Impersonating users deleted/perm-banned, including most notably "Leuders"

Oh I see now. 

To your question- Absolutely not. That is probably where I would have to decide how much I wanted to participate.

I think many well intended people would still like, and deserve to have some level of anonymity. An email is the limit I think is reasonable for access to an open discussion site such as this. We are not the CSA or MI5. 

Or put another way-             "After all, we are not communists here" 

(from The Godfather for those who don't know).

Sorry for the confusion.

Sorry for the confusion.

No. My bad.

I wasn't talking about this forum. I was talking about Skeptiko. (SF=Skeptiko Forum)

Do you think an admin should ask to see your Facebook in order to join a free Internet forum?

Is that all they asked you for? I had to give my credit card details and pin code.

Do you think an admin should ask to see your Facebook in order to join a free Internet forum?

I checked that point with Alex, he explained that he already had his suspicions about the guy, so he upped the conditions. He doesn't do that routinely.

David

Personally, if I had to justify my inclusion in writing before being allowed in, I wouldn't be here now. 

Interesting to learn that it was your idea though. I had believed that Alex was the control freak and you were just implementing his policy.

I hope you realise that that I made my suggestion not long after taking over moderation. You and many others here used the forum over all that time, with minimal 'noise'. Numerous others joined during that time - indeed they still are joining Skeptiko!

I don't know why you would have found communication with Alex difficult. I expect you would have only needed to say that you had a genuine interest in this subject, and wanted to share your thoughts with others here.......

I know that logically any joker could have done the same thing, but for whatever reason the jokers seem to be put off by this requirement.

I think you were around in the days when trouble makers and spammers were a real nuisance. All I am trying to point out is that as this forum becomes better known, you will face the same problem unless you get a mechanism in place.

David

I know that logically any joker could have done the same thing, but for whatever reason the jokers seem to be put off by this requirement.

I'm a pretty big joker and I wasn't put off by it. I sometimes created 2-3 IDs at a time with brand new gmail and yahoo addresses. Wrote Alex a quick note and had my new IDs within a couple of hours depending on when he checked e-mail.

But I don't think it is needed for this forum. It is in the best interests of a lively discussion with maximum participants that joining be easy and nearly instant. The admins here are doing an admirable job of sussing out the bad eggs.

[Ninshub]

Thanks Chuck. Your check is in the mail.

Numerous others joined during that time - indeed they still are joining Skeptiko!

I bet.

Turns out our newly resident skeptic, Leuders, was merely an impersonator of the real Leuders: https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?tit...id=1869794

As well as perm-banning that account, we have deleted several other accounts created by the same individual who created the Leuders account:

• Eveshi
  
• Victor Zammit
  
• Michael Prescott
  
• Michael E. Tymn
  
• Laird pseudoscience promoter
  
• Andrew B. Chun
  

The previously deleted accounts, Mac, JonDonnis, badpsychics.com (the last of which was never activated, and which we hadn't mentioned deleting until now) were also under the control of this same individual.

So, who is this individual? We think best evidence points to the individual(s) described by Rome Viharo on his page, Oliver Smith’s Dark Entanglement.

I showed Rome the postings to this forum by the Leuders impersonator and his reaction was: yes, that indeed is Oliver Smith, who has been known to impersonate Leuders before - and this was before getting confirmation from the real Leuders.

We have a choice now: do we leave this impersonating account's posts intact on the basis that deleting them would disrupt too many conversations (perhaps after changing its username to indicate that it is an impersonating account and editing each post to the same effect) or do we delete its posts on the basis that we don't want this disturbed individual's posts polluting our otherwise happy forum?

I wish I had as much free time as this guy apparently has...

[Pollux]

Is that all they asked you for? I had to give my credit card details and pin code.

Ooh, but you're lucky, so lucky.....I had to give an arm and a leg!!               *four Yorkshiremen*