[Chamaco]

Hi all,

I am posting below the translation of the following post in the italian subsection of the BB Forum.

http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?sho...=0&#entry193441

"l'altro giorno un amico si e' visto arrivare un messaggio personale da un utente con il suo stesso nick ! era chiaramente uno scherzo voluto xche' il testo era :come si sta davanti allo specchio ? come e' possibile questo? mio amico fatto controllo se c'era qualche carattere leggermente diverso (nick di 10 caratteri) , no esattamente eguale ! altra domanda. dato che ho usato nick ormai inutilizzati come faccio a eliminarli da BBO? non basta eliminarli dalle mie cartelle xche' l'ho fatto ma riutilizzandoli non mi chiede di iscrivermi ma accetta semplicemente l'accesso . grazie "

"The other day a friend of mine received a personal message from a user with HIS NICKNAME ! This was clearly a joke because the text was: How does one feel in front of a mirror ?
How is this possible ? My friend double-checked whether there was some slight differences in the nickname (e.g. some "strange" character) in the 10-digit nick, but no, it was absolutely identical !!
Considering that I have used in the past several nicknames that are now unused for a long time, I'd like to eliminate them from BBO, how could I do that ?
It is not sufficient to delete them from the folders on my PC because I tried it but then, if I try to login with those names (supposed to be purged), the BBO server still recognizes these accounts and does accept the login.
Thanks"

[helene_t]

I don't understand. I suppose your friend was logged in using another nick. Then somebody must have guessed his password, or it could be a roomate who took over a PC where your friend's alternative nick and password were stored. More likely, there's a subtle difference such as the other person's nick containing an identical-looking character or a non-printable character (in some fonts, one and lower-case L are indistinguishable).

[gwnn]

I heard of a few funny guys who made duplicate nicknames via I<->l permutations.

for example I could make a nickname HEIENE_T and then log in with small letters.

I heard they were punished.

[inquiry]

I was involved in this incident, as the player who was told "How does one feel in front of a mirror" called me in my role as a yellow and asked me repeatedly how this could happen thats someone could log on with "his username" and kibitz at ihis table and talk to him.

The situation is just as gwnn described. I went to the table, found the culprit and informed the table of how this occurred. I also warned the culprit to log off and never use that nickname again. I Identified his "real nickname" and told him that if he did mimic other users in this matter in the future, all his nicknames would be banned from the BBO.

He argued with me about it, saying it was just "meant in fun" and for me to lighten ligthen up. But past examples of this behavior have not been in good fun. Someone mimicing another players name have sent abusive language and behaved badly, which if they use the nickname only a few times, generates a bad reputation for the player with the real name. I informed the person that this position on identity theft WAS NOT NEGOTIABLE. I then booted the player. He came back shortly later as his real identity, and we continued the conversation, in the final analysis I think he got the message. So far, he has not logged on again with the "fake ID", and if he does, he will be dealt with. One warning on this kind of behavior is enough. And if he had actually acted in a bad way while being logged on with this hijackked user name, he would not have even gotten a warning, at least from me. I would have banned all his id's immediately and request review by abuse for permanant ban.

[sceptic]

I to have been victim of this crime, people have been logging on as sceptic and making bad bids, which of course I never do, hope this gets resolved quickly

[scoob]

[Foxx]

scoob, on May 21 2007, 07:46 PM, said:

Whoa. That's pretty good.

[Tola18]

sceptic, on May 21 2007, 02:37 PM, said:

I to have been victim of this crime, people have been logging on as sceptic and making bad bids, which of course I never do, hope this gets resolved quickly

Ah, better an unknown usurper or forger than the usual Evil Twin.

Thus no shadow on your family!

[kenrexford]

I just found out that someone has been logging on to the BBO forums and posting really weird bidding theories, apparently in an effort to sully my reputation! The lunatic must be stopped!!!

[helene_t]

gwnn, on May 21 2007, 11:49 AM, said:

[......] I could make a nickname HEIENE_T [.....]
I heard they were punished.

By having their nicks pronounced like the names of ill-reputed African carnivores, I presume?