2011-08-09, 11:41 | Link #762 |
sleepyhead
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: event horizon
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Pretty much any symbol is valid: KORA!, KORA!!, -KORA-, [KORA], ~KORA~, KORA♥, _KORA_ you can even use kanji. Note that lower or uppercase does not matter, ie. Kora = kORa = KORA etc. However the case you choose will be the one we all see, regardless of which one you use on login.
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2011-08-09, 16:42 | Link #763 |
Senior Member
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^Indeed, hyphens are supposedly allowed. However, if you look just one page back you'll see that someone requested his name with hyphens, and if not allowed, without ; His name ended up being without them. Makes me wonder why... Are there several different moderators here doing the name change and each of them has different ideas on what is allowed and what is not..? I really doubt all those symbols you wrote as '' valid '' will be allowed though. Just because the forum software may let you use such username doesn't mean you can use one if it conflicts with rules.
Also btw kanji is not allowed. I'm pretty sure I or someone else asked this couple years back when I had joined the forum and I'm pretty sure I was told something along the lines that as the forum is in English, you're going to have to use an username that can actually be typed - Not one that people have to copy/paste to address each another. So if I wanted to use kanji I'd have to settle with using them in my title.
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2011-08-11, 11:22 | Link #766 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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In general terms, I would say as follows:
1. All user names must use only basic latin characters (no accents) 2. All user names should start with a letter 3. Use of punctuation and special symbols are discouraged, especially if it might cause confusion between two active members 3a. We don't allow user names to have multiple special symbols in a row So if we're given the choice between a username with punctuation and without, we would choose without. And if at all possible, it would better for people to have unique usernames that won't be easily confounded with another member based only on the inclusion of a symbol. (The memberbase isn't so huge that it's impossible to find unique and interesting names.) I'll see if I can get these points codified and added to the opening post in order to reduce future confusion.
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2011-08-11, 12:07 | Link #768 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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They're a compilation of the rules that are already applied when you try to create a new forum account, and other previous staff discussion (from before I became a mod). The point is, essentially, that your nickname should look like a name that people can easily recognize and type. Anyway, will get it codified to reduce future confusion.
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2011-08-11, 13:27 | Link #769 | |
sleepyhead
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: event horizon
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Quote:
In the case of (1), accents actually don't matter, first of all Cliche and Cliché are equal at a glance, and are theoretically the same word in most languages. This is because the fancy symbols you see are for pronunciation (as some languages differ from english in that "words are written exactly as they are pronounced"); and there are many more such symbols then accents. If you really don't want confusion between your users, then your approach of not allowing accents is completely wrong, just set the appropriate collation, problem solved. Going back to the idea of "easy to type" you suggest, do you think for example your name is easy to type? or pelly's name is easy to type? Typing a strange word is harder then typing a full sentence, because when we type words in a sentence we type them by reflex but when we type strange words like the one you madeup for your name we have to remember each letter in it, in case of short/strange words, or make an awkward word association composition (in particular words with a lot of double-lettering are annoying to type). If your name had been relentlessFLAME or [relentless]flame!! or \00134relentless-#-flame/ it's actually easier to type since for all of those cases I can easily (and intuitively) shorten your name to flame (or relentless). Why is flame more likely then relentless? it has nothing to do with what I want to call you and more to do with it being a lot shorter and simpler word. Six character (or less, typically 4 seems to be a popular number) are easy to pickup (ie. read), as well as easy to gobble up and spit out; hence why nicknames people might give each other generally go in that range. As for special character. Special characters (no matter how complicated the pattern) are very easy to ignore, since we generally give them no more importance then punctuation, particularly when they are used more like decoration. Of course names containing only symbols are bad and since most on the forum see kanji no different then a symbol obviously a name with only kanji might come off as confusing, though you would still be able to recognize it (for the most part). Numbers aren't all that different since we don't see digits and letters as the same thing, so something like naruto1234 or 1234break are pretty straight forward (most people are also used to seeing numbers in usernames). Also, have you considered how the other consequences of these arbitrary rules. Let's say I visit another forum and I go by 1234break, it's a pretty simple and unique name other people here, that go there would recognize, so how much damage are you thus doing by forcing me to chose a different name "my friends" won't recognize. Fair enough. Though I'd rather you not rely so much on decisions made in another time when people were concerned by other things. The past will never catch up the present.
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2011-08-11, 13:35 | Link #770 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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This is a request thread, not a discussion thread, so I don't want to get into a "debate" about this here (and frankly, I personally don't want to debate it at all; my only goal was to try to clarify what the policy appears to be since there appeared to be confusion). I'll get the feedback of the other staff and update the first post with the decision about what will be permitted.
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