hgm wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:03 am
No one is 'exempted from this'. But in the upgrade to phpBB 3 the real names of all existing members were deleted from the database. Now that we control the site again it has become possible in principle to force members to provide a name, but we have not adressed that problem yet.
In the case you reported: I don't know why this member slipped through. I typically ignore such registration attempts.
Lead by Example? User "chrisw" + "Rebel"
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Srdja
When this board was first set up with the original dinosaurs being the first accounts, we didn't "sign up", we were given account names and passwords. Mine was chrisw 1234, Ed's was rebel xxxx, Hyatt's was bob xxxx and so on. And so it stayed. A real name status was added some time later, and the requirement for using a real name was added. This requirement was broken by the shop on a one-off basis who allowed an alleged user of the shop to call himself KarinsDad. Presumably he was a cash customer. When ownership changed (shop owners sold to other shop owners) the real names list was lost and the username took over. For a while the usernames were mostly identifiable with some known real human, but gradually this lapsed and now the board is full of unidentifiable posters, who some people might know from elsewhere but others don't. It's a mess.
I don't think letting them through is harmful. It can be 'spitting on the sidewalk'.
What I mean is that when I was a kid, there was a law in town that it was illegal to spit on the sidewalk.
Of course, it was never enforced. I asked a policeman who told me the purpose of the law.
Suppose there are opposing groups that are spoiling for a fight. You can't arrest anyone for spoiling for a fight if the fight did not start yet. But suppose one or more principal persons spit on the ground. You can arrest them, take them to the station, and let them go. In the meantime, you have prevented the fight that would have occurred.
So if someone signs up with a fake name, and behaves nicely (perhaps someone with a tag like 'Rebel') there is no real need to do anything. But if that person turns out to be a whinging twit, you have a bona fide rule to get rid of them instantly. They did, after all, spit on the sidewalk.
Taking ideas is not a vice, it is a virtue. We have another word for this. It is called learning.
But sharing ideas is an even greater virtue. We have another word for this. It is called teaching.