I don't know why I think this is so funny... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NgAkWxcPBE)
It was the "happy dance" that got me. 8(
Ok that scared me.
And it was the troll dance that did it for me.
He looked like she'd given him a GREAT idea.
I just read an article --in TIME magazine?-- where this reporter followed a few trolls as they lived their lives and terrified other folks with the amount of info they can get on all of us.
Where DID I read that article? It was a wake up call.
It's interesting to see Blizzard would do that, showing users' RL names in forum postings and such. One of their arguments for doing this is that by removing the "veil of anonymity" it would prevent people from trolling on the forums. The way I see it, it would just enable said trolls to take it to the next level if they really were out to be PITAs, as suggested by the silly YouTube video. I'm sure most trolls are just dumb kids with nothing better to do, but there are the few who are potentially stalkerish and disgruntled (and may not even be the forum trolls, just creepy lurkers).
I haven't checked the Blizzard forums in years (since I last played WoW) so not sure if it's gone into effect but I just read this blog on that subject (http://www.examiner.com/x-57842-Cleveland-Game-Industry-Examiner~y2010m7d9-Blizzard-Real-ID-using-Subscribers-Real-Names-on-Blizzard-Forums-Has-Blizzard-gone-too-far). Although I read the SOE forums, I never post. But still, I'd be mortified if my RL name showed up on a post.
Yeah, I think this is a bad decision for Blizzard to make from a money standpoint, but I can totally see their point. EQ2 official forums did a clearing out several years back where they drove off anyone that was going to be nasty from their forums. The result was EQ2flames forums, which now traffics in EQ2 players with controversial opinions and manners of speaking (and EQ2flames is not evil, it's just not PC.) So I think all that going to happen is that trolling will move to a WoWflames private/public forum where people will continue to troll and be trolled.
I wouldn't post on a forum that forces me to reveal my real name. But then, unless they're getting my name from my credit card, I have a fake identity I always sign up with anyway. How would they tell?
So I am right! Namae IS a cyborg and she DOES work for the Super Secret Service!
(Disclaimer: Super Secret Service is an affiliate of the Secret Service (tm) that consist of elite transhuman members highly trained in everything, even sushi-making and hula-hooping. They protect Super Secret Stuff in addition to the president and other leaders.)
When Oozag/Corsair and I were in high school, we created a human being.
His name was "Alphonse De La Zlotnick", which unfortunately got Americanized to simply Alphonse Zlotnick by the harsh computer reality we live in.
I was an aide in the school office and filled out CAT and SAT test sheets for him. He also got included in "Who's Who Among American High School Students" for his acadmeic excellence and his volunteer work with the Civil Air Patrol.
He's a known fugitive, hunted by the Columbia House gestapo for receiving 12 cassette tapes for $0.01 but failing to buy any at the standard low, low price.
But the real kicker was when when Oozag got a serious letter from the Selective Service System, because Alphonse Zlotnick had failed to register for the draft... O0
On many occasions, I've considered fleshing Alphonse out some more. But then I realized...I don't need to. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives.
Muwahaha! :sneak:
How dare you out Alphonse. I admit though...I was briefly not certain how to handle the Selective Service letter demanding he sign up...
I should however clarify. Alphonse De La Zlotnik...so named because it was such an absurd combination of regional variety it simply couldn't exist...was never intended to be more than a lark on filling out those stupid "who wants to be in the who's who of high school all American"? forms. There was never any goal of creating him as a false identity...until some doofus friend of mine who worked in the school office on a lark to skip one class period decided to "help out a friend"...hehe.
If I ever bother to actually join Facebook...it's gotta be as Alphonse Zlotnik.
Word in the espionage world is that Alphonse was actually seen for teh first time in years just within the last 24 hours. He was reportedly part of a spy exchange in Vienna Austria between the Russians and US state department officials.
Ahh, I see.. a friend of Peter & Randall Stevens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Hayworth_and_Shawshank_Redemption). :coolsmiley:
Alphonse De La Zlotnik: "Hello Ladies. Look at your man, now back at me, now back at your man, now back at me. Does your man look like me? No. But if he stopped using lady-scented bodywashes, and switched to Old Spice he could smell like me. I'm on a horse."
Actually, those "The most interesting man in the world" commercials fro Dos Eqis beer are, I think, largely based on Alphonse.
He has a rock hammer for sure.
HAHAHAHAH! You guys are hilarious! I'm loving Alphonse! :smitten: