Alts, and why they're confusing.

[babybottomfeeder]

Hugs for both of you.

(BBF, you do realize that the person using the name Lord Foul now isn't the same person as the original Lord Foul, right? Just checking....)

What do you mean?

[I'm Murrin]

What she means, is that the day that Lord Foul changed his username to LF, Effaeldm created a new account called Lord Foul, and then a few weeks later posted a topic in every forum using that account.

[babybottomfeeder]

What she means, is that the day that Lord Foul changed his username to LF, Effaeldm created a new account called Lord Foul, and then a few weeks later posted a topic in every forum using that account.

So all those topics were Effaeldm and not D***d? Sounds like someone else needs to come clean. No wonder they Were Trolling with their posts. It seems that since the Real Lord Foul has left, everyone is trying to take his place but has failed to do anything more than troll

As for Murrin:

Cynics

It is easy to be a cynic
It is hard to stand and reveal

Don't underestimate bad taste
And it's ability to peel

Murrin, Murrin, Murrin
God Loves You!
God Bless You!
God Saves You!

Stand and deliver sir,
Stand and deliver sir,

It is easy to point and judge
Harder to say the truth

Fight hard against peer pressure
Don't be a John Wilkes Booth

I say these things in earnest
But I like you just the same

Please take a side and stay there
or change sides it's all the same

No side, no side, no side
Not a side, not a side, not a side

[babybottomfeeder]

Honestly though, this is the equivalent of someone posing as Balon!'s ex-girlfriend and calling it regular mashed peas and saying "Get over it."

[babybottomfeeder.]

Ha! I just did that as a gracious cost cutting measure guys! It was all a joke but the joke was at the expense of babybottomfeeder.

Does anyone else want to apologize to him besides me?

I, like most of you am tired of the charade I was executing.

Sorry guys.

[Icarus Unfallen]

It appears that Effaeldm. is having her...
(Nope, not going to say it. Too tasteless, even for me.)

OK, babybottomfeeder, transparently done.

[Iolanthe]

Ha! I just did that as a gracious cost cutting measure guys! It was all a joke but the joke was at the expense of babybottomfeeder.

Does anyone else want to apologize to him besides me?

I, like most of you am tired of the charade I was executing.

Sorry guys.

I'm very confused, I thought Murrin was joking. And now you are a graveller and not an eh-brand? This is all too much, I'm off to bed.

[Savor Dam]

Iolanthe, please notice that the post you are quoting is from "Effaeldm." and not "Effaeldm"; in other words, someone (presumably bbf) created an alt account with a name that was almost identical to Effaeldm's and is posing as her.

I think the added punctuation is what Icarus may have been alluding to in the incomplete sentence he claimed was too tasteless even for him. Quite right. Glad he stopped there...but as a fan of wordplay, I see the humor in what he intended.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

I just had my first, after a great relationship of five years. Even the breakup is as okay as it could be. It would be easier if one of us cheated, but in reality we have simply grown as people and as a couple, and we just don't work together as well as we did. OTOH, I don't want to breakup, I just logically know it's the best thing for both of us. Power in paradox...damn you SRD! I feel sad and confused and at the same time, free of certain anxieties, and open to being able to do anything...alone. For now. *sigh*

Thoughts? I'd like to hear about others first breakup...

If I understood right, you were more like friends recently and, with the breakup is as okay as it could be, remained ones. So, you're friends officially. And you may either remain with the freedom or look for someone closer.

And sorry for what this thread turned into.

What she means, is that the day that Lord Foul changed his username to LF, Effaeldm created a new account called Lord Foul, and then a few weeks later posted a topic in every forum using that account.

Quite correct, though that was a month - I wanted for people to see LF used a new name here and be less likely to mistake me for him, and for the same reason wrote a pm explaining that to lorin even before posting anything and wrote in the Salute thread an explanation on what the topic creation was about, from which it should be clear I'm not LF.

Perhaps I was incorrect in thinking the thread that ended up in the GD was more likely to be viewed than the others. And even more in thinking that not hiding my identity when registering and posting from that account was just being fair with the mods, who I thought even looked at that info only in aggressive and offensive cases, let alone disclosed to everyone without asking.

...
So all those topics were Effaeldm and not D***d? Sounds like someone else needs to come clean. No wonder they Were Trolling with their posts. It seems that since the Real Lord Foul has left, everyone is trying to take his place but has failed to do anything more than troll
...

Like I said - see right above - wasn't trying to pretend being him, quite the opposite. Maybe I'm missing something - where do you think I was trolling? And the Real Lord Foul, I think, is the one with the lovely yellow eyes and a Despising attitude towards humans.

Honestly though, this is the equivalent of someone posing as Balon!'s ex-girlfriend and calling it regular mashed peas and saying "Get over it."

Please, can you leave balon! out of this? It's bad enough all this talk is here to start with.

Ha! I just did that as a gracious cost cutting measure guys! It was all a joke but the joke was at the expense of babybottomfeeder.

Does anyone else want to apologize to him besides me?

I, like most of you am tired of the charade I was executing.

Sorry guys.

To anyone who honestly believed I was LF/David - I didn't intend that, tried to avoid that and sorry for failing. This above, however, was not my post and is incorrect in almost everything.

Bbf, I don't see a way I attacked you or laughed at you, and the name change could hardly be somehow directed at you specifically. Or can you mean the FBH talk in the Comin' Clean thread? I thought it was sorted out, and I didn't post anything against you anyway, only tried to direct you to the information, even though you spoke about FBH and responded to Sarge in a way I didn't like, I thought you could just see what it was about and understand Sarge was posting a good thing.

It appears that Effaeldm. is having her...
(Nope, not going to say it. Too tasteless, even for me.)

OK, babybottomfeeder, transparently done.

Iolanthe, please notice that the post you are quoting is from "Effaeldm." and not "Effaeldm"; in other words, someone (presumably bbf) created an alt account with a name that was almost identical to Effaeldm's and is posing as her.

I think the added punctuation is what Icarus may have been alluding to in the incomplete sentence he claimed was too tasteless even for him. Quite right. Glad he stopped there...but as a fan of wordplay, I see the humor in what he intended.

Thank you, yes, that's correct, and also there's the avatar with the statue) Well, if you're worried any much that I may take offense, you may remember something else about me.

balon!, sorry again, I hope this talk is over or gets moved out of your thread.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

There is something profoundly disturbing going on here. Perhaps that's the point. But it sucks how Balon's thread got hijacked.

[aliantha]

I've split the thread from balon!'s as best I could. It got a little messy with a couple of posts. Sorry about that.

I think this thread is a pretty good case study of why alts, while entertaining in theory, can be a Bad Idea in practice. Anybody want to make a case for why we should, or should not, continue to allow them at the Watch? I understand some boards prohibit members from having more than one identity.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I feel sorry for new members.
With all these alts i've found that I only respond to those that I know.
I'm ignoring the new members.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

I've split the thread from balon!'s as best I could. It got a little messy with a couple of posts. Sorry about that.

I think this thread is a pretty good case study of why alts, while entertaining in theory, can be a Bad Idea in practice. Anybody want to make a case for why we should, or should not, continue to allow them at the Watch? I understand some boards prohibit members from having more than one identity.

I like the ability to change my handle on my account on occassion, it allows me to keep things fresh and (fairly) light-hearted. That is something that is pretty unique to this board and is one of the appeals for me. I do try to stick to the theme of incorporating my original handle into new ones. Note that my sig lists my prior identities as well, and I do not use any separate accounts, ever. As far as alternate accounts, I think decorum ought to limit their use in most cases to some of the game subforums where they are appropriate. There are some amusing exceptions like DPJ, and it is even a bit interesting to speculate about who that (harmless & fun) alt is before you find out it is Mennolly. And I'd hate to lose DPJ from the watch just because some people are jackasses!

I think there are just a couple of examples of posters that have really abused the ability to use alternate identities. Rather than worrying too much about some consistent rules standard about alts that is written in stone, I think the Mods / Admins should be trusted to cut through the BS and decide who is up to no good and put a stop to it. Just give them a few warnings and some opportunities to conform before lowering the boom.

[Dread Poet Jethro]

Speaking for the alts
Who do so responsibly
I say let us stay

Creativity
Would be stifled by banning
Our alt personas

A few bad apples
Ought not spoil the whole barrel
Baby out with bath

Identity theft
Yes, it’s surely a bad thing
Make rules against it

Other abuses
Could similarly be stopped
By admins and mods

But do not gag me
Nor make me “out” myself, please
I’m a good Poet…

By the way, Ron/Don
Thanks for all the kind words, but
I'm not Menolly!

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

? Now I'm friggin confused

[Menolly]

But do not gag me
Nor make me “out” myself, please
I’m a good Poet…

That's already been done by someone else, for those who know in which thread to look, yes?

Although I'll admit, and I know you will confirm, that I had your primary account figured out pretty much from your first post. Even if those first posts weren't in any of the sub-forums I mod.

By the way, Ron/Don
Thanks for all the kind words, but
I'm not Menolly!

? Now I'm friggin confused

Truth.
Although I did create DPJ's avatar for him.

But I simply am not creative with haiku nor wordplay. I do enjoy and appreciate it though.

[lorin]

I feel sorry for new members.
With all these alts i've found that I only respond to those that I know.
I'm ignoring the new members.

What he said.

I never had a problem in the past but I think they have gotten out of hand. I cannot keep up with the changes. Maybe if I read all the masses of posts I would know who is who, but I don't. I know DPJ and even when I did not know who DPJ was I appreciated the creativity of his existence.

That being said, I don't think alts should be banned. This site is attractive to me because it is basically self governing. People don't need to be moded to death. I just wish people would stop it without being told to stop it. To me it is childish and annoying. It is fine to have alts for the RP games or one for your 'bad' side, but having people that have 4 and 5 of them makes me distrustful. I do think that there should be a pinned post that requires people working with alts to post their various personalities.

[Menolly]

It is fine to have alts for the RP games or one for your 'bad' side, but having people that have 4 and 5 of them makes me distrustful. I do think that there should be a pinned post that requires people working with alts to post their various personalities.

Are you saying you distrust someone like Fist then? He had kept his alts pretty much separate for most of the time he's been on the Watch, yet willingly shared his non-GT ones starting with Han-shan in the other thread you started awhile ago. If he were to include his GT ones, we would probably still be skimming the posts...

And Fist is not the only Watcher with multiple non-GT alts. Even the good poet is only one of the main user's alts, supposedly not all of which I know either. But I still trust said user. Except for the occasional bad apple, I truly see nothing wrong with alt accounts. As Plains and DPJ have shown, they can be a lot of fun. I personally love Plains and Hig, as well as DPJ, and would be really sorry to see them go.

It is when an alt account is created to mimic or claim another Watcher's account that problems seem to set in. That appears to generally be done mean-spiritedly, although perhaps not by the current manifestation of L-rd Foul. Perhaps if we do implement rules regarding alts, something along the lines of not claiming an abandoned user name for a certain time frame, or not taking on another's handle with only a tiny character difference should be addressed, at most.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

I can agree with most of what lorin just wrote. Maybe there should be a pinned thread in one of the administrative forums that lists all related identities, with the caveat that alts who don't come clean are on a much shorter leash in terms of being banned for bad behavior. This would allow the *good* alts to do their mysterious thing while putting the *bad* alts on notice (although truth to tell, some of them are chaotic neutral). I'd hate for this to turn into an administrative headache for the mods and admins. Hopefully people will be more or less self-policing.

Menolly that is very true, and I think an alt that is created abusively ought to be automatically banned.

[I'm Murrin]

I don't have a problem with alts, and people doing what they like with them so long as they're not trolling or otherwise causing trouble. That a precedent might be set for claiming other people's identities, though, does bother me - enough so that, shortly after I changed my user name tonight, I felt uncomfortable enough that I went and changed an unused alt's name to "Murrin" so that no one (*cough*) could claim it.