Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User names

If you believe someone has chosen an inappropriate username under Wikipedia's username policy, you may list it here. However, before listing the user here, please consider contacting the user on his or her talk page and bring their attention to the problem and Wikipedia:Changing username. Names that are offensive, inflammatory, impersonating an existing user, or asserting inappropriate authority will generally be permanently blocked by admins.

Be aware that usernames are subject to specific criteria which differ from controls and guidelines regarding other forms of self-expression on Wikipedia. Please ensure you are familiar with the username policy before commenting on a username.

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This page is for bringing attention to usernames which may be in violation of Wikipedia's username policy. Before listing a username here, consider if it should be more appropriately reported elsewhere, or if it needs to be reported at all:

• Report blatantly inappropriate usernames, such as usernames that are obscene or inflammatory, to Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention.
• For other cases involving vandalism, personal attacks or other urgent issues, try Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents; blatant vandalism can also be reported at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism, which is sometimes a better option.

Do NOT post here if:

• the user in question has made no recent edits.
• you wish to have the block of a user reviewed. Instead, discuss the block with the blocking administrator (see also Wikipedia:Blocking policy § Unblocking).

Before adding a name here you MUST ensure that the user in question:

• has been warned about their username (with e.g. {{subst:uw-username}}) and has been allowed time to address the concern on their user talk page.
• has disagreed with the concern, refused to change their username and/or continued to edit without replying to the warning.
• is not already blocked.

If, after having followed all the steps above, you still believe the username violates Wikipedia's username policy, you may list it here with an explanation of which part of the username policy you think has been violated. After posting, please alert the user of the discussion (with e.g. {{subst:UsernameDiscussion}}). You may also invite others who have expressed concern about the username to comment on the discussion by use of this template.

Add new requests below, using the syntax {{subst:rfcn1|username|2=reason ~~~~}}.

Tools: Special:ListUsers, Special:BlockList

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OhOurGod (talk · contribs)

This is in blatant violation of our WP:UN policy, "... Names of religous figures such as "God", "Jehovah", ...". Please block. // Yuser31415 04:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how that is offensive towards any group, unless you can show how, I say Allow. Also, this was also posted at WP:AIV and dismissed[1] by User:Wknight94. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 04:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Incidentally, it is offensive to me. And yes, I did post on WP:AIV, but after its removal I brought it here for further investigation. //Yuser31415 04:29, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, how is it offensive to you? What does it mean to you that you find offensive. I honestly cannot see it. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 04:34, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Is it not going to be considered offensive by Christians/Muslims/Jews if this user starts signing their posts with that username? And also, as I understand, usernames are required to follow our core policy WP:NPOV as well as any other article, page, or user on Wikipedia. Yuser31415 04:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I am sorry, you have not really given a reason as to why this offends you, or could offend a group. You have simply repeated you assertion that it is offensive. You mention NPOV, which point of view do you think this pushes? The word God seems fairly neutral to me. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 04:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Yuser, if you say "Oh my God, it's raining again!" in public, do you think it will be considered as offensive? As far as I'm aware, "God" isn't an offensive word. --Bowlhover 05:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

If I may comment: The phrase "Oh my God!" is considered by many Christians to be taking God's name in vain, which is a violation of the third commandment, and is offensive to them. Prometheus^-X303- 05:08, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

The third commandment? Which Wikipedia policy is that? HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 05:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I apologize. I misread "violates a Wikipedia policy" as "Names of religious figures such as "God", "Jehovah", "Buddha", or "Allah", which may offend other people's beliefs." I'm not trying to argue, but to help clarify Yuser31415's reason behind the request. Prometheus^-X303- 05:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

No worries, I appreciate your clarification. It is only that there are too many commandments out there. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 05:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Allow. "I consider this offensive" doesn't mean it's offensive, and even if it can be, that doesn't mean that it must be blocked. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 05:11, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
• Allow. This does not violate username policy. The username policy states that "God" is not allowed as a username. It does not state that no username can contain the word God. Kaldari 05:14, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
• Doesn't imo violate policy for the God reference, so unless there's real evidence this is causing offence? Deizio talk 10:10, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
• Allow. What is this, the Inquisition? The word "God" is not offensive, the guy is not taking it in vain, claiming to be god or anything of that nature. The name just contains the word in a non-denominational, non-specific pseudo-exclamation. Not even objectively offensive to a religious person of reasonable sensibility. Rainbowfanclub 10:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I share Yuser31415's discomfort with the idea of saying "OhOurGod wrote..." or "OhOurGod edited...", but -- <blowing whistle>...

The user's talk page is still redlinked. WP:U says the first step should be asking the user (at his talk page) to change his name, befiore coming to RCFN. Yuser31415, please go back and do that. If that doesn't resolve the issue, and then you come back to RCFN, please notify the user (again at his talk page) that you are doing that, so he can participate in the discussion. Thank you. -- Ben 13:28, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Allow (and agree with Ben on the procedural aspects). I see it more as a play on Oh My Goddess! than anything else, actually...Fram 13:35, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Comment I feel very uncomfortable about this username and I think people will find it offensive Cheers Lethaniol 14:29, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Weak allow on grounds that although I can see a potential for offence amongst editors of certain beliefs and so would never look fondly on it personally, the real world doesn't hold to my own "PC" standards (PC is only bad when you force people (or are forced) to bow to it or otherwise get it thrown (or throw it) in the faces of people ;)). Wiki isn't the "thought police", nor is it a religious institution bound by the laws of any holy book. Of course, that's not to say that it isn't divisive, though I don't personally feel that it's quite divisive enough for that particular clause to apply - time will tell. I must also say though that I agree with Ben about the talk page message, but with the caveat that while Yuser31415 indeed should have asked the user about it on his/her talk page, there is no reason whatsoever that Ben (or anybody else) should be unable to do so - the important thing is that someone with a spare few minutes fixes the mistake, not that a particular person should do it. Nor should Yuser31415 (or anybody else) be required to refrain from participation in the discussion in the meantime. Crimsone 14:37, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

  And with that in mind, now that I've had a few minutes I've left a message myself. Crimsone 15:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Disallow. Doesn't bother me personally, but appears to violate policy, as noted by Yuser31415. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 15:16, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
  • The policy is against Names of religious figures such as "God", "Jehovah", "Buddha", or "Allah", which may offend other people's beliefs, so I read this as allowing the name of a religious figures unless it is offensive(or I am reading it wrong). So, what do you think about it being offensive? HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 16:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• I do not personally find it offensive, but the policy prohibits "potentially inflammatory or offensive user names", so it is not necessary for me to take offense, as long as it seems likely to offend others. At least one user in this thread has stated that he finds the name offensive, and similar names have been blocked in the past, citing WP:U as the reason (Examples: Godpriest54, God007, Godsgift1989, Jewinabox1119, Jesusfreak26, Jesus06, Ben is god, My Username Has Been Endorsed FROM THE ALMIGHTY GOD Himself!, etc.) None of those examples consist solely of the name of a deity or religion, and yet all were blocked under WP:U. As such, I believe that "OhOurGod" is equally unacceptable, and should be blocked. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 18:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
• Please also note that the examples you quote are part of a larger section, which states that the larger point about disruption "includes, but is not limited to" the specific examples you cite, so the fact that this name is not 100% identical to the examples is not really probative. It's possible that the section on religious usernames should be fleshed out more thoroughly to avoid confusion, but in reality we've had a de facto ban on such names for some time now. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 18:11, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Yes, but how is this offensive? How is it potentially offensive? HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 18:18, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• As I stated earlier, I do not personally find it offensive, and you might do better to address your question to Yuser31415, i.e. the one who has stated that he finds the name to be offensive. If I were to speculate about how others might find it offensive, I would imagine that atheists might be offended, as might individuals of a different faith or denomination who would view a username constructed around an excerpt from a traditional Christian prayer as a form of proselytization or evangelism. It's also possible that an individual of a different spiritual belief system would feel threatened by the name, viewing it as an attempt to assert the primacy of User:OhOurGod's God over their own. Regardless, it's against policy and precedent. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 20:10, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• Allow; doesn't violate any reasonable interpretation of the policy. —Psychonaut 17:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
• Disallow. The phrasing makes it clear that the God mentioned is a specific deity, hence offensive. --tjstrf talk 20:15, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
  • How is mentioning a deity offensive? I could understand claiming to be a deity being offensive, but how is the mere use of the word "God" offensive? Kaldari 20:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• G-d#Laws_of_writing_divine_names, just for one example. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 20:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

In that case we should start by banning the 1662 usernames that start with the word "God" and then start culling the rest of the list for mentions of anything religious. Kaldari 21:33, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Funny that you mention this; a good number of those have ALREADY been blocked, per WP:U: God, God Allmighty, God Almighty Himself, God Bless George W. Bush, God Bless Hurricane Wilma, God Bless Iraq, God Enel, God Hates Fags, God Hates Fags.COM, God Hates Wikipedia, God Hates Wikipedia!, God Himself, etc. (along with a significant number indef-blocked for other infractions, such as trolling, sockpuppetry, or tendentious editing). Quite a time-saver! Not all of them are blocked, but then again, there are lots of prohibited usernames starting with something other than "God" that haven't been noticed and blocked yet. I just dropped about a dozen on AIAV earlier today, without looking particularly hard. -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 22:37, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

What specific deity? The phrasing does not seem to indicate one god over another to me. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 21:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Even if you ignore the specific Christian connotation of the phrase, it would still indicate a preference for monotheism over pantheism (it's not OhOurGods, right?). -Hit bull, win steak^(Moo!) 22:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Since when is a preference for monotheism over pantheism offensive, for Christ's sake! Are you guys lawyers or Wikipedia editors? Kaldari 01:40, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Allow, the user is not personifying God or any religious figure. - Gilliam 21:48, 16 January 2007 (UTC) Comment, as a matter of general principle (i.e. not my personal principles) I feel I should ask whether or not this would be receiving so many allow statements if the god names was, for example, Allah, Vishnu, or any other god you wish to name. As I brought this up it's best I don't comment on it but I'd like to suggest if you would disallow OhOurAllah, OhOurBuddah etc then you should do the same with this one. If you'd vote to allow either of those two, do the same here. BigHairRef | Talk 22:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

The key difference between Allah and God is not God is no the name of a specific god, but a word meaning the concept of an all powerful being. HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 23:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Wrong. Allah is technically non-specific as well, the difference between it the word "God" is merely that one is a foreign term. The Christian God would be called Allah in the Arabic languages, and both refer to a specific diety in common usage. --tjstrf talk 00:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

• Disallow it seems like a play on "Oh My God" that is considered by some people to be offensive (use of the Lord's name in vain), the user has no contributions, it seems safer to just have them get a new user name. --Matthew 00:13, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
• Disallow I agree per some of the above comments, for the sake of sanity; lets request the user pick a new name. Somitho 00:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Hit bull, win steak (talk · contribs)

This username is a violation of the username policy for the following reasons:

1. It promotes or implies violence.
2. It is harrassing and offensive to vegetarians and religions that believe cows are sacred and/or should not be eaten (Hindus, Jainists, and many Buddhists).

At the risk of violating WP:POINT, what's the difference between banning a username such as "OhOurGod" and banning "Hit bull, win steak"? How far are we really willing to take this "offensiveness" purge? Kaldari 02:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)