If i saw a waiter irationally kick out someone out of the restauraunt because of the company they kept, I would have words with them. I probably wouldnt eat there anymore either. So my choice of words were a bit harsh, but I really don't see it as more harsh than giving someone the boot without warning. Hence "Puppy-Killer." It's not meant to harass, it's commentary.
I'm glad you refer to the TOU as guidelines though, it makes them seem more like pirate code. I know you can't reply to specific cases, but is it general tribe policy to slam someone out of tribe without letting them know that you will be arbitrarily enforcing this pirate code?
Your posts and words are also aspects of your identity. Tribe message boards could not funtion without referencing other posts. Imagine trying to have a conversation where you need to conceal which post your talking about? (The threading seems to like this ethic at least). It would be ridiculous and impractical to attempt to communicate this way. Pictures (used appropriately) are no different. Posting an image referencing you with a comment on it, is like responding to a post using a person's quote. While the comments themselves are subject to various qualifiers as far as how justified they are, but thats how its supposed to work anyway, right? It is not impersonation at all.
If users of this system are made so unhappy by this apparent impersonation problem, why does the system alloaw names which are not unique? In some ways tribe's code make it difficult to have a distinguished identity anyway. If you want to fix the problem, then do so, kicking people out for Tribes lack of foresight isn't fair.
Why am i allowed to call you Walter when I respond and refer to you, but just not in the title? And is (censored by tribe) really fooling anyone?
Aside from this incident, I have heard nothing but good things about Walter and his service skills. As far as anyone can tell, even if you could reverse this situation, it is not clear that you would do so. And if the deletion was in error, wouldn't it be fair to rebuild from what is known in the database to re-create this identity? I'm sure everyone would rather help then continue to complain, And I'll even change this tribe to say good things about Walter and aplologise.

If you believe that calling someone a puppy-killer is constructive criticism, I'd hate to see you fill out one of those "how was your meal?" cards at IHOP.

[If they are killing puppies, then it is not criticism at all. IT is merely the act of pointing out a fact. If the persons cited are ashamed of their status as a puppy killer, then the best thing they could do is stop killing puppies, and any pets, for that matter.]

There are open questions as to how we handle anything on Tribe.net, but the guidelines we created (which everyone indicated that they read and agreed to before joining our service) are meant to answer many of these questions.

[No one really has the time to read that bullshit. I never read a terms of agreement thing in my life. No one does. Admit it, you put it there to legally cover your ass from getting sued for some stupid thing. I am not going to go out of my way to click some boring text page and then read it. If you want me to click the thing, don't mark it "terms of agreement." Mark it "Titties" or "crotch shot gallery." Then I will click on it. I will be sorely disappointed if I don't see any vertical smiles or sweater meats on the page, but I will click on it. IF you do happen to have some strategically placed jpegs of bearded clams, or milk bags on the page, then I just might read the first line of your terms. Then I will discover it is not a story about facials and scatology. I will promptly stop reading. You see, the girl who put up a picture of her camel toe has the right idea. I read her thing. You cannot expect thinking people to read this terms of agreement shit.]

For our purposes, your photo and name are aspects of your identity, and the Tribes you create and listings you publish further define that identity.

[IF anyone impersonates stanislaw diaz, their head will be cut off and rolled off the top of a golden ziggurat]

If someone creates a profile that mimics your online persona so closely that a reasonable person would be confused, we view that as identity theft.

[So this is not in accordinance with legal definitions. IT is your own paltry system of defining things. Then I have a quote for you from Lewis Carroll's seminal work "alice's adventures in wonderland". IT was spoken by Humpty DUmpty. He says, "when I use a word, it means what I choose it to mean. Nothing more." I believe, like Humpty, if you are choosing to create a tower of babel here. You too may have a big fall.]

We can agree to disagree about whether pretending to be someone else online is a "childish prank." Luckily, it's not been a widespread problem on our service, but the members who've experienced it don't take it very lightly.

[Then they are the 1% of people who read the terms. Difficult customers are not the ones worth pleasing. In the words of the dictators, "fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." Real life doesn't censor people the way internet dorks do when they get the god-like shelter of "webmaster." This whole controversy seems distinctly american. Americans tend to value their identity more than most. This is a joke. IT's all about rep rather than cred. People should stop taking themselves seriously. They are not unique.]

For a handful of members, ID theft has been incredibly hurtful, and even left some people with a feeling of having been violated.

[Then they should conduct all business face to face. Or you should make a system that is coded to prevent this from happening. That makes you look far less like an anus than censoring people and deleting posts from the record. Let your site stand as an experiment and a record, not revisionist history.]

I asked that my name be removed from this Tribe's title because it was clearly referring to me as an individual, not another member named "Walter." There are 59 other members named Walter, and each of them has the right to that name -- until they post my personally identifiable information in their profile.

[Ever heard of synchronicity? I suggest you watch the movie "Magnolia." Strange things can happen. Maybe there are other people named walter who share your poor attitude. IT is not unthinkable.]

A fan Tribe and a distinct profile that appropriate someone's image are two different issues, but I recall hearing from the moderator of my Tribe the moment she created it, asking if she had my permission to proceed.

[Then she was motivated by fear and that fear should be exploited until she either loses the fear or succumbs to Darwin's theory of natural selection!]

We're not a very large company, so I don't have someone to whom I forward my personal abuse complaints.

[I will volunteer for the job. My email is spinabifeda@yahoo.com]

Instead, I rely on my judgement and experience gained as a community manager to decide on the best course of action.

[Since I offered, you no longer need to.]

I'm rarely a target for abuse or harassment, however, so it's almost never come up.

[People take mercy on people named Walter. THank your parents.]