[another_someone]

Impersonation of forum members

We have recently had two occasions where we have had people changing their screen name to be deceptively similar to the screen name used by another forum member.

I understand that the two individuals involved did not intend any mallice, and when the error of their ways was shown to them, they without argument reverted to their original screen names.

The trouble is that it is very easy for other people to have a more malicious intent in changing their screen name, and we cannot properly protect our members against that malice unless we can effectively prevent anybody (whether malicious or simply a childish prank) from using false and deceptive screen names.

These past two occasions, we have merely issued a warning, but the moderators feel that if we are to prevent an epidemic of such copycat pranks, we will need to take a harder line in future.

In the future, any person caught changing their screen name in a deceptive manner will, barring exceptional circumstances, face an immediate suspension from the forum as a minimum.

[Tanny]

Or...

We could simply forget about who typed what and focus on what has been said rather than who said it.  Most forums would probably be improved if the screen name feature was removed entirely.  Of course then nobody would use forums, so there's that.

[Tomassci]

... Most forums would probably be improved if the screen name feature was removed entirely.  Of course then nobody would use forums, so there's that.

I think that it's better to have these names, because -for example  knowing who is spammer. But I agree that original name is better than copy. Is it a good idea to have a thread for solving copycat problems like this?