The mysterious case of the two Gareth Ellem's

[Former Member]

I can't help but notice that there are currently two instances of Gareth Ellem circulating these forums - one cricket fan and workflow guru, and one whinger.

<a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.sdn.businesscard.sdnbusinesscard?u=gzhh6ylcdvk%3d">gareth Ellem 1</a>

<a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.sdn.businesscard.sdnbusinesscard?u=gbbranky%2fv0%3d">gareth Ellem 2</a>

Multiple Personality Syndrome really sucks!

Cheers

Lyal

[ChrisSolomon]

Sweet! Looks like Craig is gonna come out swingin the banhammer! haha

[suresh_datti]

Lyal,

I saw that too.. thought I would wait for Gareth's response.. ie the one who likes to watch/discuss Cricket..

Don't know why the 'other' Gareth was griping so much..

After all, the Best run Businesses run on SAP & isn't Cricket all about 'runs'?

~Suresh

[Former Member]

Strange,

The Gareth Ellem I know likes his Cricket but also isn't adverse to having a good whinge.

Simon

[Former Member]

Hi,

This is a tough one.... I am the real Gareth Ellem, I like Cricket, Workflow, Rugby and Whinging. I am disturbed (as is everyone who knows me) that there is another one here. That is, another me. Or him.

For some reason someone registered themselves as me on the 17/4/07 and immediately replied to my Forum Pest post asking if it was a cricket forum. Good news is someione has redirected him to the cricket forum. Bad news is this could get confusing.

I have informed sdn@sap.com, but I am more interested in the other me telling us what is going on, and who he really is. And why he wants to impersonate a fat, aging cricket tragic and retired tight head prop with tinnea. If I was going to do it I would have called myself Ollie Le Roux, Cindy Crawford or Scarlett Johanssen (now there's a combination).

Perhaps everyone in sdn should change their name to Gareth Ellem - now there's a scary thought.

Regards

The Real Gareth

[Former Member]

Actually if this person does not change their display name immediately they will be deleted from SDN.

This is not the type of forum to "play with display names"

[Former Member]

Thank you Craig.

It was starting to get a bit odd for a while.

Regards

Gareth

[Former Member]

<Monty Python mode>

No! I'm the real Gareth Ellem! And so is my wife!

</Monty Python mode>

Oooh, and if we find the fake Gareth Ellem, can we stone him?

pls gief pointz0r

[Former Member]

Hi Craig,

Still happening I'm afraid.

What should I do about this?

Regards

Gareth

[athavanraja]

I dont understand , what do they gain by this?

[Former Member]

Don't know. As I have said before, I'm 38 fat, ugly, and by all report a bit of a nerd. Why would anyone want to be me?

Regards

Gareth

[suresh_datti]

>>.I dont understand , what do they gain by this?

I have beeen following this episode right form the begining..

The fake Gareth is shamelessly trying to get back at the original Gareth after he/she was exposed of the now common 'points grabbing'. I am almost certain that the fake Gareth, Neo, David Boon, Dheeraj are all either the same person or are partners in crime. The current fake Gareth is actually the second one ie created just today.. the other fake was deleted after the matter was reported.

~Suresh

[athavanraja]

Fake user is deleted again.

Raja

[athavanraja]

off to home - cant miss today's match

Raja

[Former Member]

interestingly, the fake G.E. didn't do anything particularly malicious apart from faking the name. what if there really were two of them out there?

anton

[Former Member]

Yes, the probabilty exists that there could be more than one Gareth Ellem. Improbable, but not impossible. But if the guy's name was really Gareth Ellem, you'd think that he'd be able to spell it? As , the imposter can't even spell his own name.

I guess we just wait until the next Gareth Ellem registers 😐

Cheers

Lyal

[suresh_datti]

>>>I guess we just wait until the next Gareth Ellem registers 😐

wouldn't be surprised if it will be a Lyal Schumann or even Suresh Datti this time.. at first, I was a bit irritated.. but no longer.. I am just waiting for the day, when the whole points system is scrapped for good.

~Suresh

[Former Member]

And the real Gareth Ellem is too busy watching the cricket to do too much.

But Anton's point is a good one. However frightening, it is possible there are two Gareth Ellems in the world (and my colleagues assure me they think the whole thought scary and perverse), but the difference is - as most people who have had this issue have found - most people in this kind of situation would contact each other, and one would agree to choose something to make themselves unique for the forum. This would stop either being mistaken for the other and, should one answer a question by the other, at least be clear to all readers what is going on.

Perhaps what we should have is some kind of process where, in the case of an exact name match, both new and current are informed, or the new user asked to make a change or addition to their alias to accommodate both.

The jiggerypokery around points has led some to call for us to use our own names (as most members do anyway) so what can we do to facilitate the use of our own names, and the possibility of honest clashes?

Regards

Gareth

[Former Member]

Hi Gareth

The use of real names should of course be encouraged. However, there are some people who post such staggeringly inane questions in the fora that they feel their true identity must be hidden, in case their work colleagues find out just how little they know. The companies they work with will also be happy that these people can be semi-anonymous, so they don't have to admit to their customer/client base that they hired someone with no useful skills, not to be confused with billable skills.

Asking questions after doing some research is a perfectly acceptable way to learn, and I would hope that most organizations would encourage their staff to use SDN as such a mechanism. As such, legitimate forum members shouldn't have to hide behind email address such as sapexpert@dodgyanonymousmailenvironment.com.

The use of nicknames is quite acceptable, and adds a level of individuality which is refreshing. People who register from throwaway email addresses should be identified in the forum lists with some sort of icon - a Zorro mask?

Cheers