No Thanks Allow Usernames to Be Used from Abandoned Accounts

As title.

Let's say I wanted the username Goofy. Well, Goofy is already taken as seen here. However, the last time that user logged in was on April 1, 2008. It doesn't seem fair to the active users that they can't have a username because a user either signed up and then literally never used the account again, which means registering was pointless, or was slightly active and then never visited again. If a user hasn't visited for, let's say, five years, then I think it's only fair that their username should automatically be forfeited. Plus, at five years, their email or other information has probably changed, so they'd make a new account if they happened to visit again, anyway, though that isn't likely.

Now, if this "rule" were applied, we wouldn't just go through and rename everyone who hasn't been online for five or more years. We would only rename them if someone wanted their username. If I wanted the username Goofy, since it's been five or more years—2013 marks five years—then the current Goofy account would be renamed to something like Goofy 1 or Renamed User 1 and then I would be renamed to Goofy. And of course, exceptions could be made, such as not being able to take a staff's username, even after they resign, now matter how much time passes.

At this time, the example above is completely hypothetical. I was Goofy once before, though I had to be Goofy Goof because Goofy was, of course, taken.

 

I don’t know if we could do this on the forum, but on Discord everyone has a base Username, and you can also have a “nickname”. You can decide if people above a certain level/role can make or change a nickname, so maybe premium members and contributors could have their nickname as say, Goofy, but their base name to still read Amaury or whatever

Again I don’t know if this can be done on the forum, but I remember all the way back to Misty about how we’d complain we didn’t know who anyone was anymore because of their name. If y’all can find a nickname thing members can keep their base username so they know who everyone is, but members can nickname themselves like Amaury is asking.

That way we don’t go around like, renaming people like poor 2008 Goofy, but people can still have their accounts show up with a nickname

I don’t know if y’all got that enabled on the KHV discord but just as an example it looks like this



The base username is FlameSalvo but they’ve renicknamed as Alex etc. Just an idea. Amaury could have his username show up as such on his account, maybe if possible under his user title or whatever, but we’d still see him as Goofy

Either way I’d like to see this be done as well but idk about renaming people lol

 

That would work, too, if possible. If, right now, I were named "Amaury," that would be what people actually see in the URL and the like. However, my display name would be "Goofy." The only place people would see "Amaury" would be in the URL, much how if people have a different nickname on Discord, the only place to see the person's base username is in the ID.



Hi, @Plums!

 

It's not uncommon for sites to employ a feature that lets them default the usernames of long-inactive members to something more of a placeholder name; I think vBulletin forums have something like that, so I'd wager that XF might have a similar function. It certainly doesn't seem unfair (at least from my perspective) to default someone's username to something else if they haven't been on in 5+ years.

The confusion of name changes can be largely mitigated, first by only allowing a limited number of name changes in the long term, and secondly by keeping an active, public list on who is/was who. That's just how I see most places doing it, if that offers anything worth considering.

 

Sorry about the late reply! I mentioned this to staff so we could get back to you, and here's what was said:

"I think part of the issue with that, is members still sometimes show back up after being away for 6, 7 years, If they suddenly can't log onto their account because we changed their name on them, it would be a little unfair. I get that some people sign up and don't use the account, but there is always a chance people do come back and they need to a) have access to their account if they try to log on with their user name b) shouldn't feel pushed away by their username being taken from them because they left the site for a while. For the most part there is ways around having the same name as someone else, you just have to be creative about it."

While I do agree that it's frustrating to not be able to use the name you like because it was taken by someone who hasn't been online in several years, there is a good point about them not ever being able to access old accounts again if the username is changed. Sorry. :(

 

Let's change this suggestion, then, to Cal's. Hers makes more sense.

 

We do have nicknames enabled on the Discord server, but I don't know if it's possible to set it up for the site. I'll ask the other staff and get back to you as soon as possible, okay? :)

 

Buuuump. Did this ever get figured out? I’m guessing this may be something that Libre would have control of and or would know if it’s possible or not.

 

Ah yes, sorry, I thought I'd been clear enough in post #5, but I guess not, lol. XD It was decided that we can't justify deactivating accounts from the past for the sake of giving username priority to others. Especially now that we're already seeing old members return due to KHIII. Usernames are half the way to even log in at all, so taking away a username prevents old users from being able to return, and we don't want that.

I know it sucks (because Marluxia and Rachel are both taken so I can't have them lol) but that's how things just have to be.

 

Oh I knew about the deactivation part, but I meant the idea of like, if there was a plug-in that would give you a “nickname” like how discord does, so you’d retain your username for logging in but on the display it would be different

 

Ah, okay. I haven't heard from anyone regarding the existence of such a plug-in for Xenforo, sorry. That said, it doesn't mean we can't do it in the future, but with everything else we're working on right now, I don't think we'll be able to do research into this plug-in at this time. If we can, we'll look into it further, but for now, I'm afraid it's going to be a "maybe next year."

 

I knew this was about the username Goofy! Every few years it pops up.

 

you could always put something like, i dunno, a star in your name or an underscore or a blank character?