Most forum owners have a long history of hanging out and posting on forums, even before opening their own forum. Many forum owners even use a common avatar/username from one forum to the next. And, over the years many of these forum posts can accumulate. That's not such a bad thing if you keep much of your personal opinions to yourself. But, what if you have posted controversial or even inflammatory opinions on a forum in the past which could now threaten your current forum if that was ever found out? Maybe your current forum members would be very offended over some things you have said in the past on other forums.
This situation could also apply in situations where you have posted publicly in the past and now have a job which requires confidentiality. In that situation, you would not really be able to remove traces of your identity from online as forums dictate which forum posts are left up and which are taken down. So what would you do in this situation?
tbh, it's best not to think about what's already happened; what's more important is the future, and you need to think more about it. The past shouldn't effect you in any way, If you're strong enough to forgive and forget.
This is somewhat of a lesser issue online compared to in real life because it is so easy to change a username. And so much harder for people to tell if someone is the same person from a previous site... short of like if they revealed a full bio with pictures and everything.
Plus just because someone uses <name> doesn't mean they are the same <name> that ran another site and/or was on another site making very opinionated statements. (Some usernames are fairly popular and get used a lot. Like on anime sites you might see a ton of variations on Ichigo, Rukia, Byakuya, Naruto, Sasuke and etc... )
So I think if this is a concern to someone then they should change their name before opening their site. They also shouldn't reference past sites. And they should watch what (and how) they write.
This. Because it is hard to mend something broken, it is easier to prevent it. Written text easily gives the wrong impression compared to when we say it verbally in front of the person, so we should take good care of our attitude. It is very possible that past deed can affect current or future plans or projects. Over time if someone works hard to prove otherwise it may work, but it will be longer than usual.
If something so unfortunate has to happen, I guess the best thing to do is to admit it, apologize, and do the best to show that we have changed.
I would say, make sure in that case that you start with a clean slate. New & unrelated ID, new service provider, new computer. Within reason, those things should not be hounding to the horizon, especially if you do not revisit the ID or site that you wish to leave behind.
