Display names

[Pj Heckman]

Is there a way to filter or flag those who are using display names other than their name or ham callsigns?

I am seeing named such as “severe” “thunder” or anything other than those that are suppose to used.

 

[Mark Blue]

I was looking @Ben Holcomb website earlier today and noticed he had a filter placefile of sorts but the requirements kind of stumped me a little. It's his name above plus dot com. Maybe he'll chime in and clarify how it works. Maybe Red Team Weather has something but I'm not sure.

 

[rdale]

None of those should be used so holler here with specific handles.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Out chasing the last few weeks, I've seen "TIV2" showing up when using http://www.spotternetwork.org/feeds/gr.txt . My guess is someone has entered that as a call sign. It isn't being used at the time of posting this.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Did a quick look at the placefile, and invalid display names as of current time include Friqid, Twiste, Unit10, and GST

 

[Pj Heckman]

I forget who it is, but TIV2 is the chaser that bought, well, TIV2 - that lives in Colorado.

 

[Mark Blue]

It takes extra time to manually approve applications like we do here on ST. The front-end work pays off though so we maintain our real-names policy. It's probably not the most popular policy but it's better that way for accountability and knowing who you're talking to.

Addition: Not exactly what you were looking for but this website has several placefiles that might weed out those you’re not interested in seeing.

 

[John Wetter]

Did a quick look at the placefile, and invalid display names as of current time include Friqid, Twiste, Unit10, and GST

I am not finding the first three in the database, the last one had GST-theirName so they were notified. Not seeing the others though... I do see some in the callsign, but not in the name fields. We don't have the same rigidity in the callsign field as we do in the name fields.

 

[Randy Jennings]

@John Wetter I think what the original poster is saying is folks are putting nicknames in the call sign field then turning on the option to display call sign instead of name. That is how stuff like TIV2 and Unit10 are showing up when folks use the placefiles.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Addition: Not exactly what you were looking for but this website has several placefiles that might weed out those you’re not interested in seeing.

Thanks for the link Mark - good stuff there, but it just refuses that offical Spotter Nerwork placefiles.

 

[Pj Heckman]

Correct

 

[Randy Jennings]

@John Wetter BTW, I totally get it if you don't want to police the call sign field too. You probably have enough things to do. It doesn't really bother me with just a few folks abusing it.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

My script just needs to be run where perl scripts can be run. Typically a web site account or Linux machine but theoretically could be setup on a local Apache + Perl installation. It works pretty well. I have about 3 dozen people on my list an appreciate a less cluttered view. It even makes me feel like convergence is less.

 

[rdale]

The biggest question:

Am I on the @Ben Holcomb list?

 

[Pj Heckman]

Here is one that is up often

 

[rdale]

Are you saying his name isn’t Riley Mausbach?

 

[Pj Heckman]

I’m saying “severe” (as well as other nicknames) is most likely not appropriate for using as display

 

[Drew Terril]

What the OP is talking about is the caption on the dot, rather than the full information that pulls up when you put the cursor on the dot. The dot itself just says "severe." I seldomly run with dots on when I'm running GRL3 so it's not something I ever had occasion to notice myself.

 

[Pj Heckman]

I use the “full name” feed from the SN websit. That’s what displays.

 

[Mark Drees]

Personally, I’ve learned to just ignore the call sign field, itself. Plus, I have an Allison House subscription which allows me to customize the SN users I have displayed. It comes in real handy when the Christmas tree is lit up, so to speak. You might look into that if you have a subscription.

 

[Mark Blue]

I keep noticing a SN member whose name appears as TornadoBilly Ahlers. I hate ratting people out but it seems like they should just follow the rules or not use the product.

 

[Pj Heckman]

I guess that’s the thing. It’s not so much the issue of the call sign field, but those who just cannot put proper names where they go. In my example, which is the feed from SN...that should be the gold standard.

it would be nice if at least the new accounts could be screened and approved, and the information locked so that weird stuff can not be changed down the road without a check and balance.

 

[John Wetter]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

 

[Mark Blue]

I noticed Tornado Billy had corrected his name as of yesterday.

 

[John Wetter]

I guess that’s the thing. It’s not so much the issue of the call sign field, but those who just cannot put proper names where they go. In my example, which is the feed from SN...that should be the gold standard.

it would be nice if at least the new accounts could be screened and approved, and the information locked so that weird stuff can not be changed down the road without a check and balance.

PJ, that would be ideal but the time investment for something like that would be very non-trivial. I don't see how that would be scalable to the size of our membership.