[WikiEN-l] User names

Wed Oct 15 03:12:53 UTC 2003

Eclecticology wrote:

[many things that pleased me greatly; I respond to a part]

>Toby Bartels wrote:

>>I know the danger of making absolute statements.
>>But I'm having a hard time thinking of a plausible situation
>>where such a name change would be remotely a good idea --
>>I mean for the community to attempt to impose on me by force.

>Yes, there are exceptions.  Some months back there was the
>Anthere/Anthère/Anthére.... issue where somebody introduced a name that
>differed from that of a respected user by only an accent.  As it was the
>person was trying to make some point and had no intention of continuing
>to use the confusing name, otherwise this could be a situation where the
>issue might be forced.

I agree that this is a pretty clear case for forcing a name change
(although in the end the impostor relented and nothing was forced).
I still have a hard time thinking of a plausible situation
where that would apply to /my/ username -- which was the topic
in the bit that you replied to.  But more generally, yes,
these situations do exist.

>>I suspect that the world would be a better place
>>if we didn't have the technical means to enforce some rules.

>Laws depend on enforcement to be effective.  Regrettably speeding laws
>work only because there's a cop there with a radar gun.  The number who
>will avoid speeding out of well considered altruism is likely small.
>Technology is a double-edged sword.

Technology, yes; but the point here is, so are laws.
If there were no cop with a radar gun, then we might have safer cars.
There is a whole anarchist literature (some bad ideas, some good)
on how to have safe streets (etc) without having cops with guns.

>But still an ideal.  I often wonder about the sort of vision that
>sustains the participation of some Wikipedians.

Ultimately, I write on Wikipedia because it's fun and interesting.
Why I get involved in policy, must be some sort of idealism.
I often drop out of that, actually; although usually real life
plays a big role in those temporary disappearances
(which less often extend to encyclopaedia articles as well).

-- Toby