Please keep in mind that it is only the name which is banned, not the user, who is free to select a new name and move on.
Fred
From: dpbsmith@verizon.net Reply-To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@Wikipedia.org Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 13:12:39 -0500 To: wikien-l@Wikipedia.org Subject: [WikiEN-l] Usernames: sense of proportion
Seems me to be stretching a point _considerably_ to object to someone's username on the basis of it containing the substring "troll".
Even if we grant a) that usernames that are obviously likely to give gross offense need to be dealt with, and b) that serious trolling behavior gives gross offense to Wikipedians, it does NOT follow that c) usernames containing the substring "troll" are grossly offensive to Wikipedians.
Continuing to belabor this point: someone whose username contains the word "troll," who does not, in fact, troll, is not a problem. Someone whose username does not contain the word troll, who does, in fact, troll, is a problem.
It's fair enough to assume that someone with a trollish username might be trying to send a signal, and should expect his/her activities to receive more attention than they might otherwise... but...
Let's act on the basis of what people do, not what their usernames are.
I beg to remain Yr. humble & obdt. servant
The Comptroller
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