Battlestar Wiki:Username policy

This page is an official policy of Battlestar Wiki. This policy is considered by the community and its leadership to be the status quo of Battlestar Wiki and is not to be countermanded or ignored, though changes to it can be discussed on the appropriate talk page. This policy was implemented on 20 January 2007.

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Battlestar Wiki administrators reserve the option to request contributors to change their user name (or unilaterally force a change in certain instances) to avoid confusion with characters, events, and other Battlestar Galactica-related names, or to maintain appropriateness and civility.

What constitutes an inappropriate name?

An inappropriate username may match one or more of these criteria:

• The name is too similar or identical to the name of an actual person or current username on Battlestar Wiki. (Users are welcome to use their own name, but the use of celebrity names, including cast and crew names of Battlestar Galactica, may be subject to review.)
• The name implies the user is an administrator account or bot, intentionally or otherwise.
• The name is a nonsensical string of numbers, letters or text symbols. (i.e. "a82874pox" or "2112432a")

  Note: Most nonsensical usernames are generated by spammers, and typically are automatically banned by administrators on sight.

• The name uses profanity that cannot be used over the public airwaves as defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. (This does contrast to articles such as "Frak", which contains profane terms as part of its definition and explanation of the term. In short, the use of profanity is germane to some articles.)
• The name is, in effect, promoting or advertising an internet Web site. (Names that attempt to promote Battlestar Galactica fan fiction or sites is also inappropriate as there is the Community Portal and the Fan fiction articles for this purpose.)
• The name is, in effect, a internet mail address, street address, phone number or other personal information that can invite Battlestar Wiki to legal action.
• The name violates Battlestar Wiki policies on civility with other users. (For instance, a user name such as "Joe Beaudoin-is-a-daggit" is a type of name-calling and would be unacceptable.)

All cast and crew members of any Battlestar Galactica series or officially-licensed product are granted a reserved username based on their actual name if desired. However, they must contact the site administrators by contacting webmasterat battlestarwiki dot org to make the proper identification arrangements.

What if I have more than one user name?

The use of multiple user names by one person is forbidden, unless special permission is given by a senior chief.

The reason for this is rather obvious: there is no need for people to be editing with multiple accounts, since this gives the illusion of multiple people. To the untrained and uninitiated, this one user could make multiple votes in Request for adminship proposals, Think Tank discussions, and other parts of the site that rely on voting.

Anyone found to be using more than one user name will be communicated to by a chief, in order to gather three pieces of information:

1. How many user names the person holds.
2. The reason they have so multiple user accounts.
3. What they'd like their primary account to be.

All contributions will then be merged into the primary account, with the discarded user names blocked from editing and further use.

What will happen if there is an inappropriate username?

Administrators will review the name and determine if a problem actually exists. If consensus between administrators is reached, or the severity of the name's infraction is obvious, the user will be asked on his user talk page to suggest a new user name. Administrators will wait up to 1 week in most instances for a reply.

Usernames that are under review shall have the {{username}} template placed on the talk page until things are sorted out.

If the user does not reply or if the name constitutes an immediate violation of other site policies, administrators can request a name change through a bureaucrat, or block the account while a change is pending. In extreme cases, administrators may ban the user account to prevent its use.

Administrators retain all rights and obligations in blocking users with inappropriate names as well in their need to maintain the consistency and security of Battlestar Wiki.