Since my name was apparently invoked in the now locked thread, I just thought I should add a comment here.

I don't think anybody was 'targeted'...
What is the problem?
Some folks like to change their screen name once in a while to make a statement or just to give everybody a go. So what? I have done it a few times myself over the years.

All the thread was about was trying to help others keep track of the players.
LOL...with my short memory span, I can't keep up with who is who sometimes.

I don't think the name changers are trying to hide anything......if you look at the post history, many can figure out who said what under what handle.

Sirius, get serious...or rather, relax, friend.

Has any of the 'name changers' complained that they were 'outed'?

I doubt it. Most have a pretty good sense of humor, or they would not be name changing in the first place.

It was all just a bit of history reporting trying to lessen some confusion about who was who at various times.
There was nothing malicious about it.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

exactly the point Mark. It was just to try to help keep track. Obviously.. we hit a nerve.

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Janice

exactly the point Mark. It was just to try to help keep track. Obviously.. we hit a nerve.

But the nerve that was hit does NOT seem to belong to one of those so 'offended'..

Whatever......
You may know me by msattler, you may know me by kittyman.......it's all the same, I am not trying to hide. I am omnipresent on these boards.

I suspect it's the same for the changelings..they are just having fun.
It's nothing dishonest, if you can link one post to the next, most can track them.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

My screen name change uses self-deprecating humor.
Quite different from the others.
My screen name change points to the ridiculousness of the other recent changes.

Changeing a screen name is ok in its own right, The complaint was that some were changeing to many times. Yes you can figure out who is who by what they post and history or just a sig.

My gripe is when they change to a banished ID #. Now regular posters cant see hidden posts, us mods can and it gets confusing. When you see posts that are up to date and following a theme. How can they still be posting? Untill you figure out that this person really isnt banned.

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[/quote]

Old James

However, it should be pointed out that ID has never changed his screen name, except, IIRC, to correct a spelling error.

My screen name change uses self-deprecating humor.
Quite different from the others.
My screen name change points to the ridiculousness of the other recent changes.

And you are quite entitled.
I certainly don't take any offense.
Have fun, but, Will you still love me tomorrow, by any other name?

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Changeing a screen name is ok in its own right, The complaint was that some were changeing to many times. Yes you can figure out who is who by what they post and history or just a sig.

My gripe is when they change to a banished ID #. Now regular posters cant see hidden posts, us mods can and it gets confusing. When you see posts that are up to date and following a theme. How can they still be posting? Untill you figure out that this person really isnt banned.

Hint: they're in blue and clickable, not black.
And, as I said before, such screen name changes are a public comment on moderation.

Changeing a screen name is ok in its own right, The complaint was that some were changeing to many times. Yes you can figure out who is who by what they post and history or just a sig.

My gripe is when they change to a banished ID #. Now regular posters cant see hidden posts, us mods can and it gets confusing. When you see posts that are up to date and following a theme. How can they still be posting? Untill you figure out that this person really isnt banned.

Hint: they're in blue and clickable, not black.
And, as I said before, such screen name changes are a public comment on moderation.

Yes that is true. Its still intially confuseing.

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[/quote]

Old James

Changeing a screen name is ok in its own right, The complaint was that some were changeing to many times. Yes you can figure out who is who by what they post and history or just a sig.

My gripe is when they change to a banished ID #. Now regular posters cant see hidden posts, us mods can and it gets confusing. When you see posts that are up to date and following a theme. How can they still be posting? Untill you figure out that this person really isnt banned.

Hint: they're in blue and clickable, not black.
And, as I said before, such screen name changes are a public comment on moderation.

They are not moderation issues, the name changes are self chosen.
It not a problem tracking them, this is such a ridiculous issue.
You wanna change your name......do so every hour on the hour.
If somebody wants to keep track of it and post it.....yay.

This is such a non-issue.....

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

+1 to Mark's first post. Well said, and true and accurate.

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#resist

Ok, the kitties just gave me a 'troll' alert, and advise me that he is laughing uncontrollably.

I bit. Full monty.

You got me.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Changeing a screen name is ok in its own right, The complaint was that some were changeing to many times. Yes you can figure out who is who by what they post and history or just a sig.

My gripe is when they change to a banished ID #. Now regular posters cant see hidden posts, us mods can and it gets confusing. When you see posts that are up to date and following a theme. How can they still be posting? Untill you figure out that this person really isnt banned.

Hint: they're in blue and clickable, not black.
And, as I said before, such screen name changes are a public comment on moderation.

For a regular user, for a moderator they never change to black or become unclickable.

That is an issue with BOINC and DA needs to do a fix. I know there is code in BOINC to prevent space or spaces from being picked as a user name, but there is a poster who got around that by picking an alternate space character. DA needs set it up with a table that the admins can toss additional things into and he should put in a bunch of standard entries. Any name that any of the project tags GLOBS to, no matter the alternate character set, should be prohibited. Tags are things like project administrator, volunteer moderator, etc. No unprivileged user should ever be able to use such a name. Same for "(banished*" In a way I'm surprised no one has tried using someone's name but using alternate characters. This is one section of BOINC server code that needs attention and it isn't a sexy thing to work on.

Oh, as to the question from the OP, if you ask BOINC, it gives you a unique numeric ID so no one is being "outed." This is like a numeric IP number. People can change their domain name, e.g. pepsi.com to pepsico.com

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You wanna change your screen name....do so at any time.
But most who have done so will not gripe about being 'tracked'.

Get freaking real.

Stupid waste of conversation, in my regards.

Gone.

Meoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

And lock the silly thread too.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster