Self-appointed user name censors

[ez4u]

You have to look on KGS. This thread is in the KGS forum. I've made that mistake myself, many times, because I don't usually look to see which forum a post is in.

I remember laughing when it happened to you. Now it's my turn to get caught!

[toadwarble]

I don't really care what people register as. If it's a name I wanted and they beat me to it that's my hard luck. When I first registered on KGS I wanted to be just "toad" but that was taken. Later that timed out and I grabbed it. Maybe I should change my name here.

What seems silly to me is registering a name which you never intend to use in any way to play or even chat with just to block other people from using it.

[EdLee]

friend of mine who wouldn't eat natas

Hi Tom, is that Portuguese egg tart ?

Go_Japan, may I ask what you teach ?

[asura]

This nick was previously registered by another user.

To some people, it is a sacred name and its casual use is offensive. I wish that KGS users were more respectful and, failing that, that KGS would prohibit such names. It doesn't matter to me which ethnic group or religion is involved. However, apparently the right of free speech is valued more than respect of the heritage and beliefs of others.

Therefore, as soon as the previous registration lapsed, I registered this account to prevent abuse. I will not troll with it and no disrespect is intended. Please do not leave any messages as I will not retrieve them.

My trouble with the very religious people is that they are less tollerant than they expect from other people.

I do not like when dogma restrict the freedom of others. Therefore, I will create an account "Allah1" or "Yahweh1" for playing when I'm drunk.

[DrStraw]

My trouble with the very religious people is that they are less tollerant than they expect from other people.

I do not like when dogma restrict the freedom of others. Therefore, I will create an account "Allah1" or "Yahweh1" for playing when I'm drunk.

Go for Yahweh666. Much more fun.

[hyperpape]

Users are also allowed to register whatever accounts they'd like, and there is no requirement to play. They just have to log in every 6 months to keep the account. Whatever motives someone has for creating an account are up to them.

Indeed. Shame to see such anti-freedom double-think from people who want to keep this shadowy figure from squatting on the usernames.

[Bonobo]

Ed, re: natas

friend of mine who wouldn't eat natas

Hi Tom, is that Portuguese egg tart ?
[..]

Yes, these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_de_nata

Dang, now I want some, but I’d have to ride 60 km to the next Portuguese café (which is in Hamburg), and by now there wouldn’t be any left … next time I’m there I must get a dozen or more. Guess I’d devour them all in a minute

[Kirby]

Users are also allowed to register whatever accounts they'd like, and there is no requirement to play. They just have to log in every 6 months to keep the account. Whatever motives someone has for creating an account are up to them.

Indeed. Shame to see such anti-freedom double-think from people who want to keep this shadowy figure from squatting on the usernames.

Not really sure what your point is, so I won't agree or disagree.

Personally, I have a couple of accounts that I don't play on much, if at all, which I just login to periodically so that people don't take them.

I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong at all.

If so many people think this is a problem, it's a problem with KGS, not the users. For example, if playing go on the account should be required, then include this in the account expiry policy.

[Javaness2]

Some people go out of their way to be offended. There was one admin who proposed that all accounts which held the name of a politician or a deity be blocked. This would have decimated the user base and was frankly a moronic proposition.

[Bonobo]

Some people go out of their way to be offended.

Yeah … there’s this joke about an old lady who called the police because of her neighbor who, as she said, was standing at his window, naked …

When the police people arrived and looked out of her window, they couldn't see anything.

The lady shoved a stool towards the window and said, “here, you’ll see it if you stand on the stool.”

[Uberdude]

I suppose we should be glad there aren't more serious problems in the world to complain about than username squatters on KGS /s

If you want to see a mysterious username censor, try to register vvms: you can't and it says in use, but if you try to view that user it doesn't exist. My guess is wms (KGS creator) banned it due to the similarity to his username.

[DrStraw]

I suppose we should be glad there aren't more serious problems in the world to complain about than username squatters on KGS /s

If you want to see a mysterious username censor, try to register vvms: you can't and it says in use, but if you try to view that user it doesn't exist. My guess is wms (KGS creator) banned it due to the similarity to his username.

How about "w rn s"?

[hyperpape]

I'm semi-seriously agreeing with you, Kirby. The OP wants to prevent squatting on those user-names.

[Kirby]

I suppose we should be glad there aren't more serious problems in the world to complain about than username squatters on KGS /s

If you want to see a mysterious username censor, try to register vvms: you can't and it says in use, but if you try to view that user it doesn't exist. My guess is wms (KGS creator) banned it due to the similarity to his username.

Not only 'vvms'. I'm not able to check right now, but I recall issues with registering names like 'NyanjiIIa' (so it would look like the admin, 'Nyanjilla'), etc., because people would try to register usernames that looked like admin names - then they could pretend to be admins in the chat. I haven't tested it a lot to see how it works, but maybe the code wms has to check for existing usernames checks characters against some map of substitute characters (e.g. check for "vv", but also check for "w" at this character position, when validating the username).

People are creative.

[jeromie]

Some people go out of their way to be offended.

Yeah … there’s this joke about an old lady who called the police because of her neighbor who, as she said, was standing at his window, naked …

When the police people arrived and looked out of her window, they couldn't see anything.

The lady shoved a stool towards the window and said, “here, you’ll see it if you stand on the stool.”

I find this to be a good characterization of this discussion. In order to run into this "problem", you have to actively look for a username someone has registered, read the user's info, and become offended at their reasons for acquiring the name.

Overall, it would be much more problematic if the KGS admins were disallowing certain names based on their own sensibilities, and it would create similar problems if they revoked a user's account because their reasons for registering it weren't good enough. If they wanted to discourage squatting on a name, I suppose they could make a requirement that an account has games played on it with some established frequency, but I imagine that would generate quite a few complaints from existing users. Some people have good reasons for taking a lengthy break from KGS while wanting to keep their account active.