Howdy from Texas,

I'll be around for a few days and will honor any user name change requests that fit the criteria below. Quite frequently I'm asked this by e-mail, so I thought I'd post about it and let you know it's certainly do-able.

Many of you may notice that a lot of us are posting under our real names. This is always encouraged but not required. If you have registered with a user name such as:

jsmith
smith123
joesmith
hootydog

and would like to change it to the basic capitalized proper naming convention of:

Joe Smith

...then just shoot me an e-mail and I'll be happy to accomodate you. Some folks asked about this prior to the server crash a couple months ago, and wound up with user names reverting back to what they had before. If you're one of 'em, just let me know and we'll get you fixed up. Once again this is encouraged but by no means required.

As of Nov 1st, 2002, new members will be required to register with their real names. Some of you guys using "handles" may or may not be grandfathered under the old regime, but for those of you who have amassed a significant number of posts here (and I thank you for that) will soon be tapped on the shoulder about changing your user name to your real name, and reverting your handle to a custom title. Thanks in advance,

Just another reminder that this board now requires real names as usernames, plus location. Anybody still using a "handle" is required to contact myself or Ken or Jeff so that we can update your account.

From the registration page: "At this time we are validating only those registrations submitted with a REAL NAME and location. User names on DV Info Net follow the conventional style of "John Smith" and not johnsmith, JohnSmith, or john_smith; and without numbers or special characters. If you're not comfortable posting under your real name, you'll still be able to read the boards."

All new user accounts are validated by hand, by a live human being (that's me) and any registrations using "handles" or incomplete names simply aren't activated. If you're one of these folks, contact me at chris@dvinfo.net to get squared away.

Old folks still using handles, be advised that these accounts might become suspended... that's to get you to contact me, so that we can get your real name plugged in there. Many thanks,