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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by H (talk | contribs) at 20:59, 26 February 2007 (→{{user|Fattabbot}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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If you believe someone has chosen an inappropriate username under Wikipedia's username policy, you may list it here. However, before listing the user here, please consider contacting the user on his or her talk page and bring their attention to the problem and Wikipedia:Changing username.

When contacting the user, {{subst:UsernameConcern|reason for objection}} or {{subst:uncon|reason for objection}} may be helpful, but feel free to paraphrase it or write your own original text if you prefer. Please try to assume good faith and don't bite the newcomers, if possible: allow for the possibility of innocent error or other reasonable explanation.

Names that are offensive, inflammatory, impersonating an existing user, or asserting inappropriate authority will generally be permanently blocked by admins. Please also read Wikipedia:Username before reporting here. Grossly, blatantly, or obviously inappropriate usernames should be reported at WP:AIV instead.

Be aware that usernames are subject to specific criteria which differ from controls and guidelines regarding other forms of self-expression on Wikipedia. Please ensure you are familiar with the username policy before commenting on a username. This is not the place to discuss the behavior of a user unless it is directly related to their username.

Please inform all users reported here with {{subst:UsernameDiscussion}} or {{subst:und}}. If the RFC is closed as "Allow", please follow up by informing the user with {{subst:UsernameAllowed}} or {{subst:una}}. Admins who impose username blocks, please detail the specific reason with {{UsernameBlocked|reason for block}} or {{unb|reason for block}} (not just "Violates WP:U", please).

If requesting review of an existing username block, please: (1) quote the reason given for the block, and (2) notify the blocking admin of the discussion here. (Optionally, use {{subst:UsernameNotice|disputedusername}} or {{subst:un|disputedusername}} if you wish.)

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This page is for bringing attention to usernames which may be in violation of Wikipedia's username policy. Before listing a username here, consider if it should be more appropriately reported elsewhere, or if it needs to be reported at all:

Do NOT post here if:

  • the user in question has made no recent edits.
  • you wish to have the block of a user reviewed. Instead, discuss the block with the blocking administrator (see also Wikipedia:Blocking policy § Unblocking).

Before adding a name here you MUST ensure that the user in question:

  • has been warned about their username (with e.g. {{subst:uw-username}}) and has been allowed time to address the concern on their user talk page.
  • has disagreed with the concern, refused to change their username and/or continued to edit without replying to the warning.
  • is not already blocked.

If, after having followed all the steps above, you still believe the username violates Wikipedia's username policy, you may list it here with an explanation of which part of the username policy you think has been violated. After posting, please alert the user of the discussion (with e.g. {{subst:UsernameDiscussion}}). You may also invite others who have expressed concern about the username to comment on the discussion by use of this template.

Add new requests below, using the syntax {{subst:rfcn1|username|2=reason ~~~~}}.

Tools: Special:ListUsers, Special:BlockList

Tools  : Special:Listusers, Special:Ipblocklist

If a discussion becomes lengthy, it may be moved to a subpage. See existing subpages.

This page has an archive.

New listings below this line, at the bottom, please. Add a new listing.

Eric-ross-comcast (talk · contribs)

Username contains the name of a company. AecisBrievenbus 03:14, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Allow by the spirit of the law. Reason: It's Comcast, not JoeBlowHifiAudio.com. Anyone with common sense would not consider this spam, anymore than User:Boy Scout Steve would be spam promoting Boy Scouts of America. (The spam rule refers to both companies and groups, and the key operative word is spam). I'd assume this guy worked for Comcast, or has Comcast as his ISP. Reswobslc 03:46, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't list this here because of spam issues, I listed it because this username contains a trademarked company name. AecisBrievenbus 23:22, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
True single words can't be copyrighted, but that's not the issue. Trademarks are a whole other beast, but the effect is the same, you can't use it. - Mgm|(talk) 19:03, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rites (band) (talk · contribs)

New user, is he allowed to keep this name? BuickCenturyDriver (Honk, odometer) 10:37, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fattabbot (talk · contribs)

I listed this at AIAV, but Persian Poet Gal apparently thinks it's controversial and in need of five pages of discussion here, so whatever. Per WP:U - "Usernames that imply bot accounts, potentially but not necessarily including "Bot", "Robot", "Script", "Initialize", "Automated", "Daemon", etc., unless the name is intended as a designated bot. Names that imply bot accounts may be blocked, and the user may be requested to contact an administrator to confirm that the account is indeed a bot account." To the best of my knowledge, there is no approved bot of that name, ergo, obvious block. -Hit bull, win steak(Moo!) 19:19, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment - I would have done exactly what poet girl did. I agree that it is not an obvious block on sight name. -- Chrislk02 (Chris Kreider) 19:28, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Disallow because it ends in "bot". I would assume such a name was a bot if I came across it. Sam Blacketer 19:25, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow - unless shows bot like characteristics. There are many names or things not related to abot that can have that 3 letter combination. I dont think fattab bot makes any sense. -- Chrislk02 (Chris Kreider) 19:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Disallow. Ends in Bot. WjBscribe 19:30, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Disallow. If it sounds like a bot, it ought to be a bot. Coemgenus 19:31, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • So, theoretically, if my name was abbot, or any other name that has BOT in it, i should have my username block. I dont think that a reading of this name implies a bot at all. -- Chrislk02 (Chris Kreider) 19:32, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
      • Well it could be "Fatt abbot" or it could be "fattab bot" (i.e. the Bot belonging to user:Fattab). I don't see why the onus of checking whether there is a User:Fattab and whether he has a Bot should be on other editors. Seems safest (and in keeping with policy) just to disallow all accounts that end in Bot (barring examples that are obviously christian names and the surname abbot e.g. SamAbbot, JessicaAbbot etc.). That way its nothing personal against individual editors. WjBscribe 19:37, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
        • So, what you are saying is we should, err on the side of convenience for everybody else? I think that is horribly wrong. Should any name containing the letters bot be banned on sight? If my last name were abbot shoudl I be banned if i created a name based on this? I think it is horrible wrong in this situation to force other people to take action simply based on the fact that it may be inconvenient for you or me. -- Chrislk02 (Chris Kreider) 19:41, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
          • I said that a name involving Bot that unambiguously meant something else e.g. JessicaAbbot would appear fine to me. User policy is about consequences the use of the name can have around Wikipedia, not the intention of the name creator. Any user should surely be willing, once the difficulty is explained to them, to change their username to something that will not confuse other editors. It is no big deal. WjBscribe 19:45, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment Fat Abbot is the name of a fictional show on South Park that is a parody of Fat Albert. The user likely never thought about the "bot" part of the name. No opinion on allow vs. disallow for now, but thought I'd point that out. --Onorem 19:33, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • To the best of my knowledge, we have never allowed a username ending in "bot" that was not, in fact, a bot. Not even when there's a much more obvious alternate explanation than in this case. There are six kajillion usernames that don't end in "bot"; is it really that onerous to ask a user with no contribution history to pick one of them? Even if your explanation is correct, it's not like there's a shortage of other SP-related names out there (for instance, "Fat Abbot show" isn't taken). -Hit bull, win steak(Moo!) 19:43, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment - There are 6 kagillion names that dont have an occurance of any word you want to specify. that does not seem like a valid argument to me. Second of all, I think it was very appropriate to assume good faith here. Has this editor clamed to be a bot? no, have they showed bot like tendencies? no. Making the leap, as stated previousley, is a.) an assumption bad faith (in my opinion), b.) too strict a reading of policy. and c.) a horible miconception that new members must be forced to conform for the conveneience of experienced editors. I personally see many other ways to interpret this name before i interpret it as a bot. I typed Fat abbot into google, I looked up Abbot on wikipedia. There are many other possible explanations to this name other than it being a bot. -- Chrislk02 (Chris Kreider) 19:49, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow Abbot(t) is a common enough name. If people insist on strictly adhering to the rule, rewrite the rule to be more sensible. Abu-Fool Danyal ibn Amir al-Makhiri 19:54, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • What the rule actually says --Usernames that imply bot accounts, potentially but not necessarily including "Bot" -- could "sensibly" be read to mean that the letters B-O-T don't make a name illegal if in context they don't imply a bot account. So it should be okay to have "abbot" or "bottle", etc. "Bottlerocket", for instance, doesn't sound like a robot account. We are supposed to apply common sense here, not respond mechanically ourselves -- otherwise the software could have prevented creating any account with that string in it. -- Ben 20:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow This username is meant to mean Abbot, and it is not in anyway trying to come across as a bot RyanPostlethwaiteSee the mess I've created or let's have banter 19:57, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Disallow I don't read this as ending in the "Bot" sense, but since several others have, it seems best to disallow. I think with different capitalization (FattAbbot), it should be allowed. -SpuriousQ (talk) 19:57, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow: I've never in my life thought of an abbot as a robot, though it's possible that may have been a plot element in some episode of Doctor Who or Lexx. The only cognitive dissonance for me is that of course Abbott was the thin guy, it was Costello who was fat. -- Ben 19:58, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow per comments above; this is not a clear cut case of a bot name. --Ginkgo100talk 19:59, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment I am seeing both sides of the argument here: it would seem that there are very few (if any) usernames ending in right$("bot") (see, there's some really old BASIC for you!), therefore you could say that it shouldn't be allowed for reasons of precedent. There aren't even that many ending in "bott", presumably for the same reason. So, allowing this one would set a precedent, and is this really the place to do that? BUT, I am also seeing it from the viewpoint of the user who has picked, like all of us probably did on day 1, a name out of the air and wonders what all this fuss is about. It may only be a problem when it's a problem, so to speak. Suggest keeping an eye on the account and seeing how prominent they become. Bubba hotep 20:09, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow. Good grief; this is surely one of the signs of spending too much time on Wikipedia — when ordinary English words start being seen as cunningly disguised Wikipedia terms. --Mel Etitis (Talk) 20:10, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow The name, so far as I can see, implies Fat Abbot. Personally, I think people getting bot from that are reading a little too far into it, and I don't think the name will be disruptive at all. ShadowHalo 20:42, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow, it's obviously Fat Abbot. I urge all folks involved to use good judgment when dealing with something like this. There are folks who feel the admin job could be replaced by a series of clever regexps that would perform actions based on text matches. Conversations like this tend to to lend support to those arguments, to the detriment of the project's long term health. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 20:53, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Note: no-one had written anything on the user's talkpage, either about the name or about the RFC here. I have now done so. May I strongly request that such be done at the start of the process from now on, or even have a talk with the user before bringing the matter to RFC? Thanks! -- Ben 20:57, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Allow This is the wristwatch issue. This does not contain the word bot, just the same grouping of letters in a different word. HighInBC (Need help? Ask me) 20:59, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Myspace002 (talk · contribs)

Myspace002 (talk · contribs) leads off with the name of a well known internet company, and WP:U frowns on including company names as a form of advertising. Does the "002" mitigate it? Does the fame and setup of the company make it difficult to support a block? I'm unsure on this one. Sam Blacketer 19:24, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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