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Suggestion: stop imposter accounts RRS feed

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    Hello guys! A few days ago, when on the forums, I wanted to see if Ed Price had answered a question of mine. So, since I was on my profile page, I just changed the "gungan37" in the address bar to "Ed%20 Price" to check his activity feed. Instead, it was a different Ed Price. Here were all the similar accounts I found (each with zero activity, zero points, and zero medals):

    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/profile/ed%20price/?ws=usercard-inline

    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/profile/EdPrice/?ws=usercard-inline

    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/profile/Edward%20Price/?ws=usercard-inline

    I know these accounts haven't been causing problems, but I am sure that they could quickly get out of hand. So, I am proposing a feature: when accounts are created, they are checked against existing account names and if they are too close, require a change. This might be difficult to implement and could probably bog down the servers, so maybe it would be simple to only do it for those in higher positions: moderators, MSFT employees, MCCs, etc.

    Any thoughts on this?

    Please mark any answers and "vote as helpful" any posts that help you!

    • Changed type gungan37 Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:57 PM Specified wrong type
    Tuesday, October 23, 2012 9:56 PM
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    So what you're saying is that if there are two Ed Prices’, one of them can have an account that represents their name and the other would need to create an account that doesn't represent their name. I don't think that's a very good idea. Besides, forum accounts are Windows Live accounts therefore you would either need to make every Windows Live account meet these requirements or force people to have different accounts for the forums and Windows Live.

    BTW, why didn’t you just go to your question to see whether it had been answered? 

    When you see answers and helpful posts, please click Vote As Helpful, Propose As Answer, and/or Mark As Answer

    Jeff Wharton
    MSysDev (C.Sturt), MDbDsgnMgt (C.Sturt), MCT, MCPD, MCSD, MCITP, MCDBA
    Blog: Mr. Wharty's Ramblings
    Twitter: @Mr_Wharty
    MC ID: Microsoft Transcript

    Wednesday, October 24, 2012 2:45 AM
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    I agree, Jeff. But given the strange coincidence of three "Ed Price"-like accounts with zero activity, has anyone considered the possibility that these are Aliases Ed has created so he can, if he feels the need, be more unpleasant in the forums than he usually is and then blame it on people posing as him!!

    I'm just kidding, of course. So don't forget to click on the "Report as Humour" link below.

    Al Dunbar -- remember to 'mark or propose as answer' or 'vote as helpful' as appropriate.

    Wednesday, October 24, 2012 3:40 AM
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    So what you're saying is that if there are two Ed Prices’, one of them can have an account that represents their name and the other would need to create an account that doesn't represent their name. I don't think that's a very good idea. Besides, forum accounts are Windows Live accounts therefore you would either need to make every Windows Live account meet these requirements or force people to have different accounts for the forums and Windows Live.

    BTW, why didn’t you just go to your question to see whether it had been answered? 

    When you see answers and helpful posts, please click Vote As Helpful, Propose As Answer, and/or Mark As Answer

    Jeff Wharton
    MSysDev (C.Sturt), MDbDsgnMgt (C.Sturt), MCT, MCPD, MCSD, MCITP, MCDBA
    Blog: Mr. Wharty's Ramblings
    Twitter: @Mr_Wharty
    MC ID: Microsoft Transcript

    Thanks for your reply, sir. You pointed out some big holes in my plan. I guess that something like this would look good on paper but just turn out to be a problem if implemented. And to answer your question, I don't know: I just felt like doing something different =)

    And Al, your post really made me laugh.

    Please mark any answers and "vote as helpful" any posts that help you!

    Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:34 PM
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