Randy Petersen

This question was submitted by member onefreeman:

"What is your opinion of psuedo-handles and how do you believe the use of psudeo-handles affects (or has affected) FlyerTalk?"

gleff

I'm not sure I understand the question, perhaps onefreeman is referring to members who create second handles with which to 'anonymously' attack other members.

Flyertalk's TOS permit members to have only one handle. Any exception must be granted by Randy. I have no problem with whatever member also utilized the handle arturo, though that joke apparently ran its course.

Sometimes members have been known to create a second handle when they couldn't log into their main handle for some reason, that's not the best method to use (better would be sending an email to [email protected]). Though I do understand it, especially if their email to admin went unanswered. The new user should (a) just contact someone for assistance, not post and (b) ask to have the new handle deleted.

Finally, some members have requested a change in handles for one reason or another, this has been handled on a case by case basis by Randy and the current process seems fine. Though perhaps I'm not understanding either the questions or someone's concerns.

socrates

I believe everyone should be limited in general to one handle, on a case by case basis I can see changing a handle but more than one handle simple can not be allowed because of the amount of abuse it would allow

~Matthew~

On one side, I can see how psuedo-handles are advantageous - to allow anonymity, to aid when problems occur with primary log-ins, etc etc. With a forum of this size however, I would agree that one handle per user is the best way to go.

Cholula

Duplicate or multiple handles have been the source of a great deal of ill will on this and other Internet bulletin boards.
They are rarely set-up for any positive reason and thus I'm not in favor of them except for very limited purposes.
In addition to the arturo example above, a current FT moderator, Moderator2 has two handles. He uses the Moderator2 handle in an official capacity when moderating his forums and his regular handle when posting as a member. I believe this experiment in duplicate handles for mod's was determined to be unwieldy and thus was discontinued.

Buzzard533

If by “psuedo-handles” Randy means the use of two or more handles, then I would be against that except as already covered by the FT rules. Multiple handles should not be needed in a civilized information exchange forum.

Radioman

[[I]QUOTE=Randy Petersen]This question was submitted by member onefreeman:

"What is your opinion of psuedo-handles and how do you believe the use of psudeo-handles affects (or has affected) FlyerTalk?"[/QUOTE]


Hi
I would say that people should only use one handle on any of the forums. I know of forums where some people have used upto 8 handles (and still do) it causes all sorts of conflicts and problems.

I would have to ask the person who posted the question why he would want to use multi handles on the forum?

regards
RadioMan

gleff

Cholula is correct, I had forgotten that Craig6z uses the handle Moderator2 when acting as a moderator. That's pretty bad, since Moderator2 is a co-moderator with me of MilesBuzz!

IIRC when moderators were first introduced to Flyertalk this was done anonymously. There was quite a controversy over 'just who are these moderators' as they were given handles like Moderator1 and Moderator2. It was later decided that moderators would perform their duties publicly.

The dual-handle solution works well for Craig6z. For me it would be unwieldly, I bet I'd post with the wrong handle quite a bit and I often handle simple moderator chores quickly between meetings. Logging out and logging back in with a different handle would be a chore, especially because my Internet Explorer often doesn't let me log out properly!

John C

In any society or social grouping, a person develops a reputation that he or she must live with. The human desire to be liked and accepted is one of the primary drivers in leading people to behave in socially acceptable ways. Anonymity is desired when one wants to do something unpopular without suffering the recourse. Bulletin boards by their very nature are fairly anonymous to begin with. Alter egos and second handles serve only to allow people to behave in ways that they do not want known by the greater group and in darn near all instances, that is a detriment rather than a benefit to the community as a whole. We can never stop all such occurrences as many people (in a way I just cannot understand) seem to draw some type of satisfaction from annoying others and actively work to do just that. But we should continue to strive to make these occurrences as rare as possible.

Gleff again has good points around lost passwords or a change in handles. With a community this large we should provide tools to allow self-service to those with password issues if at all possible. I am not certain what tools exist there today. And, especially for new users, we do want to allow a change in handle. Your handle is your identity on these boards and sometimes that perfect witty name comes to you right after you register.

Allow creativity but prevent abuse. Who could possibly be against that? The devil again will be in the details. And sometimes you are better off maintaining policies that are slightly vague and permit a degree of human judgment. Those who seek to abuse and annoy are often outstanding at using the rules to their advantage and playing their games just within the letter of the law. There is an advantage to having someone who can make a determination based on the spirit of the rules. I haven't been around as long as some, but that is exactly what I believe we currently have. While there might be some bumps in the road as we ramble through the process, I haven't heard anyone yet complain of a complete failure to eventually reach the right result. That to me means that we might look to tweak things around the edges, but for now anyway, the current policy seems to be working.

gleff

I think I should appoint John C as my campaign manager!

Thanks for the compliments, and to all for keeping this so issue-focused.

John C

Bah! You're doing better than that already. I'm seriously considering giving you a vote! ^

gleff

Btw, there's a current thread in the technical issues forum on members changing their username.

bhatnasx

When the OP refers to pseudo-handles, I am assuming they are refering to duplicate handles. If that's the case, then I don't believe duplicate handles have a place in our community. With the exception of Craig6z/Moderator2 & arturo/whoever and the examples gleff provided above, there should not be any duplicate handles. Like every candidate above me, I feel that duplicate handles create, in general, a negative aspect on FlyerTalk. My belief is that if you have something to say, be a big enough person that you can say it as yourself - not behind some secondary handle. There is absolutely no reason for people to have a duplicate handle if they are posting as a member of FlyerTalk.

Those that use duplicate handles on FlyerTalk to badmouth other posters or to stir up controversy, in my opinion, are not really what I would consider to be valuable members on FlyerTalk. Why? Well, first off, they don't respect FlyerTalk and its Terms of Service. Second, they aren't strong enough people to just post what they believe & stand behind it. Third, I just question why someone would feel the need to create a secondary or third handle - I feel it would only be because of ill-will.

civicmon

I don't mind if users change their handles to something else (esp. location specific ones when they've reloacted) but multiples? An absolute no-no....

stimpy

If one is going to be malignant here, a second handle is just but one of several tools they could use. Just because bad people use them doesn't mean they are inheirently bad.