nickname changes : thoughts?

[JJmumsnet]

Hi All,

We've been discussing the name changing thing internally recently as it happens, both because of the ability to use it to cause trouble and just as importantly because of the possibility that any new poster may be a name changer or the same person posting under multiple names, which inevitably leads to an atmosphere of suspicion.

As Marina has elsewhere rightly pointed out, the number of users, threads and name changes makes it hard to keep up with who's just having fun (by far the majority) and who's trying to cause trouble.

We've raised before the notion of restricting names to two per registration, with the idea that you have one name for everyday use and a further one for sensitive stuff. We believe this is the way to go now.

Of course it won't stop the ability to troll if you are determined, but it will make it more difficult to cause trouble and to confuse. We know some people enjoy having some perfectly innocent fun with name changing and we're sorry to be party poopers in that respect but on balance we think limiting name changes is the sensible thing to do. Were anyone to desperately want/need another name for a pressing reason, we'd happily facilitate on an ad hoc basis and I'm sure Tech could do a special Christmas namechange facility too.

As mumsnet grows (as we hope it might ) it's going to become even more of an issue to keep track of things, so we hope you agree the limit is the right way to go. Tech's away this week (again you cry!) but we'll get onto it soon. Naturally if you have objections/ reasons why you think this is a bad idea - do post them here or write to us directly and we'll give it further thought.

Thanks,
Team mumsnet

ive had a think about this,

i really dont think that limiting name changes will help, its far to easy to get round it and although the posts will be deleted whoever they concern will probably have read them anyway.

i love mn just the way it is, and think that changing it would be a mistake.

The eBay forums have, or used to have, a "Report This Post" button and it was really badly abused and led to all sorts of additional fights. Basically I don't think anyone much will have the time and resources to monitor and moderate that many reports- it's too easy for people to complain about minor disagreements, and that means MN having to triage all the reports.

Message withdrawn

IIRC there was talk before about being able to stop people posting on a thread

ie if one got nasty it could be HALTED rather than deleted

Am I right in that or in my imagination?

Cos if I am right then could that power of HALT be given to MODS so that it would stop and then Mumsnet Towers would have time to look it over and then decide whether to Delete

Also that also means that another thread does not start up asking what was said on the original thread

But Pruni I have no idea what this row was

Is it still there and if not why was it so bad?

Message withdrawn

Thanks Pruni

I never see the nasty posts cos I don't read the nasty threads I guess.

Don't get why people are nasty on here anyway

awwwww i really dont want the name change facility to be stopped.
with regards to 2 per person my two official names will fill that by themselves. as would thoose of the other mods.
swap threads wont be the same also. I have changed my name to discuss sensitive issues and a certain issue that could make me identifiable at work.

maybe horrid posters could have the limit put on them.
I think trolls /nasty posters will just re-register.

Maybe we should set up a petition to keep the name change facility - lol!! The swaps threads just wouldn't work without it!!!

lol, imagine trying to keep your .swappee guessing..

I think that they at least need to regulated if not banned. This is mainly because I have read some threads where someone needed support and people change there name and attack them.

Here is an example,
look at the post from quickchange.
Now if one felt that strongly about it then don't you think they should air their opinions without having to change their name?

And if they are not regulated then serial offenders should be banned, why should the other people who change names just to have a bit of fun suffer for those who do it to be nasty?

.

seems like that name keeps coming up in this discussion. only one person can have access to a name. really sad that a few minority are allowed to spoil things for everyone else, also feels like giving power to a bully.

That is true champ, and that is why I said that instead of punishing everyone they should just punish the offenders.

Meaning those people who constantly change their names to offend people. Somepeople come on Mumsnet with real worries and I think that if someone is going to be insensitive then they should at least be man/woman enough to use their real identity.

yep, forgot to add that I agreed with you

This is why I think that a report this button would be useful. The mumsnet team could get relaxed about just a few reports on a thread but if lots of people were reporting it it would tell them where to look possibly quickly. It might be a bit of extra work to begin with but if they got reports that were not justified at all they could remind the reportee of the correct use of the reporting system?

Sorry I think that many people change their names for very valid reasons and it would be a shame to take this option away from them. I also see some people being very unkind to somone and would like some way of asking mumsnet to protect the victim without perpetuating the thread. (On the basis of ignore bad behaviour/ reward good behaviour which we do with our kids)

I don't think a report button could work because what is to stop someone clicking on it repeatedly and generally (which is the situation that occurs most of the time)it is not long before a moderator is called and a thread admonished when things get out of hand.

I still think that when an incident upsets people that perpertrator should be admonished as mn hq see fit ie by restrictng that poster and i've come more and more round to the view that trolls and bitches are separate problems and will be discouraged by different things. Persistent or career trolls or peoples kids or relations trolling are all different. A bit like hackers some are clever and others are just nuisances...

There'd be no point in clicking it repeatedly because the "reports" would all come from the same person.

I've namechanged loads - maybe 12 times, since the very beginning - and never to be spiteful. I think it's one of the advantages of the site being online - the anonymity - and I think people have the right to that. It's also a laugh. As other posters have said it's way easy to use different email addresses and troll if you want to anyway. I'm sorry if I have missed threads where namechanging has caused offence, but I think being that draconian would be a mistake - and as other posters have said it would stop people posting about very personal issues.

Then purnishing serial offenders especially those who post here on a regular basis. Surely the staff have their identities.

Is the change to the mumsnet policy the outcome of the name changing debate, please if so it seems pleasnalty subtle...

Sorry it's taken so long to come back to you all on this - we've just been tidying up a few loose technical ends to make sure we can do what we say we are going to do re this subject... which is:

Well truth is we didn't realise quite how much folks liked the name changing facility when we floated the idea of limiting it and this thread put us to rights on that. So what we propose is to take a tougher line on those who change names for malicious/ troublemaking/ misleading purposes which includes the ability to withdraw nickmame changes for a period or if you're horribly, horribly bad... a ban! Some of you have already clocked that we've added a statement to this effect to our talk philosophy.

We hope that the fact that we are moderating namechanges more closely means you can be a bit more certain that name changers are genuine/ not trolls/ not multiple personalities. Please do use the contactus link at the top of the page to let us know if you have any suspicions. That will really help us stay on top of things.

As ever, thanks for your input and if you have any further thoughts/ concerns/ objections plse do post them here.
Team Mumsnet

YEAY I'm so glad name changes are officially staying!

Hurrah!

Does that mean My alter egos {only on ONLY JOKING THREADS} are banned from coming out to play for funfunfun ????

They are not mean or horrible to anyone