drewsmerdel
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/14/01
Posts: 1137
Loc: Nap Town
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Ok maybe Im a little slow and not as sharp as some of you youngsters, but I dont dig this switching the screen names game. I log on one day looking at someone with a boat load of posts, but have no idea who it is or was. I usually scan thru a thread for info and stop when I see an experienced member, with a name I know. Now all these people are switching names, and Im at a loss half the time trying to figure out who they were/are.
My suggestion DONT allow members to change names, Im gettin old and you dont want this old man getting confused. Ive had my name for soo long I think I would confuse myself, if I changed it.
Thanks
the one and only, with no need to change
drewsmerdel.... thats Drew Smerdel
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Are you hungry?
Are you sick?
Are you begging for a break?
Are you sweet?
Are you fresh?
Are you strung up by the wrists?
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guitardude
Old Hand
Reged: 09/11/02
Posts: 421
Loc: midwest
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  He He....... I hear ya man........ since I've been here it's like a revolving door anyway...... people come, people go, that makes it hard enough..... now there gonna go switchin names on us? ... how will us self inflicted alzheimers patients keep up?
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"once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
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potatoboy99
Permanent Fixture
Reged: 02/04/03
Posts: 1200
Loc: Deep North (East)
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Quote:
I dont dig this switching the screen names game. I log on one day looking at someone with a boat load of posts, but have no idea who it is or was....
I'm with you there, drew. My memory has a sort of swiss cheese quality as it is (full of holes), and I don't need the extra confusion.
However, as I recall, a number of our most veteran members changed their user names around the same time, in reaction to a privacy concern. Some were alarmed that user names typed into a google search brought up the DB entrance page. I think at least a couple of the switcheroos were intended to give a unique user name to DB activity, as distinct from existing e-mail account names and user names used on other posting boards.
I could be wrong on this one, lets see if anybody who changed names pipes in.
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lovepink_new
Goddess
Reged: 11/24/03
Posts: 47
Loc: NYC Metro Area
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From what those members told me, you're right PB. A different member changed her name because she was being "stalked" & needed anonymity. Others get banned & return (against DB rules) with new usernames but the vast majority of username switches were for privacy reasons.
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missjbean2
Stranger
Reged: 09/09/03
Posts: 16
Loc: somewhere over the rainbow
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LP,
I was concerned when I read that about people's usernames being linked to message boards and I thought I would see what happened when I typed in a username+message board and was shocked by how many members names would take you to the DB Freeboard login page. I guess I shouldn't be shocked but it was a little unnerving to me at least.
So I guess it makes sense for security purposes that some may need to change names. If you belong to several message boards or use your username here for other purposes I would advise that you DON'T give out any identifying information because I was pretty darn freaked out when one user's name took me to an add for a property rental that included a pretty clear identification of the area where that person lived and an email addy for them.
I am not suggesting that people get all freaked out over this but to just use common sense. Not everyone in "cyberland" is on the up and up. The idea that someone here was being "stalked" is troublesome. It has been brought up again and again that you should not give out your email address to just anyone. I learned, and fortunately from someone that I do trust, just how easy it is to get a person full name from their email.
Be careful out there.
Jilly
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...in the end only kindness matters.
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moonshade
Old Hand
Reged: 12/01/02
Posts: 458
Loc: searching for my lost shaker o...
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Yes you guys are correct, a few veterans (top posters )changed their names, because of "search engines" performed on their names, bringing them to this freeboard entrance page.
I have noticed DB removed the "top poster" list , so I believe this will stop the name searching ending up here.
Way to go, Admin. !!! 
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*** insert profound statement here ***
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DrugBuyers
Administrator
Reged: 11/18/01
Posts: 1231
Loc: DrugBuyers.Com
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Most board users keep one account and change their displayed names because they think that a different displayed name will look better.
We offer that option. Very few boards do.
Others simply stop using an account, or forget their usernames and passwords, and create a new one.
A few are using the boards for reasons other than what it was intended for, to find dates, exchange things, or to make real life friends... and this kind of activities may make members change their usernames when things go wrong :-)
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The best and fastest way to get help is at: https://drugbuyers.com/help
Please do not PM me about non working or lost usernames and passwords.
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Box_of_Rain
Banned=more than one account
Reged: 09/28/03
Posts: 111
Loc: Pacific Northwest
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I like being able to change it, it may confuse some but it's an option I'm happy exists.
I was Stella_Blue - - now I am - Box_of_Rain - - both Grateful Dead songs so I figured it wouldn't be too tough - and I included that in my signature.
Stella Blue identified me too much so I ditched it.
I was all kinds of befuddled when Legitimate changed her screen name though [duh]
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drewsmerdel
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/14/01
Posts: 1137
Loc: Nap Town
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I like the idea of users putting their previous name in the signature line. It at least gives this old bloat an opportunity to attempt and infuse this info from short term to long term memory.
Drew
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Are you hungry?
Are you sick?
Are you begging for a break?
Are you sweet?
Are you fresh?
Are you strung up by the wrists?
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drewsmerdel
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/14/01
Posts: 1137
Loc: Nap Town
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"self inflicted alzheimers", I love it. Ya think some of those antiaging drugs might counter some of this effect
Drew
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Are you hungry?
Are you sick?
Are you begging for a break?
Are you sweet?
Are you fresh?
Are you strung up by the wrists?
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sara43
Member
Reged: 05/14/02
Posts: 196
Loc: Mississippi
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that would be good drew!!
I have heard also that some have be banned cause they didn't want there name on the front page
I wonder what is up with that?
am I going to be in trouble of writing
this? Maybe people change there names cause the mods or admin. wants them to? I do not have a answer...
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bushstalin04
Journeyman
Reged: 06/20/03
Posts: 61
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I apologize for confusing anyone and I apologize if my new screen name offends anyone...its meant as hyperbole. I changed my because my old username was my first initial and my last name and I was kinda getting freaked out with all of the recent newspaper articles and law enforcement stuff happening with the OPs. Not that I'm doing anything illegal, but what today is legal could tomorrow be illegal...so I decided to change my username to protect myself a little better.
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tray1
Enthusiast
Reged: 11/22/03
Posts: 241
Loc: US
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Just wanted to bump this as I checked google quickly and ran a few names in the search engine and out of the 5 or so I checked, Mine and Lovepinks both come up....might want to check your own. Also how do I get rid of this?
thanks
Tray
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sigmund22
Member
Reged: 03/23/04
Posts: 160
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Tray,
Can only answer your question with to modify your name or change it officially but sign the post with Tray. Members involved in activism or have been interviewed or spotted by a "roving reporter"  are likely to appear by the same name in their different roles.
The stalking incident was frightening. It's important for multiple message board posters to use a different name/theme with each board. That way, someone can't be stalked across every post on many boards, like craigslist.org or selling something, etc.
Google and other meta-search engines collect large amounts of information from various sources and group together all of the postings from someone with multiple board postings or many many posts on one board.
Hope this makes sense.
sigmund22
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yawkaw3
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 1193
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Mine came up too. Lovely.
-yawkaw
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LumbarSpasm
Silent Chaos
Reged: 05/07/02
Posts: 1538
Loc: USA
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Me too. And one post is from 10/02.
It is a public board.
Provided DB is not giving away Personally Identifiable Information, it matters not if you change your username as whatever name you use is potentially catalogued I think by search engines.
When DB axed the entrance top 10 list, I think that stopped most of the post indexing.
Are not all IPs associated with usernames in posts?
If a person is really concerned, using an anonymous proxy would help.
Dial up helps.
Broadband is sticky as the IP doesn't change.
Really, just think before you post.
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LumbarSpasm
Or just a pain in the butt?!
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kittie74
Board Addict
Reged: 02/16/04
Posts: 310
Loc: Hollywood
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OMG! Just out of curiosity, I checked my user name on Goggle and it came up. But here is the creepy thing: there is someone else with the same exact user name. She has a home page with her picture on it. LOL! She has a bio where she talks about her husband and their SEVEN cats. Nice. But this where it gets really weird: we have the same first name. What are the chances of that? Guess I have a doppelganger. A doppelganger with seven cats, a bad perm and a failed music career. Yeessssssss!
But then there are links to some of my posts on this site. I had NO IDEA that they would be linked to a google search. I don't think there is a way to stop it.
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tb1218
Member
Reged: 09/19/02
Posts: 171
Loc: indiana
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Mine did not, but checked a few other posters and theirs did come up along with the drugbuyers.com freeboard link, and subjects of a couple of forums. Did not realize this could happen.
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empress1122
Member
Reged: 04/22/02
Posts: 178
Loc: New York
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My name came up too and I have been gone quite a while..... UNFORTUNATELY an unscrupulous user on a local forum I posted on BETRAYED me when I gave her my email address...pretty low huh? ....On the local forum I do not use any name other than pain old EMPRESS so the only way anyone would have known the 1122 is because I trusted this "innocent, honest woman" My posts HERE were then used to embarass me on the local forum... pretty low life activity no?
Not that I have said anything to be embarassed of... but we speak of sensitive subject matter here... things we would not discuss on a local news forum.
The kind moderators her have suggested I change my username here... but for the LIFE of me... I cannot figure out how ..........sooo HELP!!!Any help is greatly appreciated....
A word to the wise, if you're going to be posting sensitve material ONLY meant for the readers of THIS board the PLEASE use a user name that IS UNIQUE to only this board ...... to avoid some of the aggravation I have had.
Thanks so much 
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Keep on fighting the good fight ! 
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Sweetz
Diamond Mind
Reged: 05/11/02
Posts: 765
Loc: Texas!
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I believe one way is to PM DB or email them and ask for a change. any changes have to go through them anyway. I tried to log in with a change in capitalization and had to get approval for that. Also, change your avatar, cuz lots of people connect a certain person with a certain avatar. I know I do. I may not remember their screename, but I remember their avatar.
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"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice."
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AngelWolf13
Enthusiast
Reged: 07/07/04
Posts: 287
Loc: w/ my '91 CE-24 in SoCal....
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holy smokes! i just tried a google search with my name and DrugBuyers.com screamed back from the screen. oh, well, i don't have anything to hide, really, as my posts don't concern anything that could be misconstrued as illegal. if i keep on changing my name, i'll forget who i am. (that didn't come out right...)
i do like to change my avatar once in a while. just different pics of myself so you can see who you're talking to. i figure since the max size of the pic is 80x80 pixels, some "unscrupulous" person cannot get a good photo of me by enlarging it.
well, that was interesting.
cheers, c.(angel)
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"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps."
Emo Philips.
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toe
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/09/02
Posts: 1426
Loc: MidWest USA
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Quote:
I like being able to change it, it may confuse some but it's an option I'm happy exists.
I was Stella_Blue - - now I am - Box_of_Rain - - both Grateful Dead songs so I figured it wouldn't be too tough - and I included that in my signature.
Stella Blue identified me too much so I ditched it.
I was all kinds of befuddled when Legitimate changed her screen name though [duh]
Okay, I know I haven't been around much lately, but WTF?!
Legitimate ducked into a telephone booth and. . .
who heck did she come out as?????
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"It's the end of the World as We Know it. . ."
-REM "and I'm seeking asylum in Canada"-toe
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