Restricting user names to avoid confusion with companies.

[Nick man]

Hi, I just came from posting in a thread started by BrowneBass_210 in which he was asking questions about Valenti basses. Problem is, the questions could be taken as offensive and because of his user title and the fact that he has Mike Browne's website listed as his, he was confused by a few members to be Mike Browne of Browne Basses.

Now as a result some people thought that Mike Browne was posting these questions questioning another luthier's validity which is damaging to Mr. Browne's buisness.

This wasn't the first time I saw this with BrowneBass_210 either, and Im sure its happened with other users.

To the point:

I think it would be constructive to have a certain limit on whats allowable as a user name so that members not associated with a company are not mistaken by others to be part of it all.

I dont think it could be easy to enforce automatically, but perhaps a blurb in the rules about it would be useful so that if a moderator sees a user with a confusable name, they can ask them to change it without much trouble.

Of course there are many long time TBers with names that could fall into this range (like RickBass) but we already know who they are and there is little danger of confusing them. I think this would be really useful for dealing with problems with new users.

Peace
Nick

[Mark Latimour]

I think this is, in theory, a good idea, however how it could work I just don't know. THere are people on here with usernames like "Les Claypool" and "Geddy Lee" etc which are just as open to the same abuse as calling myself "Fender Man".

I think that a more suitable way to do may be if there is a user with a screenname that could be confused, they should have a permanent signature / profile text that says "Not related to x company" or something.

Personally I think we'd all be better off if people used their own names rather than nicks, but that is another thread!

[KeithPas]

Hey, I wanted to use Nick's name!!

[Nick man]

I agree that our own names are a good idea, but onviously some people want to remain anonymous.

My idea is really just to have something like this:

"Since www.TalkBass.com is visited by many luthiers, amplification manufacturers, musicians, and other professionals related to the bass industry, we ask that you try to pick a username that cannot cause other members to confuse you with someone affiliated with one of these proffesionals or buisinesses. If your user name is confused or is judged to be confusing by a moderator you may be asked to change it and are expected to comply with said request."

in the signup portion, or the forum rules so it can easily be refrenced and quoted in case a problem comes up.

Its just a tool to make it easier for mods to do their job.

[Nick man]

Well, my real name is Mark Latimour, but that was taken so...

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by Nick man

Of course there are many long time TBers with names that could fall into this range (like RickBass) but we already know who they are and there is little danger of confusing them.

But Rick isnt pimping a Bass manufacturer's website in his profile and claiming he builds Basses, whereas BrowneBass_210 clearly is.

[Nick man]

Yeah, I agree.

Funny how everyone posted here uses their own name.

[Thee]

Why don't we not assume things people? Did BrowneBass ever say he was affiliated with Browne Bass?

[Matt Till]

Wow, I didn't know Geddy Lee was a member!

[superbassman2000]

its true, so is victor wooten, and even ace frehley!

[Stephen Soto]

Originally Posted by Thee

Why don't we not assume things people? Did BrowneBass ever say he was affiliated with Browne Bass?

Yeah, so true. I think that the best way to do this is for paul to have luthiers and people that run things like that (just businesses) maybe do something instead of having a *Supporting Member icon, have a *Luthier one or something instead.
But if they have just the same last name or whatever they shouldn't not be able to use that name, they shouldn't be able to impersonate them though.

[John Deppel]

Originally Posted by Stephen Soto

Yeah, so true. I think that the best way to do this is for paul to have luthiers and people that run things like that (just businesses) maybe do something instead of having a *Supporting Member icon, have a *Luthier one or something instead.

This is a really good suggestion...