I just realized how functional this would be for my board, if as an admin, I could switch between several display names.......And yes, I do realize I can make a new display name, but that changes it everywhere.... I'd like to be able to post under several different display names and not have to log in and log out for the various names....

Any chance of making this happen?

-peter

Hmmmm ...

When you make a post, only your user number is stored with the post, not your display name. When the post is viewed, the display name corresponding to that user number is fetched and displayed.

When you say post under several different display names, do you mean post under completely different profiles? (different total post counts, different titles, different email addresses, etc.)

I guess I'm not attached to having different profiles, etc.... The various display names are all I'm really after...

I really just try to separate the various identities I have on the board.... Some of the announcements are more authoritarian for example, and I wouldn't want those posts directly identified with the account I regularly post with.... Now, most people know about it, but I think it's nice to keep things separate...That's a little of the story behind this idea...

-peter

Without making any changes, the only way to do this, as you're aware, is to login/logout. A variation on this would be to write a hack that makes it easier to switch from one profile to another, sort of a "become my other profile" function.

Another approach would be to add a column to the Posts table B_AdminPost (values 0 and 1). When that column is set, the post could somehow be tagged to indicate that it's an offical post. A checkbox could be added when an admin posts for setting this column.

I like the sound of an easy toggle to "become my other profile" function.... I know eons ago when I first started, EZboard had this option....Probably the only thing I liked about that damn thing.

How about using B_AnonName for this? And have a third value for B_Reged that says to just use the anonname instead of the display name.

I might want something similar to allow users to have extra display names to be used in special forums. I don't think I have the time to fix this at the moment though.

Hmmmm .... maybe. Doing tricky things with the existing columns can cause maintenance problems, though.

But that's the fun part! =]

OK, if a new field for the special display name is added, no extra field is needed as that field is used if it exists, and only admins can add something to it. Then just add a new field to the posting page that is shown to admins and make sure it is only saved if the user is an admin.

Until someone does the hack, you can accomplish this with using 3 or 4 different browsers. Each browser logged into a different persona. It could easily look like they are all on at the same time if it's important to have the appearance of truly seperate people. Using the different browsers also makes it easier to keep your different personalities straight. IE, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, etc., all use different cookies and thus can all log in as seperate people. Just a thought.

That's not a bad idea, the various browsers.....

Still though And, I was really just tossing the idea out there... It's not a demand or anything. Just wanted to see what people thought or if it was possible....

-peter

I saw someone who had that on an old version of threads. It used different user names (thus different profiles) rather than display names.

It alloed moderators to post as a "Generic Moderator" whitout having to logout. I think they had a pull down when they posted.

With the user number thing, that would be fairly easy.

That's almost exactly what I was thinking Josh!

-peter