Username (display name) and avatar rules and political statements

[benj38]

I have noticed a newbie with 3 posts which chose for his username/display-name "ElonTheFelon", with an avatar using an image of Mike Myers from a skit in SNL where he is impersonating Elon Musk, so there is no question of the intent of this new user.

Regardless of whether I agree with the above point of view or not, I believe it is completely against the interests of the vast majority of the forum members to turn it into a platform for expressing political opinions (or worse, given that Elon Musk was never convicted of any felony), either in the content of their posts or their usernames, avatars, etc.

This forum is for sharing technical electronics related information. I do not come here to share or view political and activist views of any sort, be them ones I agree with or not, and I believe almost everybody else on the forum does the same. Please correct me if I am wrong.

This is an international forum, and this world is big and full of strife and conflicts, and violently different opinions.
I know that Dave hates rules, but I believe that once we allow sliding down this slope, there will be no way back, which may very well lead to the end of this wonderful community that we all work so hard to keep.

[MK14]

This seems to be their profile:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=1046215

Also, since the rules seem to prohibit similar political messages, in ones profile, the forum user picture and username are either included in the rules, anyway, or perhaps should be.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/forum-rules-please-read/


Bold added by me:

11) We allow a custom "Personal Text" to appear below your profile, please do not abuse this. It is not for advertising your pet political, social, religious or similar causes with hashtags or phrases. A good example might be for use by a company employee to say who they work for. Moderators reserve the right to edit or remove this text.
12) We allow custom signatures below your post, and these allow links and HTML fotmatting, please do not abuse this. See rule #11. A good example would be linking to your personal website. Moderators reserve the right to edit or remove this text.

Edit: Added, section(s) about existing rules.

[pcprogrammer]

I know that Dave hates rules, but I believe that once we allow sliding down this slope, there will be no way back, which may very well lead to the end of this wonderful community that we all work so hard to keep.

What slope? As long as the member refrains from expressing their political, or other against the rules, views in their posts, there is no real harm. Sure some may trip over the user name, like for example a member from Italy who used the name kkk. Not sure if it has been changed or not. For me it is just a name.

And wake up, even though it is not wanted, political tinted threads come to life now and then, even started by Dave him self. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/sunshine-coast-university-women-only-engineering-professorship/ It is up to yourself if you want to participate or not, and flag a thread to the moderators if you think it crosses some lines. They can decide if it is ok or not.

On a side note, the user name in question does not even rhyme properly. 

Edit: MK14 listed the rules, so just report the new member to the moderators and have them change the name and avatar, if they feel the same way as you do. Otherwise just live with it.

[RoGeorge]

I vote to change that user's name, or to delete it.

[brucehoult]

Even funnier, I would bet good money they had 180º the opposite opinion of the gentleman and his businesses a year ago.

[tszaboo]

Let's add the USA-666 guy to that list as well.

[thm_w]

What slope? As long as the member refrains from expressing their political, or other against the rules, views in their posts, there is no real harm. Sure some may trip over the user name, like for example a member from Italy who used the name kkk. Not sure if it has been changed or not. For me it is just a name.

And wake up, even though it is not wanted, political tinted threads come to life now and then, even started by Dave him self. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/sunshine-coast-university-women-only-engineering-professorship/ It is up to yourself if you want to participate or not, and flag a thread to the moderators if you think it crosses some lines. They can decide if it is ok or not.

With username/signature/title it appears in every thread so cannot be avoided. If the name can't be a thread topic title, then it shouldn't be a username, no?
Daves post (even though I would prefer he kept that garbage on twitter) is a single thread that can be ignored, and its obvious from the title. And he owns the damn forum.. so rules aren't relevant.

Even funnier, I would bet good money they had 180º the opposite opinion of the gentleman and his businesses a year ago.

Not sure how its funny that someones opinion would change over time based on behavior seen.

[brucehoult]

Even funnier, I would bet good money they had 180º the opposite opinion of the gentleman and his businesses a year ago.

Not sure how its funny that someones opinion would change over time based on behavior seen.

I don't see why leaving one political party and joining another would have such an effect.

It certainly has zero effect on whether certain electric cars are good or not -- personally I think EVs are a bad and un-ecological idea compared to hybrids, but if people want to buy them with their own money that's fine by me, and those do seem to be some of the best.

I think SpaceX is doing amazing work, and I love my Starlink which I've had for more than three years.

If you think Elon's personality or behaviour have changed in the last 12 months then you simply haven't been paying attention!

Recall things such June 2018's Thailand cave incident, August's "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." or September's smoking weed on Joe Rogan.  And that was just in four months!!!  Or the 2022-2023 Twitter acquisition offer, withdrawal of the offer, being forced to carry through with the offer, mass layoffs etc.

[thm_w]

It certainly has zero effect on whether certain electric cars are good or not -- personally I think EVs are a bad and un-ecological idea compared to hybrids, but if people want to buy them with their own money that's fine by me, and those do seem to be some of the best.

I think SpaceX is doing amazing work, and I love my Starlink which I've had for more than three years.

I agree somewhat, it shouldn't affect your opinion on the product itself. The engineering work is among the best.
Would be nice to know though, how much freedom of design they have, vs being told to go down a certain path. Specifically the cybertruck design.
We know the "cameras only" decision was his. Which clearly was misguided, as they continue to add more cameras to their vehicles to work around issues.

If you think Elon's personality or behaviour have changed in the last 12 months then you simply haven't been paying attention!

Yeah some of us don't play close attention.

[pcprogrammer]

With username/signature/title it appears in every thread so cannot be avoided. If the name can't be a thread topic title, then it shouldn't be a username, no?

It is in the eye of the beholder that it is annoying, and as I pointed out it can be reported to the moderators. By starting this thread the issue is now "forced" upon us all. The name of the user does not bother me, it is the behavior that one shows in their posts that might bother me. And if it does I report it to the moderators and let them deal with it. Does not happen often, because I'm also one to ignore a lot of threads or posts that bear no interest to me.

People are, in my opinion, becoming overly sensitive to words, without even knowing the actual intent. And so what, that in this case the new member choose a name that seemingly indicates to Elon Musk being a felon. Maybe not a good idea as he might be stuck with it, if the moderators have no intention to change it. I find Musk a power hungry, attention graving weirdo, so what. Not going to advertise that by spewing it in every action I take on the internet though.

Daves post (even though I would prefer he kept that garbage on twitter) is a single thread that can be ignored, and its obvious from the title. And he owns the damn forum.. so rules aren't relevant.

That is your opinion, but a couple of members seem to enjoy the thread. I say let them.

And sure it is a single thread, where as the new member, at the time of writing this, only has three posts, so not a lot and these posts will, most likely, soon fade away.

Edit: Noticed that the whole discussion is already rendered moot. The name has been changed into "UnijunctionTransistor". The moderators left the avatar though.

[thm_w]

It is in the eye of the beholder that it is annoying, and as I pointed out it can be reported to the moderators. By starting this thread the issue is now "forced" upon us all. The name of the user does not bother me, it is the behavior that one shows in their posts that might bother me. And if it does I report it to the moderators and let them deal with it. Does not happen often, because I'm also one to ignore a lot of threads or posts that bear no interest to me.

Sure, name doesn't bother me either but that is not the point, I think it follows a clear formula that should not be allowed:
- kkk, elon, obama, whatever as a username. If there is no clear intent, its just a historical figure. Shouldn't really be an issue.
- HitlerIsGreat, xyz_is_evil as a username, not OK.

People are, in my opinion, becoming overly sensitive to words, without even knowing the actual intent. And so what, that in this case the new member choose a name that seemingly indicates to Elon Musk being a felon. Maybe not a good idea as he might be stuck with it, if the moderators have no intention to change it. I find Musk a power hungry, attention graving weirdo, so what. Not going to advertise that by spewing it in every action I take on the internet though.

The intent seems fairly clear?

[Bud]

The name of the user does not bother me, it is the behavior that one shows in their posts that might bother me.

Respectfully disagree here. User name, avatar image, avatar underl line and signature all appear Every time the user makes a post. Four (4) political messages can be carried into you face witn every post even the post itself is not political. Guess what, this may be a Strategy. Now, what is often not understood is as soon the user changes any of these, the change Instantly propagates across all the user's old posts. You reading the user's yesterday's post may get a new political punch line today. If a user would intentionally update daily the avatar, avatar punch line and the user signature , you get 60 political messages a month.
This behaviour should not be allowed and the way not to allow it is to control it at the source by limiting what can be placed in those tags.

[pcprogrammer]

How about the freedom of speech or expression?

This is something Dave is in strong favor of, but to keep things in check some rules are needed. I support this too. And when something is against those set rules it is only fair to act upon them, which in this case has now been fully done. The avatar has also been modified.

The one problem with something like this is who gets to decide what is against the rules. In this case maybe very clear that it is political, but only because the person in question is now openly heavily involved in politics, where as before he was just a business man.

As to the post of Bud, sure all true what you wrote, but again in the eye of the beholder. I don't notice these, because my focus is on the post first.

[tszaboo]

How about the freedom of speech or expression?

Defamation per se is not part of free speech.

The one problem with something like this is who gets to decide what is against the rules.

The mods of the forum.
Do you have any more of these very obvious questions?

[pcprogrammer]

How about the freedom of speech or expression?

Defamation per se is not part of free speech.

Free speech is free speech, and in that setting everything could be allowed. Adding your restriction is a limitation of free speech. I'm not saying that it should not be part of it, don't get me wrong, but with this you have to assess what is defamation?

The whole subject is very complex in where to draw the line of what is allowed and what not.

And that is why I wrote earlier, that in cases like this, where someone takes offense on someones username, avatar, avatar statement or signature, they should just report it to the moderators and let them deal with it.

The one problem with something like this is who gets to decide what is against the rules.

The mods of the forum.
Do you have any more of these very obvious questions?

One that reads between the lines would see that it was meant in a more general setting, than just this forum, and that it was not a question as such.

Yes here the mods are the ones who decide. See my previous point.

[tszaboo]

Free speech is free speech, and in that setting everything could be allowed. Adding your restriction is a limitation of free speech. I'm not saying that it should not be part of it, don't get me wrong, but with this you have to assess what is defamation?

Today there was a recent temporary banning of a 10,000+ post user because of their continued persistence to make political posts at every available opportunity in response to anyone mentioning their pet topic. Even after they were asked to stop this many times they persisted and quoted their right to "free speech".

This forum is NOT a free speech free-for-all platform, it has rules, and one of those is about political discussion.

It's really not that complicated.

[pcprogrammer]

Free speech is free speech, and in that setting everything could be allowed. Adding your restriction is a limitation of free speech. I'm not saying that it should not be part of it, don't get me wrong, but with this you have to assess what is defamation?

Today there was a recent temporary banning of a 10,000+ post user because of their continued persistence to make political posts at every available opportunity in response to anyone mentioning their pet topic. Even after they were asked to stop this many times they persisted and quoted their right to "free speech".

This forum is NOT a free speech free-for-all platform, it has rules, and one of those is about political discussion.

It's really not that complicated.

And yet you are happily participating in a thread that has politics written all over it, but beside that, I'm not debating any of this. This forum indeed has rules and it is up to the moderators to deal with them.

All what we, the members, can do is point things out to the moderators, which I only do when I encounter spam or unfair behavior. I can't give a rats arse about those politically tinted threads or members that use names or avatars that might be a bit off.

If others do take offense, that is their privilege.

[Sorama]

And so…we have a new political thread because someone did not like a user’s name.

I wonder what is worse.

[Nominal Animal]

I wonder what is worse.

When you ignore a thread (using the quick tools in New replies to your posts / unread posts since last visit), you no longer see it in any listings.
When you add a member to your Ignore list (Profile > Summary, Modify Profile > Buddies/Ignore list... > Edit Ignore list), you'll only hide the text of their post, but will still see the username everywhere.

Simply put, a strife/aggravation-causing username cannot be completely hidden, whereas an annoying thread can even if you replied to it yourself.

Therefore, the strife/aggravation-causing username is definitely worse, because you cannot avoid seeing it in the threads and thread lists.

[Sorama]

I wonder what is worse.

When you ignore a thread (using the quick tools in New replies to your posts / unread posts since last visit), you no longer see it in any listings.
When you add a member to your Ignore list (Profile > Summary, Modify Profile > Buddies/Ignore list... > Edit Ignore list), you'll only hide the text of their post, but will still see the username everywhere.

Simply put, a strife/aggravation-causing username cannot be completely hidden, whereas an annoying thread can even if you replied to it yourself.

Therefore, the strife/aggravation-causing username is definitely worse, because you cannot avoid seeing it in the threads and thread lists.

that looks more like a personal problem, not a general problem.
It 's a free world.
And a free forum :-)

I would say: take it or leave it.

[RoGeorge]

I wonder what is worse.

When you ignore a thread (using the quick tools in New replies to your posts / unread posts since last visit), you no longer see it in any listings.
When you add a member to your Ignore list (Profile > Summary, Modify Profile > Buddies/Ignore list... > Edit Ignore list), you'll only hide the text of their post, but will still see the username everywhere.

Simply put, a strife/aggravation-causing username cannot be completely hidden, whereas an annoying thread can even if you replied to it yourself.

Therefore, the strife/aggravation-causing username is definitely worse, because you cannot avoid seeing it in the threads and thread lists.

that looks more like a personal problem, not a general problem.
It 's a free world.
And a free forum :-)

I would say: take it or leave it.

Exactly, if you don't like the rules of this forum, Sorama, then leave it.

The rules are:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/forum-rules-please-read/

and they specifically say to not do shit like you are trying to normalize:

...
There are a couple of pet topics that always get out of control on forums, namely, religion, politics, guns, war, conspiracy theories, and the latest Current Thing that's happening or being championed by the public. They are not welcome here. This includes inside signatures and profile bios. This isn't Twitter where you virtue signal to everyone with your flags, emoticons, and hashtags.
...
11) We allow a custom "Personal Text" to appear below your profile, please do not abuse this. It is not for advertising your pet political, social, religious or similar causes with hashtags or phrases. A good example might be for use by a company employee to say who they work for. Moderators reserve the right to edit or remove this text.
12) We allow custom signatures below your post, and these allow links and HTML formatting, please do not abuse this. See rule #11.

[coppercone2]

maybe you should see if anything engineering related is posted and start from there instead of starting a witch hunt

unless things are deleted its only 8.333....% related to elon musk and you could say the post that was made was true but it was only tangentially on topic but its a pretty correct evaluation of the ramifications of the incident (recalls are very bad for companies, news at 11)


perhaps the name should be changed to elonandfelon.

But if you consider history:

consider the opinions and expressions of top scientists/engineers leading something like the PC revolution...  this is not exactly a new or bad way of thinking.

Berkley, apple 1984 advertisement, standing up to IBM, getting computers out of monopolistic hardware and software lock down (universal hardware, GNU license, BSD, linux).. those guys were getting pretty spicy stuff to the people in charge (say nixon, university directors, etc). Free environments fostered all that stuff, perhaps its even why the giants failed (brain drain). It's not fun being scared of offending some corporate director when you don't work for him, are not on his property, etc

[Sorama]

I wonder what is worse.

When you ignore a thread (using the quick tools in New replies to your posts / unread posts since last visit), you no longer see it in any listings.
When you add a member to your Ignore list (Profile > Summary, Modify Profile > Buddies/Ignore list... > Edit Ignore list), you'll only hide the text of their post, but will still see the username everywhere.

Simply put, a strife/aggravation-causing username cannot be completely hidden, whereas an annoying thread can even if you replied to it yourself.

Therefore, the strife/aggravation-causing username is definitely worse, because you cannot avoid seeing it in the threads and thread lists.

that looks more like a personal problem, not a general problem.
It 's a free world.
And a free forum :-)

I would say: take it or leave it.

Exactly, if you don't like the rules of this forum, Sorama, then leave it.

But I do like the rules!
What I don't like is people complaining about every little possibly issue.
They make an issue of something that is not worth it, maybe not even ment to be problematic but make it problematic for some personal obsession?
a bit like that woke behavior.

[coppercone2]

the user impedance is too high and its glitching out

put 50 ohms on it and you won't even notice anymore

[Sorama]

the user impedance is too high and its glitching out

put 50 ohms on it and you won't even notice anymore

or just short it :-)