i would think that this has been brought up before but a search didnt bring up anything.

but when players accounts have been banned, from what I know, no one can use that name again...am i right??

well, if I am, then say after...3 months when most people would have forgotton about that player, so then why dont make it that that name can be used for a new member again??

the only problem I see with this is that the user who got banned under the original name may be mistaken for a genuine new member...so a few people who did know the banned person because of abuse ect, may be a bit skeptical about that name...i dont know the baning rules weather a banned player can ever come back or not either.

so 3 months is just an inital time frame...so maybe even 12 months of that name not being able to be used again.

its just so that there are more usernames that people can use...better than adding in an underscore or a number.

but when players accounts have been banned, from what I know, no one can use that name again...am i right??

Yes you are correct.


well, if I am, then say after...3 months when most people would have forgotton about that player, so then why dont make it that that name can be used for a new member again??

I think thats a bad idea.
Just saves confusion, and the jobs of Admin/ mods having to check its not the origional user.
It also saves the New user from being accused of being the origional user and having to put up with abusive pm's etc.

BUT.. thats just My opinion.

~Paula~

but can that same IP join up again??

Its a terrible idea really, Admins might not know if that is the user that they just banned etc etc.

Theres no need for it really..

i think i can safely say this will never happen, there are millions of names players can come up with so why use old ones from banned players, and your opinion is spot on in my eyes paula

yeah fair enough..and i think that there are a gigzillion of names out there.....

Well why did you create this thread then!

It was a suggestion.... and people have given their thoughts on the matter, why not create the thread?

Thanks Kev.

Just make one thats almost identical. Eg my origional was dresden....

*tuts* Trust You!

Some 'Banned' user guessed my PW once for my justjsg account and posted with it. That name got banned too.

I did NOT want to make a similar name, in case ppl thought I was that banned user. (if that makes sense!!!)

I think a banned users name being able to come back is a bad idea! I think all the reasons have been argued above and out weigh any plus for having a banned users name back after a fall out period.

yeah, fair enough. just an idea.

i think this can be capped now

Necessarily yes. Banning people based on IP address is the single most flawed idea ever to take place on the Internet. First of all, a lot of people access the net from dynamic IPs anyways, secondly (and far more importantly) a lot of other people may access the net through the same IP (common on schools, dorms, cafes, etc etc), and third... changing or spoofing IP addresses isn't really that hard anyways.

So yes, basing anything on IP is just a very bad idea that has a lot of weaknesses and a lot of potential of doing colateral damage.

As for the topic at hand... WHY would you wanna reuse old, banned names anyways, regardless of being your own or others? What on earth would be the incentive behind that in the first place?

Edited at 14:37 Sat 12/01/08 (GMT)

there was an incident with know names a banned player had a smilar name to a non banned player and consequently was banned *

this was a mistake but it shows how bad it would be with the same name

* this mishap has now been sorted out with the player allowed to play