Battlestar Wiki talk:Think Tank/Username policy

Vague and Arbitrary

I mean no offense, but the following: "The name uses profanity that cannot be used over the public airwaves as defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission." is pretty arbitrary. I understand what you're getting at, but unfortunately the FCC is so haphazard in how it determines what is allowable any given day that it seems difficult for admins/b-crats/users to try to predict how they would rule on a given word. I'd propose instead to either a concrete list that we can point to, or go more vague and just codify "common sense"/discretion. If you've heard/read some of the podcasts you'll see that the lines that Standards and Practices people/FCC write in are not only not written in stone, they're not even written in sand. --Steelviper 12:53, 18 January 2007 (CST)

I actually thought hard on that, and had to select some group that is sufficiently anal. It was arbitrary, and leave the floor open for any other authority that can keep usernames at a "G" rating. --Spencerian 12:58, 18 January 2007 (CST)

I can see both sides. Using the FCC as any kind of standard is a bad, bad idea. But own standards are just as arbitrary. Like saying something like "Names that violate decency and courtesy". What does that cover? And creating a full list of banned names is impossible too --Serenity 13:01, 18 January 2007 (CST)

Any internet-based standards we can apply? --Spencerian 13:22, 18 January 2007 (CST)Strike that. Take a look at the SafeSurf rating system. There is also a self-rating form that can be filled out to determine our own rating for outselves, although I don't think that's really what we want--we'd get Battlestar's rating! --Spencerian 13:28, 18 January 2007 (CST)

Aye. So far I agree with the Proposed Policy. Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 14:14, 18 January 2007 (CST)

How to deal with violations

Where would admins discuss if a username is inappropriate or not? The user talk page? The admin board? --Serenity 13:01, 18 January 2007 (CST)

I'd recommend the user's talk page. More direct, allows the user to see the discussion and decision and actively join in. Also it provides excellent CYA for us where admins don't talk "outside" of the user's hearing. --Spencerian 13:22, 18 January 2007 (CST)

Of the times its happened I have just posted on the persons talk page advising them to change. --Mercifull ^{(Talk/Contribs)} 12:14, 19 January 2007 (CST)

It might be overkill, but we may need a quickie template that puts a notiable stock banner that says something like "The use of your username conflicts with Battlestar Wiki's username guidelines. Contact bureaucrat to request a username change." That way there's little to type, makes it easy to see a warning or request, and keeps things consistent. --Spencerian 14:04, 19 January 2007 (CST)