Attn Members!!!!

**Brian Baldwin** · September 29th, 2006, 02:30

Trans-Asian Axis.Com requires that members use their actual FULL names when registering. That means First and Last names. These will soon be audited by the site owner and his staff. Please update your Profile if you have left this area lacking.

If you have any questions regarding this then feel free to ask here.

**American Patriot** · September 29th, 2006, 13:31

Anyone not using their real name.... will they be reduced to nuclear ashes?

What will happen if you do not correct your profile/email address?

Stay tuned, these questions will be answered shortly... (I think)

**New Guy** · September 29th, 2006, 15:00

how do you check, i popped in to control panel but i don't see anything for that. pretty sure i used my name though

**Sean Osborne** · September 29th, 2006, 17:03

Originally Posted by New Guy

how do you check, i popped in to control panel but i don't see anything for that. pretty sure i used my name though

Roger, Greg, you're good to go.

**Ryan Ruck** · September 29th, 2006, 17:38

Okay, after checking, it appears that due to the private and restricted nature of the "Real Name" field even regular users cannot see their own "Real Name" field and fix it.

As such, site staff will be going through the member list and checking who has properly filled out the "Real Name" field and who has not.

Once the audit is complete, a list of members who need to provide thier real name will be posted to this thread and those members will also be contacted privately.

If your name is on the list, you need only get in touch with a staff member (preferably an Admin) and provide your name.

The reasoning for us requiring real names is that it:

Cuts down on the numbers of trolls. We've found that members who chose to identify themselves (even just privately to site staff) are far less likely to hide behind their screen name and engage in troll-like behavior.
Reduces the number of spam bots that register. Recently this site's (and others running similar software) image verification step was bypassed (it has since been upgraded). This image verification is used to prevent spam bots from registering accounts on this board and posting spam advertisements. When the previous software version's image verification was bypassed, one way that we verified that a new account was a spam bot was an improperly filled out "Real Name" field. The reason being that the "Real Name" field we require is a custom field different from what many other boards have. As such, spam bots are inherently unable to fill this field out properly thus giving themselves away as a spam bot. Should our latest image verification version again be bypassed, which is possible given the tenacious nature of spam advertisers, the "Real Name" field can be an asset in weeding out spam bots.
Makes for a more professional environment. Users providing their real names makes for a more professional environment in that it allows us to conduct official site business, should the need arise, with users by refering to them by their real name rather than just a nickname (screen name).

As for those that do not comply with our request, you will likely face a temporary ban restricting you from the many benefits of this board until you remedy the problem.

Again, this real name field is private and viewable only to site staff! As such, you need not worry about your privacy being invaded by anyone you chose not to reveal it to.

Thank you for your help and cooperation!

**American Patriot** · September 29th, 2006, 19:43

Ryan,

Probably one of us or two of us ought to be a point of contact for this name issue. A couple of volunteers need to be listed, and folks ought to contact them directly in PM on the site to set information, rather than email.

I say this for a couple reasons.

I used to have people contact me all the time on Anomalies with a "new email address, and I need to change my data but can't get into my account".

Almost every case was fradulent, with the exception of a few. Those people I was able in some way to identify them by other means and have them prove they were who they said they were.

This is not easy if someone is writing you from an unknown or, say a dead email address. In other words, they signed up with say, Hotmail address, have since lost that address or let it expire, started a new one with a similar name and now they can't remember their old password (hard to send it to them because they have NEW address, right? AND sending it to the NEW address might be bogus because you don't know they are really who they said they were).

So...

1) Use PMs here.

2) Pick a couple of Admins to act as the POC for this name issue

3) this ought to elimanate the need to verify someone who is already on the system

that help?

Rick

**samizdat** · October 2nd, 2006, 06:53

I tried to change the profile, but couldn't so I put my name in the signature, and updated the email to one I check once a month.

**New Guy** · October 2nd, 2006, 16:54

yup that's me, thx for checking!

**samizdat** · October 3rd, 2006, 04:49

I sent a pm with my real name to Forum General and updated the profile to an email I check from time to time. Great forum. Thanks.

**Sean Osborne** · October 3rd, 2006, 19:37

All Members - If your name is on this very short list please PM myself, or Ryan Ruck if you prefer, a short note listing your screen name and your full real name in order for us to update profiles per TAA forum rules.

alerick

auxman64

Brutus

CriticMsg

michael2

Monterrey-jack

Rowgator

Segestan

tmulk

topseal

Thank you for your cooperation.

**Ryan Ruck** · October 6th, 2006, 18:29

It has been about 3 days since Sean publicly posted the list of users that need to remedy their "Real Name" field in their user profile.

Individuals on that list will have 4 more days (until 10/04/2006) to rectify the situaiton or face a ban being put on your membership until the problem is fixed.