Sonic.net

williamt wrote:

virtualmike wrote: Hypothetically, does anything break if I later reclaim that mailbox?

You would lose your access to the forums since they are tied together.

I presume you mean I would lose access to the forums with that address? However, if I didn't intend to make any further postings with that address, hypothetically, would it matter?

Nope.

I'm with Cyndi on this issue.

Being able to choose a different username or create a handle to use only on Sonic forums can help users either become anonymous or more visible, as they choose.

I've created this farmerbrown email account, but that is a temporary workaround, I hope.

My only concern about letting folks arbitrarily change their displayed usernames here would be the possibility of somebody wanting to post under a name already in-use as a Sonic.net username. Who gets to be "Dane" if not the person who owns the dane@sonic.net account? Setting up a specific-use mailbox account strikes me as a fairly reasonable work-around for people that don't want to reveal their main account ID on the forums.

Bingo. Need the namespace to remain integrated and unique.

We should write a how-to for those who prefer not to use their primary username, and make it sticky in the General forum.

-Dane

Is there any password security benefit to creating a special forum username? I don't know whether I'm right or wrong, but I believe I'd be in worse trouble if my main Sonic.net username and password were stolen than the throwaway usernames and passwords I use on any other phpBB forum.

I followed the instructions here and it was a breeze, but a sticky is a good idea.

No, the main benefit is simply the ability to be anonymous. Some folks prefer not to use their Sonic.net username - which is also typically their email address - in a forum.

-Dane

dane wrote:No, the main benefit is simply the ability to be anonymous. Some folks prefer not to use their Sonic.net username - which is also typically their email address - in a forum.

Is this forum readable by those who are not Sonic customers? I know that's not the issue, but just curious.

Yup, non-customers can both read and post. Spammers will be shot.

-Dane

Excellent!