone joins a forum already planning on hanging around forever. They join to see what its like, and just put in an easy username when they try it out.
That is true. I never actually intended to post in the forums.
There's that, and there's the fact that I may well be a different person in many ways than I was when I joined this forum...what, five years ago? Six?
EDIT: I'd agree that name changes do need to be uncommon, and controlled, but I guess I just don't necessarily agree that they should be absolutely forbidden unless there's no possible way this can be done.
mcdermott on
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
edited December 2008
I also am keen on the "new account to replace old account" thing as described by Mcdermott. I would have gone for a name change myself after all these years on the forums, but I have missed the last two opportunities.
Just_Bri_Thanks on
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Not everyone joins a forum already planning on hanging around forever. They join to see what its like, and just put in an easy username when they try it out.
That is true. I never actually intended to post in the forums.
Mmm, me too. I also never intended to go to PAX, play computer games and a shed load of other stuff. But I like my name, and can't think of anything else I would like to be known by that isn't silly.
LewieP's Mummy on
For all the top UK Gaming Bargains, check out SavyGamer
Not everyone joins a forum already planning on hanging around forever. They join to see what its like, and just put in an easy username when they try it out.
That is true. I never actually intended to post in the forums.
Mmm, me too. I also never intended to go to PAX, play computer games and a shed load of other stuff. But I like my name, and can't think of anything else I would like to be known by that isn't silly.
I heartily agree with this statement.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Posts
Have you been on during a name change type. The site slows down, and you start getting database errors trying to view pages. Plus its a hassle for admins to put up with, and I believe, based on reading old threads, Tube got tired of it, and decided to put a stop to it.
And/or people using mod tools they don't understand, and inexplicably have access to.
Which was really, really funny.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
I'm not talking about the name change threads. I'm talking about allowing people to just make a new account with a different name, leaving the old one behind. Apparently the policy right now is to ban people who try this, because leaving a row in a database table is ever so taxing. Especially since there are a whole 36,000 users, which is just enormous compared to the roughly 7 million posts sitting in the DB.
But of course, if this was allowed, Tube would be denied his demented forum game, so that wouldn't do.
That gets annoying though, when every name you want to make is taken, plus people would make a ton of alts to try and get around jailings/bans. I thought policy was to ban all but one of the user names though.
You could still punish people for trying to get around jailing/bans by creating alts. When you see two accounts posting on the same IP it shouldn't be too hard to find out if the old one was banned or not.
And really if you're having trouble picking a unique name for these boards, you're going to have much bigger trouble elsewhere, in much larger communities. And if all else fails you can delete old, inactive accounts, though I highly doubt you'd ever have to do that.
Lewie's name would be so long by now if this happened, he has had so many infractions and jailings, and I wouldn't be able to change my name to keep up with them!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
edit: oh right you're just a tool I won't bother replying to you then
Senior Fish was okay, but Gorilla Salad is so much better.
Same thing happens.
I'm not going to explain anything to people who are unable to post without coming across as douchebags. It's one of my things.
Also, what is your opinion on brown paper packages tied up with string?
(As for 'demented forum game' stuff, you could always use name changes simply as punishment. Kind of like what they did in the Dark Ages- forced name change to fit the offense. I remember someone got swapped to Captain Reading Comprehension after not reading this thread very well. Just kind of standardize that.)
Like with Thanatos. Maybe even combined with this:
We already vetoed the second one because it would be a problem for who would soon be known as Lewie-P_infracted_again_Shibbythread's Mummy
Ah, and exempting Lewie P would bugger up the entire system...
I was wondering...are apostrophes allowed in names?
That, and it would only encourage people to act like dicks if they felt they could grab a quick 'comedy' name change out of it. The number of people wanting a name change in the hope the coin comes up tails is evidence of this.
I'm sorry, was I being too mean when pointing out how awful the current forum policy is? It's too bad we'll never know the perfectly valid reason for handing out bans over imaginary performance problems.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Not if your son is dyslexic and you are foolish enough to let him type in your name
Or we could just perma-ban him.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I don't know what your problem is, but whatever it is it's going to get you banned if you continue to troll the forums. You are done in this thread, that was your last post.
So I get why we can't do actual name changes. That makes sense, because it creates very real performance problems for the server.
I get why we can't just let people create alts all willy-nilly, because we generally try to watch for alts of those that have been jailed or banned, or alts created for trolling purposes. This may create false positives? Anyway, it at least makes some kind of abstract sense to me.
What I don't get is why we can't allow that to happen in a controlled manner. You know, you have to ask a mod first, mod says yes or no, then you create the alt and they ban the original. Keep a thread, just like the banning thread, tracking these changes.
You could even limit how often this could be done...maybe once every couple years, or something. Because I also get that there are like a hojillion members, and some would want to change names like they change pants to boot.
I'd think it would be fairly trivial to come up with a system for requesting a change (and the reason), and for tracking those requests, which wouldn't place too much of an undue burden on the mods (which is a concern). Maybe require the PM have a specific heading (like start with [NAME CHANGE] or some shit), so they can ignore them until they have a few built up and deal with them at their convenience? Infractions for spamming more than one mod? A "name change" option for the reason for an infraction, so you can throw a yellow card when somebody requests one, then another yellow card on the "alt" if you let them?
Maybe it needs to be sketched out more, but I just don't see any real reason we can't create a system to allow limited name changes.
But then, I'm not a mod so I'd also be honestly interested in hearing why this wouldn't work (or couldn't), if that's the case.
That is true. I never actually intended to post in the forums.
There's that, and there's the fact that I may well be a different person in many ways than I was when I joined this forum...what, five years ago? Six?
EDIT: I'd agree that name changes do need to be uncommon, and controlled, but I guess I just don't necessarily agree that they should be absolutely forbidden unless there's no possible way this can be done.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Mmm, me too. I also never intended to go to PAX, play computer games and a shed load of other stuff. But I like my name, and can't think of anything else I would like to be known by that isn't silly.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I heartily agree with this statement.
Did you honestly not read the whole thing about the coin toss?
Because there is a coin toss.