[RedLion]

Hum...I'm thinking, why not letting the user change itself his nickname? Not all the time of course...Let me explain.

-The user can change itself his user name only two or three times.
-This limit reached, he have to contact an admin to do so.
-When the user name is changed, his old nick is inscribed in his user title for at least two weeks in order to not disappoint the other users (means he won't able to customize it for two weeks.)
Ex: Exodus change his nickname to "Religious GTFO".
In his user title will be inscribed "Ex-Exodus" for a certain time.

What do you think about? Maybe it will avoid users to seek for and bother an admin (as they are all evil) for that?

 

[RedLion]

We dont mind doing it. But like in this case the user didnt even say what he wanted his name changed too.

I didn't asked you if it was bothering you or not. We both know that was not the asked question, was it? So let me rephrase it:

Do you think the idea I gave is a good one? If yes, do you think it is technically doable? And then do you think it would be a good thing to implement it here? If no, can you give me at least one reason why it would be bad? Then I could think a little more before giving this kind of suggestions? Thanks.

The reasons why I proposed it is because I think it would give a little more (controlled) freedom to the users concerning their user name. They could change it themselves letting the admins doing more importants jobs elsewhere. Of course, I know it does not happen twice a day, but at least the users won't have to seek for an admin for such a "simple" task.

 

[RedLion]

Its a bad one open for abuse. Wether we think so or otherwise is irrelevant.

Did you read what I said before or did you just skipped it to my second post? Let me requote myself:

-The user can change itself his user name only two or three times.
-This limit reached, he have to contact an admin to do so.

Made some words more clear just in case of...

Time isnt available in so little amounts that manual renamings wouldnt be better. A public log would have to exist for this kind of change, to make it clear who is now who (even today. Not everyone knows who MT, Evil_Squall, AOLforBroadband or Luigi___ are for example. These names and the earlier having been 'freed', anyone could now impersonate them, since freed names would not be blacklisted against renaming from other than the actual person earlier represented by).Ban evasion could also be done the same, to hide the actual account identity, or impersonate other people or an already used idnetity.

A public log? If it does not exist when an admin change the nick of somebody, why should it exist if an user is able to do so? I repeat: If an user changes his user name, his old nick is written in his user title for two weeks in order to clarify who he "was" before. During this time he is not able either to rename himself or change his user title. That's the price to pay for having a new nick.With this way of operating, I think "ban evasion" and "impersonation" are ruled issues. Moreover,No need to write a script for a public log. Maybe a private one for admins. And I don't think a nick change also erase the infractions or warnings of the user in the DB, huh?

Everything is possible.

Ah good news.

Username changes are not the optimal way to do it however, changing only displayed names is, provided its still immeditely clear who is and was who (that would get rid of the issues with what you put on the table), as in not requiring literal investigations just to realize Luigi___ is a known emudev that went by another name.

Personnaly, if Luigi__ hadn't put in his user title "formely Nhervé", I wouldn't have even know it was him before. That is not an "investigation issue". Just a mean to let other people get the habit of the new nick.

On the net, youre represented by a username and optionally an avatar and sig. How will you be recognized if you change them all, including your usertitle? And what about those who didnt see your 'new' usertitle while it was still mentioning your old username?

Let me requote myself:

When the user name is changed, his old nick is inscribed in his user title for at least two weeks in order to not disappoint the other users (means he won't able to customize it for two weeks.)

If after two weeks people don't have the time to take the habit....

If you change your username, anyone could use 'RedLion' instead of you and lock you out of your own username. Sure, you have 4 stars and a few thousands posts, but anyone in that bracket too could impersonate you, and people wouldnt even have an idea theyre not PMing or talking with the 'real' RedLion.

Errr, If I change my username, why should I give a damn if someone take my old nick? What if someone take Nhervé as username?And anyway, If there is a mechanism that allowed to avoid it when username change is made by admin, this mechanism should be reusable if you give this power to users, shouldn't it?

Without a clear automated public log, all sorts of abuses are possible even for fun, and would be encouraged literally (today volume is very low and admins are always aware of who changes, so good safeguards). Just forum 'cosplay' is troublesome, you can guess how full impersonation could be.
Impersonation, hiding actual account identity and the possibility of fooling others members is not something to look thrilled by. A public automated log mentioning who changed name, when, and to what would have to be required even more than before, along with double identity display on miniprofiles, 'actual' display name and somewhere else the account name (ephemere mentions in usertitles are not a viable workaround, and not everyone will even have the delicacy to specify there they changed identity).

Read what I wrote before.

Thats part of the job. Just ask away, wether 'simple' or not.

And, as I said to Chrono, that's not the point. Anyway, that was just a suggestion. If you don't like it so much, well just forget about it.

 

[RedLion]

Well.I have quite the impression you just either (intentionally?) misread my posts or simply don't read them at all. Anyway. Read the last phrase of my last post.