User talk:Edison47

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia!

I hope not to seem unfriendly or make you feel unwelcome, but I noticed your username, and I am concerned that it might not meet Wikipedia's username policy. After you look over that policy, could we discuss that concern here?

I'd appreciate learning your own views, for instance your reasons for wanting this particular name, and what alternative username you might accept that avoids raising this concern.

You have several options freely available to you:
 * If you can relieve my concern through discussing it here, I can stop worrying about it.
 * If the two of us can't agree here, we can ask for help through Wikipedia's dispute resolution process, such as requesting comments from other Wikipedians. Wikipedia administrators usually abide by agreements reached through this process.
 * You can keep your contributions history under a new username. Visit Changing username and follow the guidelines there.

Edison (talk) 16:50, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi Edison,

Thanks for contacting me personally. I can assure you there is no intent to deceive or confuse.

I selected Edison as a base, because he is a personal hero. Then I deliberately added the digits on the end to disambiguate from any other Edison-based names. I can see why you might feel there could be confusion, however it's well accepted in computer circles these days that a few digits at the end of a username will fully distinguish it. I think it's pretty unilikely that anyone would confuse your totally unappended username "Edison" with any Edison with following digits.

It is true that I did not check the list of existing users before selecting an username. I assumed if the system allowed the selection then it was approved. Even so, had I checked the list of [| usernames near Edison] I would have not made a different decision, as there are over 200 Edison variants already approved including the 9 that vary only by *1* digit. There are futher several more that vary by one character, and many more that vary by exactly 2 digits or characters as mine does. Thus simply by observation one reasonably concludes Wikipedia accepts one or two digits as sufficient disambiguation for usernames.

It would greatly help me to hear more of your reasoning as to why you feel readers would actually confuse Edison47 with Edison.

It would also help to understand why you feel my username should receive any special handling. I must admit that I'm perplexed that with so many Edison-appendage names, that mine draws any attention at all.

In that vein, are all the other usernames that have an Edison in them also being required to change?

Sincerely, Edison47 96.42.65.129 (talk) 13:22, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * The variants were not "approved," since there is no approval process for usernames. Note that most of the "Edison" user names that differ only in number have no contributions or userpages or talkpages, and were just throwaway username creations, or abandoned accounts. If they do not edit Wikipedia, then certainly there will be no confusion. I did not see the newer names pop up in pages I edit, so I had no occasion to request a change. If a lot of usernames differing only in an added number, edited the same articles or discussion pages, there would certainly be some potential for confusion. Several of the "Edison" based accounts were blocked because they were "sockpuppet" accounts, such as User:Edison Alva Thomas, or User:Edison25 (not because they resembled someone else's username, per sé). As for the choice of a username, I have sometimes wished for a more random one, since if I say anything good about Thomas Edison or any of the Edison electric companies, or anything critical about Tesla, I may get accused of partisanship! So in the end it is really the pattern of editing that would determine whether confusion is created. If I say something on the discussion page or a deletion discussion WP:AFD and then Edison47 adds a comment, there is potential for confusion, and every user should be free to comment on every discussion page. I also see confusion if you someday sought to be an administrator, when there is already an "Edison" administrator. Edison (talk) 21:08, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The point you make about active, editing accounts is a good one. I don't know how I can determine how many of them fall into that category, but I concede only a subset are logically active.  I don't agree that confusion would occur with "Edison" and "Edison47".  I have strong confidence in the ability of modern users to distinguish easily between them because of the total lack of appendage to "Edison" and numeric characters on the end on "Edison47".  I would be willing to accept input from a second opinion process.  Would that be a reasonable way to approach this?  Edison47 (talk) 23:14, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Or we could just go ahead and see if there is confusion. I note a couple of other editors who have Edison as part of their usernames, and which are not abandoned accounts. You would always have the option of changing to a new username at some future date, and keep any edit history. Edison (talk) 23:24, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * That seems reasonable to me. Please advise if you get any sense that there is actual confusion or misunderstanding. We can work the issue at that time. Thank you for working this through.Edison47 (talk) 03:57, 3 June 2009 (UTC)