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Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

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Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#91

Post by dmca »

evilzombie wrote: post #78

A while ago I asked my GP to change my title of address from "Mr" to "Ms". It turns out whatever system the NHS (or possibly just my GP's surgery) uses to keep their records absolutely didn't expect that and has no provision to handle it. I bet it's perfectly possible to change from "Ms" to "Mrs" or even from "Mr" to "Fr" or "Dr" but try to go from "Mr" to "Ms" and the whole thing HCFs. So there's now two records for…

The NHS (or at least my GP's surgery) does not allow you to register as "Dr" and I wouldn't be surprised if they lacked a mechanism to change from "Ms" to "Mrs" (or any ability at all to change the title field).

I suspect they used to use title as a proxy for gender but this wouldn't be very sensible so maybe it's just there for historical purposes or no particular reason.

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#92

Post by BrandoElFollito »

wingerlang wrote: post #83
evilzombie wrote: post #79

Come to think of it, why do first/middle/last names need separate fields in a database, in terms of bookkeeping? Why do I absolutely need to be filed as [Ms] [Evil] [Z.] [Ombie]? Wouldn't [Ms Evil Z. Ombie] do? I don't even see how a family name relates you to your own parents when it's very likely there may be a few thousands, even millions of people with your last name, and even with your own combination of two or…

Sorting, queries, personalised content (Hey [first name]!) are some examples.

I recently got emails stating with "hello ::error::" and "dear /FirstName/"

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#94

Post by sireat »

Are only real names allowed on Quora?

Seems like a silly restriction on Quora.

I signed up to Quora with a fake name a few years ago.

After lurking for a while I have started to answer some questions in my area of expertise and get some A2A(asked to answer) sent my way.

So should I just forget about answering questions with my fake name?

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#95

Post by jrockway »

cloudjacker wrote: post #64
Senji wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Choose a Jewish name for added shenanigans.

Yeah I usually opt for some minority subculture to get past this stuff - ie facebook wouldnt interfere with the adjective middle name meme if you were black - or if that doesn't work I then guilt trip tech companies into being aware of minority group naming patterns, or if that doesnt work I tell them Ill call (or actually contact) washington post to give them the monthly reminder about how little perspective they ge…

I doubt you need an actual fake ID to get past social networking ID verification. A cell phone picture of your driver's license where you hamfistedly change the name and some digits in the number in Photoshop should be good enough for 99.9% of cases.

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#96

Post by gpvos »

Theodores wrote: post #88
evilzombie wrote: post #79

Come to think of it, why do first/middle/last names need separate fields in a database, in terms of bookkeeping? Why do I absolutely need to be filed as [Ms] [Evil] [Z.] [Ombie]? Wouldn't [Ms Evil Z. Ombie] do? I don't even see how a family name relates you to your own parents when it's very likely there may be a few thousands, even millions of people with your last name, and even with your own combination of two or…

Recently I split some forms out from 'name' to 'firstname' and 'lastname'. An extra column was added to the backend table too. So why did I do this, go from what you want to something else? What was the evil marketing intent? Those names also get used by other systems, therefore to create a support ticket in 3rd party system, extra name needed. There is also the small matter of writing back to whomever filled in the…

Why do companies want to know my gender at all? I am offended anytime some form asks me for it, often even making the field mandatory. It is seldom relevant to my relation with the company.

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#97

Post by wingerlang »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #92
wingerlang wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorting, queries, personalised content (Hey [first name]!) are some examples.

I recently got emails stating with "hello ::error::" and "dear /FirstName/"

Might be so, but I am sure it works perfectly fine for billions of sent email every day.

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#98

Post by gpvos »

titanomachy wrote: post #58
parennoob wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Quora's "work with a mod to verify the name" policy works, but I have heard from at least one friend that Facebook makes you give them a scan your driving license or other Government ID in order to show that your slightly unusual name is actually what you say it is. Which is just absurd. A random social network should never be so powerful as to demand your Government-issued IDs for some bogus "real…

You probably won't have to worry about it unless you become famous.

I have several non-famous friends who had to show their ID to Facbook.

Re: Quora has blocked me because it doesn't think Theodore Ts'o is my real name

#100

Post by gpvos »

raarts wrote: post #76
thaumasiotes wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is particularly odd because multi-word last names aren't exactly obscure in the US. Here are some famous people: van der Waals, von Neumann, de Soto, van Gogh, da Vinci... We have a sizable Italian community domestically, too, plus lots of history of Dutch and German settlement. And then we have lots of Mexicans, who, intuitively enough, use the Spanish system of double surnames. But somehow they all get shoehor…

Where is that? Dutch so I'm interested.

The USA. People of German descent are, at least historically, the largest population group.
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