Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Neutrality/Talk about username

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The following was copied from User talk:Neutrality on 14 Aug '04:

Hi Neutrality,

I'm writing to say that I consider your user name problematic (to say the least).

Your user name conveys that you are identified with neutrality (as a concept). However, I have seen that you have repeatedly been involved in edit wars.

I have never been in an edit war with you myself and I hope I never will be. But I feel it to be improper to hang on to a user name that conveys to (especially inexperienced) readers that you are/were some kind of authority as regards neutrality and the NPOV. This is very, very misleading and confusing to new users. It will also fire up your opponents in edit wars much more (than without the use of this user name). Please understand that I am not asking you to change your user name because of anything you wrote: In principle, I feel that no one should have such a misleading user name. I might hypothetically be more forgiving with, say, a long term user consistently demonstrating freedom from any bias whatsoever -- but that's in theory and may not even be possible.

The bottom line is this:

A Wikipedia user name of "Neutrality" is pretty much on the same level as an ordinary user having a user name of "Administrator." It's misleading and should be changed.

John Kenney is an administrator who has changed his user name in the past-- maybe he is the right person to ask how to proceed? (I am not asking anyone else on this issue yet -- I will wait a while and give you the chance to respond first.)

No hard feelings, kind regards,

Ropers 22:06, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I use my username as a reminder to me that neutrality is the most important thing in this project, not as a statement that I am always neutral. I doubt anyone has been confused by it, or will ever be. And I disagree with your analogy about my username being as misleading as a user having "Administrator" as their name. While I appreciate your concerns, I must decline your offer — for now, at least. Thanks! Neutrality 22:11, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

By the way, I see you are new here! Welcome to the wiki! :) Neutrality 22:19, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

First of all, thanks for your answer and for welcoming me. :) Regarding your username however, I still have a very uneasy feeling about it: It just doesn't seem right to me. And I for one was confused by your user name when I first encountered it. I did figure things out rather quickly, but it did confuse me first. Also, see for instance item no. 3 on this page. I think I probably will want to seek some advice on this from some senior Wikipedians, administrators or mailing lists in the long run. If everybody here thinks that it's all-rightey for you to have a user name like that, well, I'll certainly accept a democratic decision. But I do think it's a question that should be raised — and I would like to stress that I in no way want to threaten you by writing this, I just think it's fair to discuss this with you in advance. Also consider this: Assuming you were some ordinary user and you got into an animated discussion/argument with somebody, where you'd disagree about what's the NPOV, say, in a political article: wouldn't it drive you nuts if the other guy (who's point of view you totally disagree with and personally consider biased) had a user name of "Neutrality"? Such an imbalance isn't just bad for the side not carrying such a user name. — It's bad for you as well as you carry that name, because it will just be like a red cape to a bull — it will attract unnecessarily strong opposition and raise tempers on both sides. Finally, I found it's apparently not totally uncommon or terribly difficult to change a user name — see this page. I hope I haven't offended. Thanks and regards, Ropers 18:47, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)