Hi all,
I would just like to add another perspective to the naming discussion.
Although I agree that whether a name is 'offensive' to players should be
the main argument before deciding whether to accept it, there is also a
secondary view to it that says that names should try to stay within the
feel of Tolkien's worlds.
I would not find a character named as Hitler offensive, just plain
idiotic. What is Hitler doing in Middle Earth? A name like that would put
me off the game's atmosphere exactly as much as a character called Michael
Schumacher or Roger Rabbit. Noone would find these names offensive, but I
still wouldn't like them in my game.
Somebody said that this is a fantasy world, so putting restrictions on
what we expect to find there is detracting from its 'fantasy feel'. I
think that we confuse the term 'fantasy world' with the term 'fantastic
world'. A fantastic world would indeed be a world without limits where our
imagination could imbue it with any chaotic creation we could conceive -
where Elrond could indeed walk side by side with Hitler and together fight
Darth Vader and Alice in wonderland. The fact that such a world would not
appeal to me at the least I understand is not really an argument 
A
'fantasy world' however is again a fantastic world (not real but
imaginary) which however has a very particular theme defined through
literature and which therefore has to obey to a number of restrictions. I
think that most people playing ME-PBM are aware of that, and playing in
Middle Earth as created by Tolkien is the primary motive for staying in
the game 
Names out of character will only spoil the experience for the
greatest majority of players.
As a last note, a more 'religious argument' Middle Earth PBM is based
on Tolkien's worlds. I like to think of us players as mere 'guests' in
these worlds - we are free to walk around and try to experience the feel
of Middle Earth through our imagination, but we shouldn't have the right
to spoil it just for kicks. This is not a legal argument, just a
subjective call for respect
Of course, I understand that every other player out there pays for his
turn as much as I do and is entitled to his money's worth of fun, no
matter how he defines fun. So I would agree that GM intervention should
only be called for names that can be considered 'offensive' and not merely
out of character.
Thanks for the attention,
Haris