[Saddam Hussein]

Can all this changing-usernames-and-avatars-to-superficially-resemble-other-users please not be a thing here?  It's extremely annoying, and, I'd argue, inherently disruptive to any thread that any of the users involved post in.

[Ghost of V]

Can you really not tell that you didn't post this?

[Saddam Hussein]

I'm glad you asked that, because it's totally relevant to the concern I raised and not at all a blatant strawman:

It's extremely annoying, and, I'd argue, inherently disruptive to any thread that any of the users involved post in.

Oh wait.

[Pete Svarrior]

While we don't currently have a rule explicitly forbidding this, I feel it's sensible for me to step in as per section 6 of the manifesto. We do have a rule against alts impersonating other users, and the omission of primary accounts impersonating other users appears to merely be an oversight.

In the first instance, I will forcibly rename any impersonators I see [edit: and remove their avatars, if appropriate]. I would like to ask that people refrain from doing it. If we can't resolve this by a simple request, I'll be asking to start a policy discussion with other admins/mods to come up with a reasonable way of dealing with it.

[Ghost of V]

It was fun while it lasted, but I respect pp's decision as grand master of this forum.

[Rama Set]

Shotgun on PP2s avatar after he is sold in to slavery in Bahrain or wherever.

[Particle Person]

I'm glad somebody stepped up and said something about this. CN was dangerously close to being disrupted.

[Saddam Hussein]

Any thread that either of you posted in was being disrupted.

[Ghost of V]

Any thread that either of you posted in was being disrupted.

I'm not really buying it, Saddam. I didn't find PP2's use of my username disruptive, and I saw through it the moment I saw it. It wasn't very difficult. Please believe me when I say I'm not trying to start anything with you. You should know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But you're sort of blowing this out of proportion. It won't happen again, but gd Saddam. Really.

[Hoppy]

Saddam wouldn't have said anything if you had coppied his avvy, jelly.

[Thork]

Saddam needs to update his avatar. Its not Christmas any more.

[Pete Svarrior]

I'm not really buying it, Saddam. I didn't find PP2's use of my username disruptive, and I saw through it the moment I saw it.

To be honest, that's what I thought at first, too. It's important to keep in mind that different people find different things obvious. It's not even a matter of stupidity or carelessness - different people simply pay attention to different details. Even if Saddam personally didn't find it confusing and is just blowing it out of proportion, the hypothetical possibility that some reader may come by and start reading upper fora threads while you're fooling around is, in my view, enough of an issue to warrant a reaction.

That said, I'm not trying to put a stop to parody accounts - if you want to start an account called "Lol Saddumb Obama" with Saddam's avatar upside-down as your own, feel free to. I just think that they need to be signposted well enough so that even an unobservant reader will not be able to reasonably confuse the parody account with its real counterpart.

[rooster]

Apparently Rushy had a tough time of it as well.

[Ghost of V]

Saddam wouldn't have said anything if you had coppied his avvy, jelly.

That's exactly what happened. [emoji14]