Apologies to Aramis - Wordsmith.org

Wordsmith.org

As I posted in the Pet Peeves thread, I am glad the mystery has been solved and hope that Aramis accepts my most humble apologies. Since that post took the post count to the no-no number, I started this thread in hopes that others will join me. As a bit of explanation but without using it as an excuse, we have had our share of trouble from trolls in the not-so-distant past. I'm afraid this has caused some of us to behave in an uncivilised manner towards some newcomers. Since the hiding was given in public, please make public the apologies as well.

In order to demonstrate the explanation to the mystery, I have signed on under this name and chosen my own avatar from the stock avatars. I will leave this here for one day and then change my avatar as Consuelo. If Itsjustme also displays my new avatar, there will be no further doubts. Watch this thread.

You may have to post as itsjustme to get it to change, but that seems a fair test, Connie.

CapK, did you upload the original kiwi and your new avatar or did you use the url option as you now have your avatar? The more info I have about how it was originally done, the better the test results.

Ted, I'll try it both ways when the time comes. I want to wait for one day so that as many people as possible see this thread and what the experiment consists of.

Because this was posted by Capital Kiwi as the 100th reply to the other thread, I am pasting it here

Quote:

Well, if it was the Board software that did it - and I suppose it might have been - I'll certainly apologise unconditionally to Aramis for calling him a thief. The original kiwi picture was one I picked up on the web anyway and is more or less in the public domain, which is why I just moved on and built my own avatar after my original post on the subject.

However, TEd's lucid post still doesn't explain how, for twelve hours or so after I put up my new avatar, Aramis was still showing the original kiwi picture. Then his user name (however it happened) was linked to my new one. If it had happened immediately I might have smelled a software rat. As it was, though, what else was I to think?

I've just looked through the avatar collection and I agree that the kiwi isn't there, but I didn't delete it. I can't. I don't have the privileges to do so. Perhaps Jackie did it by accident. And I know that simply linking to a new avatar doesn't delete the old one, because I linked to the Easter Island statue for a day or so once, and it's still there.

and Ted's reply, the 101st on the other thread

Quote:

Because he didn't post?

Forget it. zmjezhd was correct. When I originally uploaded my new avatar I overwrote the old one. It seems that this board only clears down its cache every twelve hours or so, so it took that long for Aramis' avatar to change from the kiwi to my new avatar. That is nuts, but it seems to be the way it is.

I've PMed Aramis11 and apologised for calling him a thief. His only sin was to link to my original avatar in the first place and that's understandable if regrettable, which is the way I felt about it in the first place.

Well, I still want to proceed with the experiment just in case there are any other doubts lingering.

There aren't any in my mind. Once I twigged that the avatar files are named using our membership number, the rest became blindingly obvious.

I admire your community spirit, Connie. In the same vein, I think a lot of trouble might have been avoided if A11 had responded to various posts regarding his use of both Avatars, and he did not. That's all I have to say about it.

Which should not have been posted in the first place, David. Heck, we really don't know what he saw and when he saw it. Please cut a bit of slack. Please?

Okay, then. I changed my avatar and itsjustme changed immediately to my new one, no 12 hour delay, no nada.

Probably a matter of you logging on as both users, Connie. The delay occurred because of caching.

this has all been a most unfortunate misunderstanding.

but the thing that troubles me most is the fact that there's no record of all the fantastic avatars I've used (hi WO'N!) -- every post I've ever made (all 7223 of 'em) has the current avatar.

I only logged in under consuelo.

I have now changed the avatar for Itsjustme so that my two (visible) personalities have their own representations.

Quote:

...In the same vein, I think a lot of trouble might have been avoided if A11 had responded to various posts regarding his use of both Avatars, and he did not...

He did, but apparently failed to tune in until after the firestorm had reached its zenith. Never did see the new image applied to his posts, but the flak seemed to suggest it had been that way. He was unaware of the post quantity rule, but is grateful for the apologies and explanations aired. He does not plan to select a troll image, and anyone who is offended by kestrels should probably weigh in now.

Quote:

Quote:

...In the same vein, I think a lot of trouble might have been avoided if A11 had responded to various posts regarding his use of both Avatars, and he did not...

He did, but apparently failed to tune in until after the firestorm had reached its zenith. Never did see the new image applied to his posts, but the flak seemed to suggest it had been that way. He was unaware of the post quantity rule, but is grateful for the apologies and explanations aired. He does not plan to select a troll image, and anyone who is offended by kestrels should probably weigh in now.

You trying to go all hawkish on us?? Glad you stuck around, A11!

As I wrote above, I PMed Aramis11 and apologised for accusing him of stealing my avatar. He's responded very graciously, and asked that I clarify his position for once and for all, which is:

He linked to my Kiwi avatar, not realising it belonged to someone else.

And that is ALL he did.

The rest was down to my not realising that avatars are named using your membership number. And how the board caches avatars. Plus my temper, of course.

He's now gone all hawkish on us, so I'll duck for cover.

Enough. Please leave it alone and don't muddy the waters any more.

Jackie suggested an image search; not sure what brought 'kestrel' to mind but remembered they look distinctive. In cases of ire kindled, Aramis admits also to a tendency to immediately think the worst to start with. Much thanks to the fire brigade.