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Battle Server Support

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 1, 2023
Okay guys we've had enough. You guys constantly questioning the moderators decisions and stressing them out is terrible behaviour from all of you. Honestly I'm sick of seeing that you guys are constantly questioning auth, we chose the ones we chose for a reason, because they are good at what they do.

We've discussed it, and if you have a legitimate concern with a moderator/driver OR their actions PM either Wolf or me - do not complain about it to the moderators or the chat. Either respect the moderators decisions - all of which try their hardest to make the chat a friendly place for everyone. Don't bother going to the server if you want to cause trouble, start drama, troll, get annoyed over not getting auth, etc. It's as simple as that, if you're trying to ruin others fun then just stop because there's no point.

Quit it; the bad chat environment, the questioning moderators or we will punish you.

If you have a SERIOUS issue tell us. I'm so over hearing this constantly and you guys as community users should act better on your own server, because it's what you make of it, and right now you guys are making it a circus.

It's not fair that server staff have to stress over you guys because you keep misbehaving. From now on if you guys do start questioning their decisions they can and will mute you, because collectively we are all over it. Start behaving, or we'll crack down harder than you can ever imagine.
 
8,279
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen yesterday
Basically, we appreciate feedback, but not when the chat is derailed into a staff hate campaign. Let me repeat what Nica said using content from in this thread's first post:

You may appeal any sort of disciplinary action or report power abuse by contacting Forever or Wolflare.
But due to recent events, we will be making this into a rule. We'd rather have staff feedback be private between Nica or I, than making constant rebuttals in the chat about the staff's actions. It causes too much drama and nothing good comes out of it when a civilized chat with Nica or I would have been more productive.

Anyway, in response to what specifically happened, I believe that it could have been handled better by the staff. But mistakes happen; not everyone makes the ideal decisions right on the spot every single time. We will use this as a learning experience, and I'll go over with the staff some more about situations like these and how to handle them. After all, our staff team is still very new. So, I apologize on the behalf of the staff for what happened, and I suggest that we move on from this incident and learn from it.
 

Anti

return of the king
10,818
Posts
16
Years
I have no idea what happened but just going to say that being a PO Server Admin is basically what drove me off PC. I thought I was going to be here through all four years of college and quit before I even got there, and that's why. When your two options are doing your job and then taking a beating for it/juggling three PM windows at once doing damage control or not doing your job and then basically being useless, you don't have a good server environment. I chose the latter and it still was a pit of stress. The truth is that in coming on the server and frequenting it you implicitly agree to be moderated by the people who run it and whoever they appoint and if you don't like it then either bring it up privately or leave, but petty drama is the worst. So is defending every single freaking thing you do instead of enjoying your time on the server--moderators are members first and foremost.

tl;dr: don't make wolf et al leave pc :|
 
8,279
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen yesterday
I am here to announce that we are revamping the voice rank. We feel that the server would benefit more from selective voice promotions by encouraging users to be more mature and friendly, rather than simply being active. We think that voice should now be more important; something that respected regulars should be awarded for good behavior. Please don't take this the wrong way though; this doesn't mean that non-voiced members are not welcome on the server. We appreciate everyone who spends their time on the battle server, but we also think that improvements can be made on the community. This is one of those efforts, and could possibly provide an incentive for users to better themselves. We hope you understand.

Anyway, down to the details. We will be demoting all of the voiced users soon. Following that, we will begin choosing people to promote from there. We are essentially starting fresh when it comes to voice.
 
8,279
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen yesterday
Not sure if i was everyone, but it seemed to be that our server was down for the collective majority. Anyway, it's working again for some of us!
Indeed, they (Pokemon Showdown) made some changes that required every server to be up-to-date.
 

.Aero

Tell Me I'm A Screwed Up Mess
1,767
Posts
16
Years
I am here to make an appeal to Wolf and Nica.

The alt situation, frankly, is out of hand. Not only is it annoying to myself as well as some other members who agree with me, it causes unneeded confusion. I cannot grasp why users need to have so many different aliases on the server. Is it because they're bored or what? I mean if you're that bored that changing your name and getting a new color is "fun", why not just make a competitive team instead and channel that boredom into something a bit more productive for the benefit of the server?

I mean to realize how bad it is, just look at your user list. It took 45 minutes that one night to de-voice all the users who were voiced. If that's not enough of a reason just take a look at this thread: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=300005&page=5

Why in the world should a thread used to document alts have 5 pages and only have 48 users on it? It's ridiculous and I believe a rule should be made against multiple alts. It honestly requires me to ask people constantly who they are just because they felt like using a different name for that day. It might not be so bad for auth'd users who can alt check, but for regular members it's just a ****fest of names that change on a daily basis for next to no reason.

I'm not asking for alts to be ruled out completely. I just think a limit should be placed on how many there can be and people have to be a bit more careful when deciding to change their names. If I'm not mistaken, there was a rule created to only allow 3 auth'd alts per moderator. That didn't stop some of them from using more than 3 anyway and just de-auth'ing old ones.

I'm sorry I seem so pissed off, but it's because I am. I honestly can't stand the **** show that is the alt game on the server.

Not to mention the complaining about ugly colors. Stop caring. Seriously.

Input is welcome.
 

Melody

Banned
6,460
Posts
19
Years
I am here to make an appeal to Wolf and Nica.

The alt situation, frankly, is out of hand. Not only is it annoying to myself as well as some other members who agree with me, it causes unneeded confusion. I cannot grasp why users need to have so many different aliases on the server. Is it because they're bored or what? I mean if you're that bored that changing your name and getting a new color is "fun", why not just make a competitive team instead and channel that boredom into something a bit more productive for the benefit of the server?

I mean to realize how bad it is, just look at your user list. It took 45 minutes that one night to de-voice all the users who were voiced. If that's not enough of a reason just take a look at this thread: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=300005&page=5

Why in the world should a thread used to document alts have 5 pages and only have 48 users on it? It's ridiculous and I believe a rule should be made against multiple alts. It honestly requires me to ask people constantly who they are just because they felt like using a different name for that day. It might not be so bad for auth'd users who can alt check, but for regular members it's just a ****fest of names that change on a daily basis for next to no reason.

I'm not asking for alts to be ruled out completely. I just think a limit should be placed on how many there can be and people have to be a bit more careful when deciding to change their names. If I'm not mistaken, there was a rule created to only allow 3 auth'd alts per moderator. That didn't stop some of them from using more than 3 anyway and just de-auth'ing old ones.

I'm sorry I seem so pissed off, but it's because I am. I honestly can't stand the **** show that is the alt game on the server.

Not to mention the complaining about ugly colors. Stop caring. Seriously.

Input is welcome.

I feel like you're overreacting a bit. Most all of us have alts; you're one of the few that refuses to have one. I'd say that makes you a bit of a minority in that way, but that's not all that my argument consists of.

Our usernames are what we use to express ourselves; our moods, our desires, our feelings, our passions, our favorite things, and/or even things we are. PC itself is incapable of allowing name changes for a technical reason that we soon hope to overcome; but I see no reason to create such artificial limitations like that just because you don't like to look up in the directory of people who voluntarily show which names they have registered to them.

I assure you that nobody on the Server has particularly been able to abuse their pseudo-anonymity in any significantly disruptive way the staff of our server and creators of Pokemon Showdown haven't already addressed. I don't think that anyone has been any cause of any problems because of it, nor has it caused anyone any problems other than a minor inconvenience while they go look at the list. While it makes logical sense from an access control perspective to expect our staff and authed users to maintain their powers on only a few alts, I do not believe there is any logical reason to force users into the same position.

Even if such a rule were created, I would flat out refuse to honor it; even if I could never come back. I think most of the server would feel the same way. Even Nica or Wolf would have to realize that it would alienate a lot of people.

I strongly recommend that the staff do not consider limiting users alts. While it might seem to improve things for some users; it would ruin the positive experiences that many more users have had thus far. While I myself get confused from time to time about who is who; I believe we can address this problem quickly and efficiently so that all can have an enjoyable experience.
 

.Aero

Tell Me I'm A Screwed Up Mess
1,767
Posts
16
Years
Let me preface this post with some thoughts:

1) I did not want to respond.
2) If I don't respond, you guys will think you've won.
3) You guys have won anyway because you're making me do something I don't want to.

I completely disagree.

I feel like just because one person doesn't use alts, doesn't mean that they have to kill the fun for everyone else. Yes, mods change alts, just like any other person. I honestly feel like this is complaining for the sake of complaining. .___. I hardly see it personally get out of hand as everyone is usually the same person regardless. Everyone is more or less easy to tell and I honestly think that you're just blowing it out of proportion, no offense or anything like that.

I don't see how me having one alt is relevant in the slightest. Not to mention you saying I'm complaining just to complain bothers me a whole lot. I do not enjoy playing this game you guys have made of these alts. I feel like every time I come on the server there's someone who I think is a new member, then I notice they're chatting up a storm and I realize "hey, this is somebody's alt." I'm then required to either check the thread (which I will get to later), or ask the person directly. Every day. It's ridiculous.


Sorry sir, I don't battle, and I don't want you to force things down my throat that I'm not comfortable with. :\

Suggesting team building was just that. A suggestion. You don't have to go build a team if you don't want to. I'm also not directly targeting you. Some users like to pretend they enjoy battling but when put into the situation where they actually have to do something, like battle, they back out but have no problem discussing unintelligible ******** on the server.

You say that several users agree with you, but at the same time, we staff have heard absolutely nothing about it?? Honestly, this is the issue that you guys have: Whenever you guys have a problem with anything on the server, you all absolutely refuse (or are too lazy) to bring it up with any of us. and honestly a lot of you (scratch that; the majority of you guys) aren't very proactive in this. This is the absolute (and I'm not even kidding) first time I've ever heard of someone making such a public outcry because of alts, and the only person that has ever had a problem with them is you, Aero. .___.

I said some users agree with me. You not having heard of it must have been a coincidence because not only do I bring it up a lot, but a couple other members have been vocal about it in the chat as well. Not as serious as I have become now. You stating I don't bring it up is also bothersome because I've reached my tipping point and here I am, asking wolf and nica to do something about it. That...that argument from you I just don't get.

I firmly believe that alts are really only a problem if wolf/nica are keeping track of promoting them. And that issue only occurs with staff, and literally even then, it happens on a very uncommon basis. I just managed to change two of my accounts, and that's enough to somehow get you outraged (correct me if im wrong)? I've kept my old ones for about a month or two, and they sounded really bad to me. I like to have personality as well as creativity in my names (not to mention I'm fairly picky), and that's just how I choose my names. :\ If someone wanted to ask who I was, then I just say who I am and get it over with. It's not something that anyone should really make a huge deal about, especially since there's less staff than there are members, so usually it's very easy to tell who's who.

You may believe the only issue with alts is keeping track of who is staff and who isn't. I find it tiresome and repetitive to constantly have to ask people who the hell they are. It's irritating. And you're acting like I'm speaking about staff only. I'm not. I'm talking about everyone. Sure, the limited amount of staff members helps narrow it down on who's who in the staff, but what about regular members? That doesn't help at all.

So you're saying that there should be a rule against multiple alt so it'd just be for your own personal benefit? I apologize if it seems like I'm twisting your words, but that seems a fair bit selfish on your part. If people feel like using a different name, then let them! Who are we to tell them what names they can or can't use to express themselves? If they feel like changing their names one day to something, and then the next day they feel like changing to a different name, then all the more power to them.

Yes, I want this for my own benefit, but I also want it for a group benefit as well as efficiency and less of a mess. Elf was looking for battles the other day with specific people but didn't know who anyone was for two reasons: 1) He wasn't aware of the alt thread. 2) That person was going by a name even I didn't recognize so I couldn't help him out. If alts weren't so abundant it wouldn't have been an issue. There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself through your name. Absolutely nothing wrong. The thing I can't understand is why we need 10+ alts to express ourselves. Sure, the limit could be 5 for all I care. I just don't want someone changing it on a daily basis, because of what I will get into on the next part.

And honestly Aero, that thread was created for the specific purpose of checking who people are on the battle server. If someone doesn't check that thread regularly, who's fault is that in the end? You certainly can't blame the people who change alts, because they're usually the ones who update said thread. I just feel this is a completely unfair accusation on your part and for your own gain just so it'd be "easier".

This thread. This thread is not useful. People will make alts daily and not post them to the thread. Why? Because they don't plan on keeping the alt longer than that single day. There have been multiple occasions weeks ago where I would go to the thread in order to figure out who someone was only to find that alt not there. If the thread's purpose is to help me do just that, figure out who someone is, why is it failing in its purpose? Because of repeated attempts to use that thread and it failing, I stopped bothering.

...But sometimes, you have to understand that what's "easier" isn't what's always "efficient" or "fun". This server was created on the grounds of being lax, and honestly, being strict on alts is really going to make a lot more people upset I'd feel, and I'd rather not go through with that.

So you're telling me having to ask someone anytime they make an alt who they are is more efficient than just knowing? I'd like to know your definition of efficient. We can have fun with discussions. Not to mention I've noticed the discussions revolve around very few topics. One of which is alts and colors. This topic shows up multiple times a week and is not in any way "fun" or interesting and doesn't promote actual discussion, because if you watch these topics go down, people ignore each other because they're so focused on obtaining the right name / color. If your argument is that the server is meant to be more social than a battling server (which I agree with completely), I see no socializing happening when this chat erupts.

And what's the problem within that? You didn't argue a specific underlying issue with that. Yes, we're allowed three alts, and that's it. If we were to have any more, we'd have to give up one. And what's the ultimate harm in asking? Considering that 95% of our mods usually keep their names for longer than at least a month or two (that I've observed anyway), I've literally have no problem identifying who's who.

Underlying problem stated above. No discussion as a result of the alt / color obsession. You've had no problem identifying who's who. I do. Maybe I'm not as apt at it though. You've gotta account for members like myself who can't just tell who someone is by the way they type. I can only do that with four members because they are extremely distinct:

1) Elf: bean, lol laugh at my own jokes
2) Anti: history rants / basketball
3) Lala: talks like an old man farmer
4) Syndrome: Is always cynical

And I agree with Fritz; you rarely interact at all with any of the current auth, it's no wonder you hardly know who any of us are. Aside from myself, I don't feel that you take the time to get to know anyone, and thus always really get confused when people change accounts. For myself, I know who all of the staff are, so even if they change accounts, I would know who they are a good 90% of the time (and if not I could figure out by the way they type, usually).

You you you. You can do that. I cannot. It's not because I don't know you guys. I've talked to Fritz on multiple occasions one on one, especially during my insomnia days a few months back. I know Jake like a brother, so much so we've considered ourselves twins for years and I consider him my best friend that I've ever made on the internet, but if you notice I did not list him in the 4 people I can tell apart by the way they type. Like I said, I must just not be good at thing and you have to account for people like me.

I really do not like it when people attempt to force their perspective's down other's throats. Again, I apologize if I'm misinterpreting, but I care a lot because colors matters to me. It's hard to explain, I'm an aesthetics person. It's fine if you're different, that's okay with me. Just don't shove it down my throat.

You're acting like I'm calling you out specifically. Your entire post was that way and I'm going to address it now. I am not targeting you specifically, Derk. Maybe it's because your alt changes just now threw me over the top, but stop thinking that way. You are not the target of this rule so don't act like it. There are many members who use too many alts to handle. Also i'm not trying to out rule alts and you're acting like I am. I'm saying put a cap on it. It could be 5 for all I care, I just don't want to see people changing their names daily and I can't keep up because they don't post it in the thread or only decide to have it for a day and ditch it.

I feel like you're overreacting a bit. Most all of us have alts; you're one of the few that refuses to have one. I'd say that makes you a bit of a minority in that way, but that's not all that my argument consists of.

Minorities have no say I guess is the basis of your argument. That's always fun to deal with.

Our usernames are what we use to express ourselves; our moods, our desires, our feelings, our passions, our favorite things, and/or even things we are. PC itself is incapable of allowing name changes for a technical reason that we soon hope to overcome; but I see no reason to create such artificial limitations like that just because you don't like to look up in the directory of people who voluntarily show which names they have registered to them.

I assure you that nobody on the Server has particularly been able to abuse their pseudo-anonymity in any significantly disruptive way the staff of our server and creators of Pokemon Showdown haven't already addressed. I don't think that anyone has been any cause of any problems because of it, nor has it caused anyone any problems other than a minor inconvenience while they go look at the list. While it makes logical sense from an access control perspective to expect our staff and authed users to maintain their powers on only a few alts, I do not believe there is any logical reason to force users into the same position.

Even if such a rule were created, I would flat out refuse to honor it; even if I could never come back. I think most of the server would feel the same way. Even Nica or Wolf would have to realize that it would alienate a lot of people.

I strongly recommend that the staff do not consider limiting users alts. While it might seem to improve things for some users; it would ruin the positive experiences that many more users have had thus far. While I myself get confused from time to time about who is who; I believe we can address this problem quickly and efficiently so that all can have an enjoyable experience.

I mean, just read my response to Derk. You just kind of reiterated what he already said. Thanks I guess for saving me time.

Also I'm not responding to further posts because this is a load of ********.
 

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 1, 2023
I agree with Aero.

99% of the time I don't alt check, simply because 1) I'm lazy, but 2) because it's also so I can relate more to those that are confused and don't know. I find myself constantly asking who everyone is, and for months people like Gerokunz came to the server and I was like "who?" even though they were there everyday but I couldn't tell because they constantly change their names. I don't even know who's a regular at the server anymore, and who isn't. If we did remove name changes, would it really stop anyone from going to the server? PC has removed name changes, and last I checked, nobody has actually left PC over no name changes. I mean, Smogon doesn't allow name changes (...for the most part), and nor does Serebii (iirc?), and people haven't left them over that, either. If we disallowed name changes, where you kept a name for a month, would it make anyone want to quit? If we removed the pretty colours would it make a difference? If everyone was black, like on IRC, would it stop you from coming? (Because on other IRC channels this isn't the case, not specifically PC's channels, but still, the same applies). Yes, you can change names, but does that mean you have to? I know everyone loves name changes, but I think registering a new alt everyday is somewhat crazy. Right now on the server, I have no clue who Ghetsis, 2manyalts, Priyanshu, Rizona and AlTzRcOnFuZiNg are. I only know Derk's alt because he asked me to promote it, and I know Pachy's simply because he appeared as that. I know Hikari's because she likes Oshawott. Everyone else, no clue. I couldn't even tell who Vapor was for a while, and I think something has to be done about this for everyone. When checking again I have no clue who Sage Lute and Da Names is. And that's within two minutes of checking. What's in a name? Do you change your real life name to suit you (no)? When users (and I have complained about this before, so it's not just Aero) legitimately have a problem with this, I think something should actually be done because otherwise people are just confused and when people are threatening to leave because they can't tell who anyone is, I don't think that's really fair.

Therefore, I have a propostion, those in the camp of "don't remove the ability to change alts" - how about you stick to one alt a week (at MINIMUM)? I'm sure Wolf could code it to disallow the usage of changing alts, or we could just namelock anyone, but we don't. We allow you guys to change. You should only use the alt thread once a week or month, really. I don't even know who the auth are most of the time and I'm on auth myself.

So tl;dr my suggestion: One alt a week, you must post in the thread (wolf and I can PM all the server regulars to let them know to post in the thread since I'm 99% sure barely anyone knows of it) when you change, and one post per person. Instead of being in a list format, people just ctrl+f a username, and whoever posted it is the person who owned it. So say, like,

[Avatar] Forever
[Usertitle]

Week 1: skylight / iSkylight
Week 2: Resolute Keldeo
Week 3: NUNicorn Nica
_______________________
[Signature]

^ Like that. Just list your own alts in your post rather than the list format, and it can list when you started using the username (which means you can use any of the previous usernames, but it just lists when you started, to make sure to keep to the "week" format - given the amount of auth, promoting an alt a week for people isn't really that much compared to people randomly asking to do it whenever, and it can allow someone to get to know others better). Once a week name change surely isn't too much to ask given that you haven't changed your PC usernames for four years :/ Nor have many of you changed your real life names more than once in your life. Basically the rule would be to change your name you have to edit your post in the thread otherwise you'd get asked to change your name back to one of the older ones as to not confuse anyone. It's strict but people change alts like candy, and when it becomes confusing to users and deters them, something should really occur.
 

Ace.

Love Yourself
324
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 25
  • Seen Dec 29, 2015
Ok I was gonna reply to this earlier but seeing you probably won't look here anymore or reply @Aero I thought nevermind. But as long as you read i'm fine with it. I don't completely disagree with you since alts can be quite confusing especially with the users that change too much. But if you stay on the server more than you'll know how are those people that change alts a lot.

Yes, I want this for my own benefit, but I also want it for a group benefit as well as efficiency and less of a mess. Elf was looking for battles the other day with specific people but didn't know who anyone was for two reasons: 1) He wasn't aware of the alt thread. 2) That person was going by a name even I didn't recognize so I couldn't help him out.

You can just ask. ASK. There really is nothing wrong with asking who "user" is or you can just ask any of the mods to help or alt check. There really is nothing wrong with asking mods. We're not here to just mod. We're here to help in other ways as well and that's what I hate. You guys think we're just here for modding and watching out for the chat.

I strongly recommend that the staff do not consider limiting users alts. While it might seem to improve things for some users; it would ruin the positive experiences that many more users have had thus far. While I myself get confused from time to time about who is who; I believe we can address this problem quickly and efficiently so that all can have an enjoyable experience.

The above statement is true. If you (you = everyone) stay on the server for quite and while and get to know us better you'd know who is who. For example Gero doesn't have perfect grammar; Slate uses quite a lot of dots; I omg quite a lot; etc. It would also be sad to limit alts since whats the point of "change username" if you limit alts. I'm ok with maybe 1 or 2 alts every 2 weeks so you won't get confused and stuff but limiting it completely is a bit too strict.

Not to mention the complaining about ugly colors. Stop caring. Seriously.

I don't see anything wrong in colors. I mean people have favorite colors and colors they hate so if they want to change a color then why not? Also I think the alt threads isn't really helping since there's a lot of users and it's quite disorganized in a way.

99% of the time I don't alt check, simply because 1) I'm lazy, but 2) because it's also so I can relate more to those that are confused and don't know.

Now Nica who's fault is that? It's not our fault you are lazy. I mean if you weren't lazy you would probably know who we are.

Right now on the server, I have no clue who Ghetsis, 2manyalts, Priyanshu, Rizona and AlTzRcOnFuZiNg are.

You can't even see what they post? Ghetsis is obviously Sonic cause he was posting about some sonic music, Rizona is Gero because you can tell by his grammar (not implying anything bad js)

So tl;dr my suggestion: One alt a week, you must post in the thread (wolf and I can PM all the server regulars to let them know to post in the thread since I'm 99% sure barely anyone knows of it) when you change, and one post per person. Instead of being in a list format, people just ctrl+f a username, and whoever posted it is the person who owned it. So say, like,

[Avatar] Forever
[Usertitle]

Week 1: skylight / iSkylight
Week 2: Resolute Keldeo
Week 3: NUNicorn Nica
_______________________
[Signature]
Ok now that's better. It'll limit people and I just think this is quite a good solution. Sure some people will have a few negative thoughts on this but if this will help benefit the server, provide less confusion and to stop this silly debate then I agree with this.
 

Pokedra

Retired
1,661
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Aug 21, 2016
I think Aero and Forever have a point.

It's not really them being lazy but the annoyance of having to open up the alt thread to check who someone is, I mean I'm not trying to sound stuck in the past but when we used Shoddy and people mainly used their PC usernames, it was not only a.) easier to identify who was who, b.)the fact that everyone knew each other meant it was more of a community. The argument of "you should know who is who" is quite frankly a weak one, it's the internet not irl and people can be mistaken, there are alot of cynical people for example, mistakes can and have been made.

While limiting the amount of alts seems harsh, in retrospect it's not really that bad. Name changes were stopped on PC ages ago iirc and no one is complaining anymore. Just be honest, do you really need 26 accounts of your favorite celebrities/random names?

I think 3 is a fair number, it lets you have a fair selection of names/colours without completely confusing everyone. Although to be fair this has been blown out of proportion.
 
Last edited:
8,279
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen yesterday
I only skimmed over this; I don't really feel like reading all of what has been said. First off, appealing should be done privately, but posting here is useful for getting other opinions. However, you don't really seem interested in that, Aero, so I'm not sure why you posted here.

Anyway, I do agree that the alts are getting out of hand, but I'm a bit iffy on enforcing disciplinary action to limit people from making too many alts.

I'm sure Wolf could code it to disallow the usage of changing alts, or we could just namelock anyone, but we don't.
I have no clue how to do the former, and namelock has been removed from the default server scripts. To prevent people from making too many alts, we would have to keep a database of alts and constantly alt check accounts to see if they made any new alts. It would make the situation more inconvenient for the staff, and just seems like it wouldn't be worth it. However, I do have a solution to this, and that is giving alt check to voiced users. (And it's funny because I asked Steve to implement that before this whole ordeal even started. I'm one step ahead of you guys!) While PS' alt check is a bit unreliable due to it being browser-based, it's better than nothing. Additionally, it would provide an incentive for being voiced.
 

Jake♫

► My Happy Little Pill 
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I guess I'll pipe in since I kind of got name dropped a few times =P

I can see both points of the argument, but honestly I kind of have to agree with Aero. I'm all for people wanting to express themselves, but it's ridiculous that half the time I log on the server (even before I've been less active lately because of work, so let's not bring up that argument please), I don't recognize half the users names. If someone says hi to me, half the time I'm like, "Hi person who knows me but I have no idea who you are!" They point out who they are, and I'm like ohhhh, and then people sometimes respond, "How did you NOT know that?!?" If it's a brand new alt I've never seen and I just log-in, I haven't had time to see how they post, so how in god's name would I know?

Yes, we have alt check, but having to alt check half of the server every time I log in is ridiculous. On Derk's point that people don't like change and it won't sit well...well that kind of sucks. That's honestly a personal problem. The PC name changes are completely relevant here: People liked being able to change names, it stressed the server, so goodbye to that. A large portion of the userbase can't tell who half the people are anymore because names keep changing? Okay, limit alts. A different issue causing a similar result. If people don't like change, well that's kind of too bad in my opinion. Things will change. It's life. You can't always get what you want. People will adjust. If we limited it to 5 alts I don't really see an issue. For all the alts in the alt thread that I've seen with people who have more than 5, I rarely even see them use 5 of the ones they have listed, and they stick to the main ones that they have always used. So, pretty much just having alts that sit there to get used once and never again? I don't really see the point of that.

On the topic of "knowing someone by the way they type", that isn't that easy. It's the internet. No one is always going to be in the same mood and type the same way. Leaving the staff out of this (since there is a limited number of us and it's easier to figure who is who out), there are VERY few people that I'd be able to tell. And it's not because I've known them longer or that I'm not invested in the users we have now, it's just that they are extremely unique. Elf is elf. Anyone could figure him out, let's be honest. If you see something about history or Bosh, you know it's Anti. Those things are easy to pick up on and don't take years of knowing them to realize. Slate I know because he will always add ... to the end of his sentences. Other than that, I honestly couldn't pick someone out of the crowd just by watching them type. Yes, I have alt check. Yes, I use it. Half the time it doesn't show up with anything.

I think disciplinary action is the wrong choice of words for limiting alts. We aren't punishing anyone, it'd be making a change to the server that would make it easier for people to communicate. Honestly, if people were limited to an arbitrary number of 5 alts (because I'm just using that as a basis in my head, it isn't a deep thought-out number or anything), if anything I would find it easier to have a sense of community. You will know who everyone is instead of having to play a guessing game. I mean, in reality, is just asking that big of a deal? Not really, but when people have so many alts that it changes daily it's just getting out of hand.
 

Sirfetch’d

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Sorry in advance if I don't offer much on this topic, but anyways. Here is how I see it, yes there are a few people who change alts quite frequently, including myself, and sometimes even I feel like it is a bit much and confusing. However eliminating alt changes all together is a bit too much and something that I feel 100% of our staff would be against. Having a new alt every once in a while is fun and a privilege that every user should have. Even if Wolf was able to code in a limit, that would still not be fair for users who want to decide on a permanent name to use, which requires many name changes to achieve a good name.

While personally I think that things are fine as they are, I don't mind at all if there was a limit to alts. Us staff members have a 3 alt limit, however that is just a limit on alts with auth., not a limit on alts we can register. So what I would think a good solution would be is to completely start over the server alt thread, and let all regular members pick 4 or 5 alts to post and they must use those alts, until a specified time limit is up(for this I will just suggest a month or so) and then at the end of the month they may chose to change them if they please.

As for enforcing this rule..well that is the tricky part. As Wolf mentioned /namelock is no longer a working command in the server, so that is not an option. Really all that can be done is have some sort of limit and hope that the users respect it. I don't think there would be an appropriate disciplinary action to take for users that choose not to follow, because muting or banning someone for changing their name is WAY too harsh and that is something that I would never want to do to someone.

* also the server has updated and now voiced users have alt check!
 
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I guess while this is still going on, I'll throw my opinion in. It's kind of sad that we have to argue over something so simple like alts. Honestly in general, I find it ridiculous when people go up into an uproar just because of one tiny rule change. I'm not going to point the finger at anybody but frankly, it's just irritating sometimes. Then again not everyone will be happy with the changes, but all the complaining at times does get annoying. Just my opinion. If you actually wanted my opinion on this whole alts thing however...

I agree with Aero. and a few of the others honestly. At first I thought this idea was ridiculous and that we should leave it the way it is, but having skimmed through all the arguments, honestly I can understand what people are fed up about. People say that even if you don't have altcheck, you can just ask somebody on who they are. But what happens if you have to ask that same person, several times a day? In the end, it just gets frustrating and rather confusing.

I can understand that people want to express themselves, their emotions and anything else, but changing names five thousand times a day just gets out of hand. I say we limit alts a bit- such as two alts a day? I don't know something like that- but honestly I want to see some sort of limit on alts.

Those who break the limit? Enforcing disciplinary action on them is just cruel- for such a simple thing like that. So I'm still trying to figure that out, but like what Jelli said I just hope users can accept the limit and follow the guidelines.

In general, I support most of the arguments here- you can't automatically know who someone is by the way they type. Yes there are a few obvious hints such as the emoticons they use and maybe their grammar/punctuation but other than that people can't always be in the same mood and they might change their style. So yeah that recognising people by the way they type thing isn't that true. Although I can see what you're getting at!

In general my opinion on this is enforce some sort of limit on alts but also not get too strict/harsh in the process if that makes sense. Anyway that's just my opinion- but I could probably be convinced that this whole limiting alts thing is a bad idea, if someone provided good reasons with evidence to back it up.
 
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