Username policy

[wrldtrvllr]

Usernames containing the word "god" are not allowed. But usernames containing "g0d" are allowed. What is the point in that? A policy so weak that the simplest possible evasion of it is "fine" is no policy at all.

[GeraldineMerida]

And crazy that 'god' is not allowed but some quite explicit sexual names are.

[QueenSplendor]

Funny I was just about to start a forum about this. Originally, I wanted to put my name as SplendorGoddess which is a pretty harmless username and the site forbid it.

I am actually really wondering what the purpose of this policy is. Saying "god" is not even offensive at all. Even as a person who is non-religious or worships different god than others, I don't think someone would be offended by a username with god in it. That doesn't actually make sense. It is like me being offended by someone's actual name because its not my culture. Sometimes our username is a reflection of who we are, our uniqueness. FOr some people, that is their religion. Why take that away from them.

Secondly, god is a word that is not specific to any religion. Perhaps if someone said "Jesus" or "Allah", it would make more sense to restrict because that is more religious

I do think over-restrictions can turn people away.

[voriki]

Perhaps if someone said "Jesus" or "Allah", it would make more sense to restrict because that is more religious

Jesus is even a very common name in countries like Mexico.

[wrldtrvllr]

To be specific about this, I found myself matched against a player who called themselves "***". I find that to be an infantile and obnoxious username. I do not wish to play anyone whose username is so arrogant.

I wondered why they would replace the "o" with a "0", and found that one cannot create any username with "god" in it. So this person had obviously made the switch to evade that restriction. I reported their username, pointing out the evasion of this moderation policy. And yet, the report was discounted. The username is considered "fine".

If a sensible policy is so easily evaded, and if the moderators think the evasion is "fine", then I no longer trust the judgement of the moderators. I cancelled my subscription to the site as a result of this.

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion. You have been warned about this before.

[xate]

The auto-filters are there for a reason: they should catch the majority of inappropriate usernames.
Some words are acceptable in some contexts and unacceptable in others. These are often first rejected by the automatic system, but might be approved by an Admin if a request is sent to support. Others will always remain unacceptable, and attempts to mask the trigger word will result in moderation. This automatic filter is not the same as our moderation policy, it is simply a filter applied to limit the number of usernames that are created with offensive language in them. The moderation team can understand nuances this filter cannot, and can therefore make decisions based on their understanding of the username and our moderation policy.

We do encourage players to report offensive usernames that have slipped past our filter (or were made before the filter was in place).

Funny I was just about to start a forum about this. Originally, I wanted to put my name as SplendorGoddess which is a pretty harmless username and the site forbid it.

"SplendorGoddess" is a good example; this username would be acceptable on BGA. You can write to support to have your name changed if you would like. https://boardgamearena.com/support

If you find a player offensive for any reason, feel free to give them a Red Thumb. This will prohibit you playing with them in the future.

[wrldtrvllr]

If you try to create a username containing the word "god", you see the message "Sorry, because of our moderation policy your username cannot contain `god`." So what exactly is the "nuance" here, in the view of the moderators, that makes "g0d *" an acceptable username? How does it not violate the prohibition on triumphalism in the code of conduct, which the filter seems specifically designed to apply to?

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion. You have been warned about this before.

[voriki]

Just like "SplendorGoddess" would be deemed acceptable(by manual approval), "God of Carcassonne" maybe would have been approved also(altough it may be tricky as Carcassonne is an actual region in France) had the player contested the refusal of name. But instead he worked with a workaround.
I do not believe he chose the name with malintent to save himself effort and time aas things like this aren't approved with the snap of a finger.

What BGA could do is to have a support link open up if a name is refused by the autofilter, assinging a temporary username to the player and opening a case for username approval. When approved, the name is changed, when refused, the player can opt for a different name.

[wrldtrvllr]

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion. You have been warned about this before.

Apologies, didn't realise that stating the username I was talking about would be problematic. I have never been warned about this before, in fact.

[wrldtrvllr]

If you try to create a username containing the word "god", you see the message "Sorry, because of our moderation policy your username cannot contain `god`." So what exactly is the "nuance" here, in the view of the moderators, that makes "g0d *" an acceptable username? How does it not violate the prohibition on triumphalism in the code of conduct, which the filter seems specifically designed to apply to?

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion. You have been warned about this before.

I was not calling anyone out by name in this post. I was making a general point. In case it needs restating: the moderation policy *specifically* forbids usernames containing "god" but the simplest possible evasion of that policy is apparently "fine". Such illogical and inconsistent moderation destroys any sense of fair play and I have cancelled my subscription as a result.