Closed accounts?

Soft Falling Rain

Sugar Free wrote: »

I have to say your new username is simply delightful. Well chosen.

Are you saying I'm not delightful? Ya'd be right.

Terry

Terry wrote: »

Seriously though; why close your account?

Varies greatly I think. 2 Users I could who posted heavily on the Religion forums look likey they closed out because they were simply out debated at every turn and their opinions were shown to be ludicrous. So I guess some people just leave in embarrassment sometimes.

Quite often though some people simply "rage quit" for not getting their own way on some issue. Some moderator decision went against them - or someone kicked their teddy bear - and they closed their account in protest. A former moderator of the Christianity forum for example appears to have rage quit because his request for a second Christian forum was denied.

Others quit because they have a forum use addiction - doing 100s of posts a day - to the detriment of their real lives. So they quit the forum in an attempt to stem the flow of their addiction.

And others quit because they simply realize that the person they turn into when behind a keyboard is someone they are simply not proud to be. People can often change on line (look at the Do You like Your online self thread for more) and there can come a moment when people suddenly "see themselves" in the metaphorical mirror and do not like what they see.

While still others might close it for reasons of stalkers - threats - and other things they wish to avoid - while still using the forum. My favorite poster on the Religion forums - who I have met for drinks a few times too - has told me a few stories of threats on his life - but so far he has not taken them seriously enough to close his account here and move on.

As for people who quit one account and start another - to pretend to be different people - I have not yet experienced this one. But I would not be surprised to hear it happens. Perhaps in some cases they were found out on some lie - such as claiming to have some qualification or skill or education they did not actually have - so they closed one account and started another so they could start claiming the same lie again anew. While others might want to post here without their partner or someone knowing about it - so if that person finds out about the username - they switch to a new one.

And they are all the reasons that jumped instantly into my head - there is likely 100s more if I put my mind to it.

Links234

smash wrote: »

I'm trying to decide what my new boards name would be... Hmmmm

Smush

strobe

I did before consider closing my account and starting another with a clearly feminine username before after a feedback thread suggesting people's interaction would be widely different, maintaining the same style of posting and continuing expressing my own opinions (just changing the language enough, and reversing gender references, etc as to not make it obvious I was the same person or a guy {none of this 'sexy girl avatar' and "teeheehee I'm a girl and I have sex!" stuff, I'm all set for pictures of knobs and socially awkward attempts at flirting} ) as an experiment to see if people would actually respond differently and stuff. But that sounded like an awful lot of effort and I got distracted by a shiny thing.

I'm sure it's been done before though. Anyone wanna report back on their experience of doing this or the opposite, going from a clearly female account to a male or gender neutral one?

Tarzana2

Wibbs wrote: »

And that's fine but I personally don't take the type seriously.

Oh no!

Barely There

The system used by Boards for infractions/bans is skewed heavily against long-term users.

If you end up racking up a few bans, even if it's over the course of years, you end up getting banned for a month from a forum for even a minor indiscretion if a Mod is having a bad day.

It should be like penalty points where bans expire after a set period, but in fact it's the opposite, where moderators use your past posts to justify banning you over something minor - effectively double-punishing you.
Of course you can always appeal, but this works in about 0.000001% of cases :rolleyes:

Sometimes it's better just to rip it up and start again.

Wibbs

Deleted User wrote: »

My favorite poster on the Religion forums - who I have met for drinks a few times too - has told me a few stories of threats on his life - but so far he has not taken them seriously enough to close his account here and move on.

Bloody hell. :eek: I hope he reported it if it was via PM. Still he's probably right, there are an awful lot of hard chaws on the interwebs.

strobe wrote: »

I'm sure it's been done before though. Anyone wanna report back on their experience of doing this or the opposite, going from a clearly female account to a male or gender neutral one?

Not quite the same Strobe, but for quite a while a fair number thought I was a woman. I didn't note much of a difference in perception TBH. Then again I wasn't generally aware of which person thought I was a man/woman so wasn't looking for it, nor would I see sexism because it wouldn't register with me unless blindingly obvious.

One difference I did notice as a perceived woman was there was an expectation that I would be conciliatory, nice, not combative or robust in a discussion. If I came back with anything along the lines of "eh no, GTFO, you're wrong and here's the why's of it" was met with actual shock at times by those who had me pegged as a woman. Actually got a few PM's over that sorta thing, complaining that I was somehow hurtful for not seeing their (usually daft) position/worldview. Oh and interestingly for me anyway was this came from both women and men. Basically my opinion as a "woman" was valid, so long as I wasn't too direct or forceful about it.

I also got a couple of "ah sure you're a woman, what would you know about [male subject]" and a couple of "ah sure you're a woman like me so you'd understand". Both I found amusing. Shows how much is down to perception.

smash

smash wrote: »

I'm trying to decide what my new boards name would be... Hmmmm

Surely after smash - comes bang - and then wallop?

Wibbs wrote: »

Bloody hell. :eek: I hope he reported it if it was via PM. Still he's probably right, there are an awful lot of hard chaws on the interwebs.

Not sure to be honest - the way he talks of it he comes across as thinking it was just part and parcel of making the noises he does on the kind of forums he does. Hitchens and Harris both said in interview that you quickly get a nose for which threats to take seriously - and to seek legal and security advice - and which ones are just hot air. You would have to ask him yourself - though I will not name him on open forum

Frigga_92

Terry wrote: »

I'm calling shenanigans. I'd call them all pussies for not standing by what they have posted in the past, but that would most likely get me banned.

Why would I call them pussies? Because I know damn well that most of them have created new accounts, and are now pretending to be different people.

Seriously though; why close your account?
Were the people here really that nasty?
Did you post something really fúcking stupid? If so, why not just ask a mod to delete the post in question? They're not all dicks. Most of them are quite nice.

Maybe I'm just asking a stupid question, or maybe there are no stupid questions, and I'm just a stupid person. I just don't see the point in closing an account.

This thread seems to come up every couple of months for some reason

I will post what I posted the last time.

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

I'm a re-reg. I closed my previous account because of some psychotic person stalking me and doing crazy stuff with my posts out in the real world. I don't ever use the forums that I previously used all the time because I can't go through all the crazy stuff again.

I would say that this account is slightly different to my last one and I've tried not to give away too much information about myself. I've also posted a few white lies about myself to cover tracks a bit too.

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

My previous account also had meaning to me. My join date was way back in 2006, never had an infraction, never even received an unwanted PM from a mod, lots of posts and had built up a few boards friends, some of whom I am still friends with.
However, I had posted extremely private information under the cloak of anonymity in a thread in the ladies lounge designed to allow people open up and let things out. When posting I found it very therapeutic just to say things I had never told anybody, even if they never went anywhere. Seeing people thank my posts made me feel supported and as if I had found my voice a little bit. It might sound mad to some people but seeing those thanks under posts of that nature can mean an awful lot in the mind of someone going through some bad stuff.
Unfortunately when the crazy people figured out who I was and began printing my posts and showing them to people they also printed these extremely private pieces of information.
It was a nightmare. It kind of still is.

I had someone find out who I was, print my posts, edit my posts before printing them and hand them out to people in my locality. I'm talking about friends of mine being visited in their place of business and being handed this stuff. There was nothing bad about anyone in the posts, no bitching behind anyone's back, nothing nasty, it was just stuff to me that I didn't want people to know.

I suppose I am now pretending to be a different person. I don't post in the forums I used to post in, I tell lies here and there to make my posts hard to follow and put together. Could you blame me?

I personally don't see the problem with closing your account and opening a new one. Why it bothers anyone is baffling.

Frank Lee Midere

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

This thread seems to come up every couple of months for some reason

I will post what I posted the last time.





I had someone find out who I was, print my posts, edit my posts before printing them and hand them out to people in my locality. I'm talking about friends of mine being visited in their place of business and being handed this stuff. There was nothing bad about anyone in the posts, no bitching behind anyone's back, nothing nasty, it was just stuff to me that I didn't want people to know.

I suppose I am now pretending to be a different person. I don't post in the forums I used to post in, I tell lies here and there to make my posts hard to follow and put together. Could you blame me?

I personally don't see the problem with closing your account and opening a new one. Why it bothers anyone is baffling.

Jesus that's utter nuts. What a freak he was.

coffee_cake

strobe wrote: »

I did before consider closing my account and starting another with a clearly feminine username before after a feedback thread suggesting people's interaction would be widely different, maintaining the same style of posting and continuing expressing my own opinions (just changing the language enough, and reversing gender references, etc as to not make it obvious I was the same person or a guy {none of this 'sexy girl avatar' and "teeheehee I'm a girl and I have sex!" stuff, I'm all set for pictures of knobs and socially awkward attempts at flirting} ) as an experiment to see if people would actually respond differently and stuff. But that sounded like an awful lot of effort and I got distracted by a shiny thing.

I'm sure it's been done before though. Anyone wanna report back on their experience of doing this or the opposite, going from a clearly female account to a male or gender neutral one?

I'm usually thought to be male with this username. I think we all know I'm not, now. Haven't noticed a difference
Maybe the people who aren't on regularly enough to know haven't noticed though

BarryD

Not quite on topic but related - how many people here have different usernames running from differing IP addresses etc? I'd dare say there's quite a few judging by other sites I've seen. Can be a good laugh when they're caught out by posting under one name from work say and then coming back in later into the thread under a different persona from home etc, whilst clearly being showing they're the same individual.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Came very close to it over the past few months.

Going by my user name, I'm a big fan of a certain person's music and I have been for the past 20 years. Never heard of him before he was on Kenny Live way back in 1994, I was 11 years old.

By 1997, the last time he was here in concert, I was 14 years old. Being 14 years old, no way in hell my mother would have allowed me and my sister to go to Dublin. She barely allowed us down the road to a friends house, she had that much control over us.

So 17 years later, to hear he was making a comeback, and Dublin was the first stop. There's no words.

There were threads all over the place but I felt I was genuinely attacked. I made a joke last January in the after hours thread saying that they should add 5 more concerts for the fun of it.... A joke in after hours!

Some users took great delight when all concerts were cancelled, dragged my post from after hours into the gigs and events.

I also have another user stalking me after all this.

Like we didn't grieve enough for the cancelled concerts.

Some people are nasty.

Aidric

Wibbs wrote: »

Some do it because they're the hysterical type who gets the hump over something and storms out. I can't win the argument/get my own way so run away. Wah. Wah. The doorslammers in real life basically. Of all the categories for me the last would be the ones best avoided in real life. Dramallamas.

Classic case of that in recent months from one of the sites post hungry individuals. All I could do was cringe when I saw him back posting again under another name within a week.

You have to hope they realise any scrap of credibility they might have had on the site was handed in with the strop.

fryup

where's mike65 ???

Mr. CooL ICE

I've considered closing my account before. Although I haven't divulged a whole lot of information, one time I requested a drugs forum to be created. This could have consequences if a prospective employer knew my username.

I requested the forum because it was around the time shortly after Katy French's death. Drugs threads were a dime a dozen and were pretty much the same as any drugs-related threads that pop up nowadays, albeit much more frequent. I wanted a forum where this stuff could be shipped over to as AH was starting to get a tad annoying. After reading some of the comments supporting it, I realised it was a bad idea and was relieved when it was declined. However, it was my username that requested the forum, so that can never look good.

But screw that. My account was created before most of your balls have dropped.

Fat Christy

Wibbs wrote: »

Your erudition knows no bounds. Oh wait. It does. Ah well.

Closed accounts? Some do it for good reasons. Times change and so has the nature of Boards.ie. Much of it good, much of it not so good, most of it the same. So people feel that it's become too big and they don't want to be "found out" or even stalked on the place. Others do it because they can. They see their nick as a throwaway thing. They don't own their words, they barely own themselves. Others do it because they've changed and feel their old nick doesn't represent them anymore and fair enough. Some do it to avoid a siteban or other shenanigans. Some do it because they're the hysterical type who gets the hump over something and storms out. I can't win the argument/get my own way so run away. Wah. Wah. The doorslammers in real life basically. Of all the categories for me the last would be the ones best avoided in real life. Dramallamas.

PS good to see you back Terry, if even for a short stay.

That's one of the reasons I closed my previous account, that and the fact that I did not intend on re-regging as I felt I was spending too much time on here. Then I set this account up a day later. I had less posts on my old account and I had that one for 2 and half years....scarleh for me.

Barely There

Some people take their online persona very seriously.
Me, I don't care a jot about it.
I could close my account and open a new one tomorrow without the slightest pang of regret.
Always amuses me when people trawl back through other people's posts looking for inconsistencies and such like. I always think they must be pretty sad individuals to place so much importance on what is for me anyway, a pretty minor part of my life.

smash

Barely There wrote: »

I could close my account and open a new one tomorrow without the slightest pang of regret.

Do it... call yourself "Almost There"

Tilly

I closed mine for personal reasons. The people that meant something to me on here know who I am now.

Jaxxy

I've learned quite a bit from this thread. :pac:

I'd had no idea that Eve=Legs=Bearded Lady. Considering I agreed with the vast majority of Eve's posts, I think this is a pleasant discovery. Although the discovery that I'm no where near as observant as I'd thought isn't so pleasant!

I've thought about re-regging, to be honest, for a few different reasons. I disappeared from Boards for about a year following an issue I had with a mod and how a certain infraction was dealt with. I was discussed and defamed in a feedback thread (of which I had no knowledge at the time) and the whole experience left me soured toward Boards. I will say though that quite a few AH regulars stood up for me and I never got the chance to thank them. So, thank you, good sirs and ladies.

Also, having gone from JaxxYChicK to just Jaxxy, I can attest to experiencing a shift in attitude and approach. Not universally mind, but most people assume I'm a dude now.

ronjo

fryup wrote: »

where's mike65 ???

he is still around under a different name

Fat Christy

Jaxxy wrote: »

but most people assume I'm a dude now.

I hear ya, bástards! :mad:

smash

Jaxxy wrote: »

Not universally mind, but most people assume I'm a dude now.

If a dude had that signature it'd turn my stomach! Strangly, knowing you're a girl means it doesn't

the evasion_kid

Closed mine after a few of my posts under my old account went "poof" overnight in a certain forum nothing derogatory or inflaming about them,noticed it with other posters posts vanishing too I'd have a fair idea of the mod behind it too

Jaxxy

smash wrote: »

If a dude had that signature it'd turn my stomach! Strangly, knowing you're a girl means it doesn't

I knew there was a good reason for keeping that sig. :P

That and every time my brother sees one of my posts he makes a point of reminding me how disgusting it is.

Frank Lee Midere

Jaxxy wrote: »

I've learned quite a bit from this thread. :pac:

I'd had no idea that Eve=Legs=Bearded Lady. Considering I agreed with the vast majority of Eve's posts, I think this is a pleasant discovery. Although the discovery that I'm no where near as observant as I'd thought isn't so pleasant!

I've thought about re-regging, to be honest, for a few different reasons. I disappeared from Boards for about a year following an issue I had with a mod and how a certain infraction was dealt with. I was discussed and defamed in a feedback thread (of which I had no knowledge at the time) and the whole experience left me soured toward Boards. I will say though that quite a few AH regulars stood up for me and I never got the chance to thank them. So, thank you, good sirs and ladies.

Also, having gone from JaxxYChicK to just Jaxxy, I can attest to experiencing a shift in attitude and approach. Not universally mind, but most people assume I'm a dude now.

oh you're a girl. Sent PM

smash

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

oh you're a girl. Sent PM

And she likes fast cars too... Winner!

Dravokivich

Jaxxy wrote: »

I knew there was a good reason for keeping that sig. :P

That and every time my brother sees one of my posts he makes a point of reminding me how disgusting it is.

Why, has he done it? :pac:

Jaxxy

I don't like where any of this is going.

*closes account*