topic Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book in Suggestion Box

SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:21:50 GMT

I have a suggestion that perhaps the moderators could pass on to IT.

On the QVC forums, when a forum participant just changes their username, no one can "see" who they previously were posting as. They "start anew" with a new "identity" on the forums and all previous identities are left intact as different people, to forum eyes.

On the Amazon forums, when a person changes their nic, it changes on *every post they've ever made under that sign-in* so it's easy to see who they "were" and how many times they've "been" different people.

If this were instituted on the QVC forums it would both eliminate many of the accusations and suspicions, and make it more labor-intensive for someone to create an entirely new persona with a new email address. People would still do it, but much less, I'm thinking.

IMO doing this simple thing (if it can be done within existing software) would mean less suspicion and ill-feeling between posters, fewer sock puppets, and less work for the moderators due to accusations. It wouldn't eliminate the issue entirely but it would solve a lot of the problem we all know goes on.

I also wonder, if the moderators respond to this thread - if forum members "report" a poster they feel is a sock puppet with multiple IDs, DO the moderators/CAN the moderators check to see whether they can determine if it's true?

I presume IT could do this, but not sure whether the moderators ever pass such requests on. It's not something I would ever bother with doing, but I know others definitely would do it and probably have done it, and I'm sure they wonder (and I wonder) if it's ever followed up on.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

MalteseMomma — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:30:08 GMT

I do not know if they have changed it but before that was always how it went. If you changed your nick ,all your posts appeared on your new name.

You could not run and hide anywhere........lol

Maybe it is different now. Funny, I never pay attention to anyones name.I just read the post!!! Shame on me ;(

I have been a huge Amazon shopper for so many yrs,I never knew they had a forum!

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:10:50 GMT

@Moonchilde, As @MalteseMomma said, when we go into our account and change our nickname it does automatically change the name on all our previous posts. (The only exception is that the old name will show up in posts that were quoted, since it's converted to plain text.)

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:19:07 GMT

@dooBdoo, I have checked this with people who have said up front that they changed their name for whatever reason, and their posts appeared under two different names, separately. I know this will occur if someone creates an entire new profile with new CC or whatever, but I assumed this was not the case in the ones I have known about.

Also, if you look at "new" posters they only have a dozen or so posts, not in the hundreds, or thousands. I do know that of course people set up entirely new nics as brand-new posters, but those who do not should be showing up as an unknown nic with multiple posts already, which I rarely if ever see.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:34:59 GMT

@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, I have checked this with people who have said up front that they changed their name for whatever reason, and their posts appeared under two different names, separately. I know this will occur if someone creates an entire new profile with new CC or whatever, but I assumed this was not the case in the ones I have known about.

Also, if you look at "new" posters they only have a dozen or so posts, not in the hundreds, or thousands. I do know that of course people set up entirely new nics as brand-new posters, but those who do not should be showing up as an unknown nic with multiple posts already, which I rarely if ever see.

If we change our nickname associated with this same email address and QVC account (by going into "Account," and under "Personal Information," choosing "My Nickname," changing it, logging out, and then logging back in), it always will change all our previous posts with that account. This is a fact -- the nickname is a hyperlink to the QVC account with that email address. And each QVC account allows only one email address. The only way to have more than one nickname is to use more than one email address and, thus, another QVC account. That's just how the software works. If someone claims to be showing up with 2 different nicknames even though they sign in with one and only one email address... that's just not possible.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:46:14 GMT

Regarding the multiple-nicknames and/or "sock puppets," those are all associated with different email addresses. Unfortunately, it's easy enough for people to create extra accounts and for each nickname log in with the different email addresses. And if they have dynamic IP addresses, it's very, very hard (if not impossible) for the moderators to know for certain they're the same person. I'm not sure what the best answer is, if we've seen specific patterns and feel sure about certain posters. I suppose by alerting the moderators, at least they could keep an eye out to see if they also notice the patterns and/or if IP addresses need to be blocked.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:50:00 GMT

@dooBdoo, then I guess every single one I've checked has signed up with a different email address than their original. Certainly possible, but odd. If one is not intending to deceive, not sure why they would feel the need to create a new email address or use a completely different email address than their original.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:52:46 GMT

@dooBdoo wrote:

Regarding the multiple-nicknames and/or "sock puppets," those are all associated with different email addresses. Unfortunately, it's easy enough for people to create extra accounts and for each nickname log in with the different email addresses. And if they have dynamic IP addresses, it's very, very hard (if not impossible) for the moderators to know for certain they're the same person. I'm not sure what the best answer is, if we've seen specific patterns and feel sure about certain posters. I suppose by alerting the moderators, at least they could keep an eye out to see if they also notice the patterns and/or if IP addresses need to be blocked.

That's the heart of the matter. We know it's *possible* to check, but we don't know if they DO. We don't know if they *care* enough to bother checking; they may well not.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:04:45 GMT

@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, then I guess every single one I've checked has signed up with a different email address than their original. Certainly possible, but odd. If one is not intending to deceive, not sure why they would feel the need to create a new email address or use a completely different email address than their original.

That would have to be the case, signed up with a different email address. If I knew the cases you were looking at, I could probably explain them you... but I know we can't do that here. All I can say is I do know how the software works and it's one email address per QVC account, one nickname with that specific account, and changing the nik as I mentioned will always alter it via the hyperlink once the person signs out and then back in. I wanted to add: I do know of a few occasions when some posters couldn't remember their login info, or they lost access to the email account they'd been using for QVC, or other technical problems cropped up, so they did create a new QVC account with a new email address and had to abandon the older nickname/account. And certainly they're not trying to deceive anyone.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:14:30 GMT

@dooBdoo that's why I don't want to name names, because I know people have given explanations as to why and they were perfectly normal, so of course it's not all for nefarious purposes - just most of it 👹

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Mz iMac — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:51:34 GMT

@Moonchilde

@ sock puppet. I have never heard that "forum/message board" expression before.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Mj12 — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 21:22:17 GMT

@dooBdoo wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, then I guess every single one I've checked has signed up with a different email address than their original. Certainly possible, but odd. If one is not intending to deceive, not sure why they would feel the need to create a new email address or use a completely different email address than their original.

That would have to be the case, signed up with a different email address. If I knew the cases you were looking at, I could probably explain them you... but I know we can't do that here. All I can say is I do know how the software works and it's one email address per QVC account, one nickname with that specific account, and changing the nik as I mentioned will always alter it via the hyperlink once the person signs out and then back in. I wanted to add: I do know of a few occasions when some posters couldn't remember their login info, or they lost access to the email account they'd been using for QVC, or other technical problems cropped up, so they did create a new QVC account with a new email address and had to abandon the older nickname/account. And certainly they're not trying to deceive anyone.

And that's an important point - only ONE email address (thus one nic) per person.

"Only one email address per person and only one screen name per email address are permitted."

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

chickenbutt — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 21:37:17 GMT

In the way, way past here (I'd say maybe close to 10 years ago), before a lot of posters were aware of this, there were a few who were caught changing their ID and pretending they were somebody new. What busted them was their previous posts being changed to reflect the new ID. oops!

Now, I believe that those who use multiple IDs probably just use a lot of free email addresses like yahoo, etc. They must have to write a lot of suff down to keep up with themselves. ha!

I'll never get the draw of this. It's hard enough just being me. I couldn't play multiple parts if I tried. I'd probably be busted in a hot second.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:01:05 GMT

@Mj12 wrote:
@dooBdoo wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, then I guess every single one I've checked has signed up with a different email address than their original. Certainly possible, but odd. If one is not intending to deceive, not sure why they would feel the need to create a new email address or use a completely different email address than their original.

That would have to be the case, signed up with a different email address. If I knew the cases you were looking at, I could probably explain them you... but I know we can't do that here. All I can say is I do know how the software works and it's one email address per QVC account, one nickname with that specific account, and changing the nik as I mentioned will always alter it via the hyperlink once the person signs out and then back in. I wanted to add: I do know of a few occasions when some posters couldn't remember their login info, or they lost access to the email account they'd been using for QVC, or other technical problems cropped up, so they did create a new QVC account with a new email address and had to abandon the older nickname/account. And certainly they're not trying to deceive anyone.

And that's an important point - only ONE email address (thus one nic) per person.

"Only one email address per person and only one screen name per email address are permitted."

The one screen name per email address is simple to comply with. It's the "one email address per PERSON" that *should* be a violation. But if a poster "creates" a "new person", how would that ever be verifiable or checkable unless IP address matched 100% of the time. There isn't any way to "know" whether it's three different *bodies* or just three different personas.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Chi-town girl — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:30:59 GMT

@chickenbutt wrote:
In the way, way past here (I'd say maybe close to 10 years ago), before a lot of posters were aware of this, there were a few who were caught changing their ID and pretending they were somebody new. What busted them was their previous posts being changed to reflect the new ID. oops!

Now, I believe that those who use multiple IDs probably just use a lot of free email addresses like yahoo, etc. They must have to write a lot of suff down to keep up with themselves. ha!

I'll never get the draw of this. It's hard enough just being me. I couldn't play multiple parts if I tried. I'd probably be busted in a hot second.

@chickenbutt - you cracked the code! I had my suspicions, but then I just started to observe. And yes, she does trip up and then that nic disappears for awhile. Very similar writing patterns and the mean streak that explodes when exposed. There is a draw or payoff that most of us would never understand or relate, thank goodness!

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

silentgirl — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:55:46 GMT

@Chi-town girl wrote:
@chickenbutt wrote:
In the way, way past here (I'd say maybe close to 10 years ago), before a lot of posters were aware of this, there were a few who were caught changing their ID and pretending they were somebody new. What busted them was their previous posts being changed to reflect the new ID. oops!

Now, I believe that those who use multiple IDs probably just use a lot of free email addresses like yahoo, etc. They must have to write a lot of suff down to keep up with themselves. ha!

I'll never get the draw of this. It's hard enough just being me. I couldn't play multiple parts if I tried. I'd probably be busted in a hot second.
@chickenbutt - you cracked the code! I had my suspicions, but then I just started to observe. And yes, she does trip up and then that nic disappears for awhile. Very similar writing patterns and the mean streak that explodes when exposed. There is a draw or payoff that most of us would never understand or relate, thank goodness!

I was a moderator for a couple of years - though I am uncertain what permissions are granted to each moderator here, as it can very as to what they may do or see-However, they can see a great deal of information-IP, location, program running on your computer, service provider, etc.none of us are private to the moderators-Even if a poster is savvy enough to tinker with their routers, it is not a given that the router does not use the same path-using cell phones, a bit more difficult, but still traceable. There are also programs that can be used to trace paths etc.-

As well, people can also use proxy servers which do a very good job of allowing-anonymity- Still, as mentioned, you would need several addresses-

We were very guarded about letting the forum know what the moderators could see, because people tend to be paranoid.

If the behavior isn't threatening, often times it isn't dealt with. We used to have a forty year old man who would post as a 16 year old kid talking about his grandfather-He was actually pretty good!

There are enough posts on this website that they may not take the time to research the posters in question-I mean really, some of these threads are the equivalent to a short novel Exhausting.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

Moonchilde — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 03:43:48 GMT

@dooBdoo, how can a poster show posts that number in the 50s by their name when posting, but when you click on their activity by poster name it shows one single post and no others?

Hmmmmm......

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:14:29 GMT

@Mz iMac wrote:
@Moonchilde

@ sock puppet. I have never heard that "forum/message board" expression before.

It's a term that's been in used for quite a while (to my knowledge) @Mz iMac. Simply an internet identity (usually the multiple-nickname scenario we're discussing) created to be deceptive and/or disruptive. Very strange, to my way of thinking, that people would have the time or the desire to use their precious time on this earth in such a way.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:17:18 GMT

@Moonchilde wrote:
@Mj12 wrote:
@dooBdoo wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, then I guess every single one I've checked has signed up with a different email address than their original. Certainly possible, but odd. If one is not intending to deceive, not sure why they would feel the need to create a new email address or use a completely different email address than their original.

That would have to be the case, signed up with a different email address. If I knew the cases you were looking at, I could probably explain them you... but I know we can't do that here. All I can say is I do know how the software works and it's one email address per QVC account, one nickname with that specific account, and changing the nik as I mentioned will always alter it via the hyperlink once the person signs out and then back in. I wanted to add: I do know of a few occasions when some posters couldn't remember their login info, or they lost access to the email account they'd been using for QVC, or other technical problems cropped up, so they did create a new QVC account with a new email address and had to abandon the older nickname/account. And certainly they're not trying to deceive anyone.

And that's an important point - only ONE email address (thus one nic) per person.

"Only one email address per person and only one screen name per email address are permitted."

The one screen name per email address is simple to comply with. It's the "one email address per PERSON" that *should* be a violation. But if a poster "creates" a "new person", how would that ever be verifiable or checkable unless IP address matched 100% of the time. There isn't any way to "know" whether it's three different *bodies* or just three different personas.

Therein lies the dilemma, @Moonchilde. With dynamic IP addresses, it's not as simple as it once was.

Re: SUGGESTION: Forum names - a page from Amazon's book

dooBdoo — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 04:19:53 GMT

@Moonchilde wrote:
@dooBdoo, how can a poster show posts that number in the 50s by their name when posting, but when you click on their activity by poster name it shows one single post and no others?

Hmmmmm......

Hi, again, @Moonchilde! That means most of the person's posts were deleted. When a post is removed, it doesn't change our post count. (Easy way to see one... look at any of the infamous "Poehler" nicknames as an example.)