I deliberately lied to this guy - was I right in doing so?

[Will-Mun]

I'm gonna have to go against the tide on this one, and say I don't agree with what you did. Not to say anything against you, but it just seemed like you should have let the guy have the name and be done with it.

Closest I'd ever come to one of those names would be Yautja (big cookie for whoever gets that one).

I agree with everyone else. He sounds like he just wanted a cool handle and didn't think about what it would imply.

Basically what I was gonna say. I have a string feeling that this guy is a fan of the Predator movies, the Predators are an alien species of hunters, and often Stalk (stalker) their prey before moving in.

Again, nothing against you... But it just seemed like that wasn't really your place to decide what he could and could not have as a name. Wether or NOT it was implicating any devient behavior...

If you know the internet, you know people put stupid things as their log on/screen names. Predator and Stalker really aren't the worse I've seen, and I doubt they would rise any bells in a casual chat room or forum...

Even still, this is an E-Mail, which comes after you already know the man's online handle from wherever you meet him be it Chat or Forum.

Sorry again, just seems a bit presumptious to be uncomfortable with a word...

[cinema guy]

You could have pointed out to him that they aren't neccesarily good names to use. He might have said something like, "Well I just want to talk to my buddies about Arnie movies." Or maybe he'd have seen the light.

You probably helped him out, but he won't realise it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

But RK, you're just assuming that someone who wants the username "predator" is an idiot. He could just be someone who thinks its a cool-sounding name and is not familiar with the climate of the internet. There is a difference between stupidity and naivete.

Wandering into a chatroom with the username "predator" and not realizing that it may be construed as offensive/dangerous is the cyberspace equivalent of wandering back to your table at a restaurant trailing toilet paper from your shoe.
(If not worse.)

Well, I dunno. It would seem to me that the only reason he'd choose that name would be because he DID in fact know what it meant. I mean, come on, the guy speaks English. He knows what a predator is. He knows its scary and threatening. He's probably choosing it so he will appear to be a bad ass. If he's choosing a name that makes him appear threatening, then he cannot beg ignorance that other chatroom participants might find that name...well...threatening.

I mean, you're right, he may be unaware that the internet is full of scary people. But I assume that if he's adult, he's aware that the world itself is full of them. There is a reason he's choosing that name. Probably a couple possible reasons, and none that I can think of give me warm fuzzies.

Or, he could just be 12 years old.

[protege]

He's probably some 40-year-old loser living in his mother's basement. He chose that name simply because it's his total opposite--trying to pretend he's something he's not.

[technical.angel]

I'm leaning with the few that's saying you should have not lied to him. If the ISP DOES have rules for usernames, or telling him why isn't not a wise choice is one thing, up and lying is another.

If your ISP doesn't have a policy for usernames, you might want to suggest to your boss that they adapt one.

[kibbles]

Why is things assumed about a person (he is a loser, still lives with is parents, a little kid) just because of a username he wants to use. Like it has been said, it may just be the name of a movie or character in a movie, it may not reflect anything about his personality at all.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It might. However, people are constantly making judgements, forming opinions, etc, based on what they see and experience. Making an assumption that the guy wants to appear as a badass is a fair assumtion. It might not be accurate, of course. But it's fair to make the assumption.

Say I'm on a dating website. I choose the name "Fat Bastard." Do you want to meet me for supper? That name suggests an evil, stupid, sweaty, physically unattractive toad. Of course you don't think I'm truly the character from the movie. But you are going to form an opinion of who I might be in your mind just the same. And it would be fair for you to do so. I've presented myself in such a way as to plant the seed of how you preceive me.

Let's ramp it up a little here. What if I wanted to call myself Ted Bundy on that same dating service? What if my name really is Ted Bundy? Yeah, it sucks that nobody will want to meet me. However, that's reality. So my choice is either take a less threatening name or suck it up when women won't touch me with a ten foot pole.

[greensinestro]

I guess what I was trying to do was keep this guy from having other people think he's what the username might suggest. I in no way felt he was a child predator or sexual deviant who preys on innocent people. I myself do not jump the gun being I'm certain I would not want someone immediately thinking this of me upon first impressions.

In my opinion, I felt I was protecting this guy from having bad repercussions down the road.

[technical.angel]

My problem with it is that that is not your job. I have a yahoo account called transylvanian_concubine2000. If I tried to set that up, would you keep me from doing that because people might think I'm a concubine?

If you have a policy saying that innapropriate names are not allowed, then fine. But making it up on your own is not cool.

[greensinestro]

My problem with it is that that is not your job. I have a yahoo account called transylvanian_concubine2000. If I tried to set that up, would you keep me from doing that because people might think I'm a concubine?

If you have a policy saying that innapropriate names are not allowed, then fine. But making it up on your own is not cool.

The definition of a concubine is not even remotely close to that of a predator, nor would it be considered a term for breaking the law. And, if you read my previous post to this, I stated my supervisor backed me up on it. It was not a matter of being cool; it was a matter of making a judgment call. I in no way copied down this guy's account information, complete with telephone number and address, then called Child Services and the police department to get this guy registered as a sex offender.

And no, I would not keep anyone from using a name like concubine being whatever you do in a situation like that is your business and nobody else's. Lots of men and women live together without a marital status.

[NightAngel]

I don't know. At my job there are policies about this and that and occasionally I get one from left field. Sometimes mind bogglingly beyond left field out in no man's land where the policies fell off into hand scrawled signs like, "Cannibalistic Tribe Ahead- enter at your own risk..."

I have to make judgement calls on each case individually. Usually it turns out fine- on occasion it doesn't. But hey- if I'm using my best judgement/making snap descisions and trying to benefit the company and the customer- it can't always be perfect.

In the end this guy is no wiser and maybe has been saved from embarassment. It's no different than when I tried to sign up for a 2nd Yahoo account and had to go through about 20 different names before I found one that wasn't being used already. No, I didn't get my first choice- but oh well.
And really... as long as he gets his email/whatever services how much is he really going to care in the end?