How to change username?

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Dragos
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How to change username?

Post by Dragos »

Seems like a stupid question, huh? Well, the stupid is not me.

For over 15 years I have been using the very same username wherever I went. It's my trademark if you want. And it has absolutely nothing to do with bad/illegal stuff. One thing that so many people - and the now prevalent AI - miss is that this is a big big world and what may seem weird/inappropriate/illegal/imoral/etc to one could be perfectly normal to another. Mainly due to language issues.

A few months ago I tried to register to this board in order to find answers to my problems. Failed miserably for some reason - wrong answer to "security question"; maybe I was too stupid or too intelligent? Today I tried again and was met with a red line stating I was flagged as a spammer. Me, a spammer? In what world?! Then I realised the artificial stupidity that took the place of natural intelligence didn't like either my nickname or my e-mail address. So with a cringe I changed the nickname. Registration went through. Validated it through the e-mail link.

But then I just couldn't log into the board. Error after error after error although username and password were absolutely correct. Could it be the browser? I switched to the Tor browser. Managed to log in. Started to post a new topic to explain my problem and ask for help - because that's why people come to a forum board, I imagine: to get help. Finished typing, hit Preview just to make sure everything was alright, then hit Submit. Amazingly, a new red text told me I was blocked due to... dunno, whatever reason.

So I desperately tried to log in back with Pale Moon. After a couple tries I amazingly succeeded, then I had to copy post title and text into Pale Moon and submit the post. Yay, two browsers, a lot of time and patience - just to ask one question that probably nobody will reply to.

So now after all this ordeal, I just wanna know why. Why has this world become so anal, so cold, so.. hateful I could say. I remember the time when there were forum boards that didn't even require registration - one could simply reply to someone else as anonymous, or post a topic as such. Spontaneity, freedom... A world long gone...

Main idea of this post would probably be impossible to achieve: changing username. I registered as Dragos as the closest to the native spelling of my name, but for so long people all around the globe knew ne as Drugwash. Sounds so bad in English, doesn't it? But it is just the dictionary spelling of my real name, nothing more. Something that this board's AI could never understand.
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dimesio
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Re: How to change username?

Post by dimesio »

Dragos wrote: Fri Dec 04, 2020 1:55 am Today I tried again and was met with a red line stating I was flagged as a spammer. Me, a spammer? In what world?! Then I realised the artificial stupidity that took the place of natural intelligence didn't like either my nickname or my e-mail address.
If your email or nickname were flagged as a spammer it would be because they were either in the stopforumspam.com database or because they had already been banned here. It is also possible you were connecting from an IP address that has been blocked for excessive spamming.
But then I just couldn't log into the board. Error after error after error although username and password were absolutely correct. Could it be the browser?
Some browser plugins can prevent the site from working correctly. It also may have been your IP address.
Amazingly, a new red text told me I was blocked due to... dunno, whatever reason.
I don't know either since you didn't bother to record the text. What I can tell you is that a new user's first three posts must be approved by a moderator. The forum moderators are human, not an AI.
So now after all this ordeal, I just wanna know why.

Blame the spammers, who are relentless. Blocking known spammers and spam IPs, forced moderation of new users, and immediate banning of anyone who tries to post spam are the only ways we have been able to keep them out. FYI, spammers are the reason the wiki requires an extra step to request edit privileges. I agree, it's unfortunate.
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Dragos
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Re: How to change username?

Post by Dragos »

Thank you for replying, and sorry for the delay - I was expecting an e-mail notification by default as most other forum boards do, didn't notice it was disabled.

All those issues piled together were just too much at that time. It was merely a year ago or so when I registered on the Linux Mint forum board and nothing like that happened although I used same browser, same IP range and my usual username.

Anyway, too much to talk, too little to do I presume. Guess I'm stuck with this username here. Better try finding answers to the problems that brought me here in the first place.
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