Handle Color Guide


Background: On the O-Zone we've had persistent problems with trolls creating throw-away accounts. This sort of problem is not unique to the O-Zone; most public forums face the same issue, and have come up with various ways of scoring posters. This "scoring" has two main benefits: it gives forum readers an idea of each poster's history, and it makes it easier for admins to find trolls. These anti-troll defenses include:

These methods each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Reputation can be "gamed" by an organized group of posters. They can consistently upvote their own posts, and downvote posts by others. Account age does not always indicate quality of poster -- some trolls are very long-lived.

For the O-Zone, I chose to reflect the length of time that an account has been in existence and the post count, in a fairly subtle way. Handle color for new accounts will start out as very bright green, which will fade to black over the course of the first year of membership and first few hundred posts. Hovering the mouse pointer over the handle will pop up a little bit of descriptive text, as well.

Trolls, by their nature, do not engage in much planning, and will generally look for "softer" targets elsewhere rather than jump through hoops here. For example, when an OSU-related scandal breaks, several trolls will scurry to this site to stir up trouble -- but none are likely to have created accounts a year in advance that they are saving for just such an occurrence.

Handle colors and what they represent:

(1) Handle aging colors:

(2) Special colors:

Note: If you are a long-time participant who posted to the O-Zone prior to registration, and you believe your handle should be in purple (but isn't), please E-mail Zanzibar indicating: (1) the E-mail address you use to post to the forum, (2) when you used to participate.