fraywatchThis is a more detailed explanation of how Fray nicknames are being assigned now that you must register to post in "The Fray." It's a bit complicated: We had more than 100,000 posters to sort through.
Under our old system, Fray users could use any name they wanted each time they posted a message. That means that some names were used by more than one person: There were at least 13 John Does, for instance, and more than 400 Mikes.
So how to sort them all out? We decided to assign a unique nickname to each computer that has been used to post in the Fray. (Why assign names to computers instead of people? Because our system was based on cookies, which track computers, not people. If someone posts from home and then from work, she looks like two different people—that is, two different computers—to us. We have no way to know that both computers are used by the same person.)
The machine with the most posts using a common name gets to own that nickname. The computer that posted the most times as JohnDoe will be assigned that name; the next one in line will be assigned JohnDoe-2, then JohnDoe-3, and so on. So if you used to post as JohnDoe, but 12 other users posted more frequently using that name, your old messages will now appear to be from JohnDoe-13. (We also give preference to Slate writers and star posters—they get first dibs on the names they've used.)
If you have posted in the Fray from more than one machine, or if you have cleared your cookies, your old posts may show up under several different nicknames (and you may be assigned an unexpected nickname when you try to post for the first time using Passport). Here's why: Suppose you posted 25 messages as JohnDoe from your computer at home and 20 as JohnDoe from your computer at work. We will assign JohnDoe to all the posts made from your home machine (assuming that nobody else posted more often using that name), and JohnDoe-2 to all those made from your work machine.
To reclaim JohnDoe, simply post at least once from both machines using the same Passport account, and we will realize that JohnDoe and JohnDoe-2 are the same person. The two nicknames will be merged, and all your posts (both past and future) will show the JohnDoe nickname.
Questions? E-mail , and be sure to put "Nickname" in the subject line.
