When I am entering a post here (like this one), the first box to fill in, titled "Post As", lists all my pen names as options, but the default is something called "Nickname". I don't remember setting up a nickname on the site. Where does it come from? I would like to get rid of it if possible. It annoys me when I forget to change it when posting.
On the SOL homepage, click on 'My Account' on the top menu bar. The option to change your Nick Name is the third one down. I don't know whether you can delete it. Perhaps you can set it to one of your Pen Names (if you have more than one).
AJ
Found it, but when I tried to change it to my usual name (TheDarkKnight), somebody is already using it. Oh well, nice try, and thanks for the tip.
Found it, but when I tried to change it to my usual name (TheDarkKnight), somebody is already using it. Oh well, nice try, and thanks for the tip.
Eh?
That doesn't make sense. You want to change your forum posting name to "TheDarkKnight" but you can't as someone else is already using it, yet your posting name on the forum is "TheDarkKnight"... Can someone please point out what I am missing/not seeing... LOL
You want to change your forum posting name to "TheDarkKnight" but you can't as someone else is already using it, yet your posting name on the forum is "TheDarkKnight"
When you create your account on SOL, the system defaults your nickname to the left part of your email address. If it's already taken, like for example 'Jim', there are multiple accounts whose left part is jim@xx.xx. In this case, the system will add something to distinguish it. There is a list of suffixes and prefixes to do that. Mr_jim, Sir_jim, Big_jim, Jim_theMan, Jim_theLegend, etc...
After registration, if you want, you can change your nickname to anything, as long as it's not used by another account.
Now, when it comes to authors with stories, when posting, the system will give you a menu listing your nickname as the default followed by a list of your pen names. If you change your nickname to match one of your pen names, if available, then when you post using the nickname (default), then it will be treated as your identical pen name. Most pen names cannot be nicknames. Nicknames can't have a space in them, but pen names can.
The difference is, the poster's name in the forum, if it is a pen name (or identical nickname), it's linked to the pen name's stories page.
For a normal user, there is no clickable link, it's just the nickname.
And no, I won't change the system to highjack somebody's nickname if another person decides to use it as a pen name. Seniority matters in this regard, especially if it's something very common like 'TheDarkKnight'.
Of course, I'm aware of the possible confusion if the 'author' and the user with the identical nickname are different and they both participate in the forum, and the same thread. For example, the user whose nickname is thedarkknight, has been a paying member of the site since 2002.
Out of curiosity, are there many cases of an author (pen)name matching the name of another user's account? Is this something historic that you now guard against?
Keep safe.
Out of curiosity, are there many cases of an author (pen)name matching the name of another user's account?
About 150 pen names are used by others as nicknames. They are usually fairly common names like Allan, angel, Chris, Daisy, Dave, Dawn, Steve, Martin, etc...
Is this something historic that you now guard against?
No, I don't guard against it. It has never come up that somebody had an issue with a nickname being confused for a pen name. It's been almost 30 years and it just came up as a question.
PS: After thinking about it, and previous experiences, I'm sure that now that it's mentioned, somebody will try to impersonate an author. So, I added that guard.
the user whose nickname is thedarkknight, has been a paying member of the site since 2002.
And I didn't start posting until 2005, which explains that. Thanks to everyone for your help. Time to kill this thread now I think.