No Name Change - Reasons?

I can't say that I was given a reason, but I can think of one good one. For some time, there's been a problem with individuals buying accounts of members who no longer wish to keep them, and the older the better. Once purchased, the new owner requests a name change. Now we have a brand new member with a profile that goes back potentially for years and thousands of posts.

One suggestion...

I've seen other members do this, even back when name changes were allowed. Change the tag line under your name to something like "formerly [old name]". If you have a touch of purple in you, you could use "the Warrior formerly known as [old name]".

If you have a 2008 acct here with posts in it - starting over is foolish.



I don't think the forum owners owe anyone a "reason" - there are several good reasons I can think of. Until two years ago you could have changed your name - now you can't. However, you can still have your name shown by doing what John suggested above. Many others have done that.

I thought about this the last couple of years. It didn't dawn on me because I have always been in Non- MMO Niches until 2014 so my name and all that wasn't an issue until then.

But as Kay says I have been here since 2008 and my username is branded halfway decent plus I put my Name under my avatar which works out fine.

Anyway, I wouldn't sweat it too much, really. It's funny how we blow these things up in our own Mind as I was guilty of this myself. The fact is everyone else could care less which is all that matters


- Robert Andrew

Funny thing - I know who "discrat" is but when I see your posts I notice the REAL name before anything else. You get to have both - good forum name and good name recognition.

I'm still trying to figure out 'poopybicycles' - or maybe trying NOT to figure it out....

Between forum names and delusional geography of locations ..it's a jungle in here.

Some time ago, my boss decided to use the company name for SEO and not a personal name. I sent emails to various forums and luckily, some admin are kind enough to change my name while others just don't care,

I always wondered how you came up with that. Never made the connection with 'disc rat'.

Kay's right. I see "discrat" and think "Robert Andrew".

If one use his real name it would better for him, but some writer use a pen name. In the online sector, if there is any ID & password problem, most of the site ask to show them any proof of their name, such as National ID card/ Passport/ Driving License or any ID Card with photo. So I support to use the Real name. Thanks for your advance...

Today you do - but apparently not yesterday when you joined? Or is your name Hard Warker?

Sorry, couldn't resist....

- Broken links
- Can hinder narrative in discussions e.g. if I changed mine to my business name like I want to, people will be wondering who vedremo is and why people are referring to him.
- Where does it end? What limits?

Some easy work arounds with 301's (302's if there's going to be no limits?), "Formerly {prev.username}" on profile etc if it was a priority / sound business case. Think there's a lot more bigger things personally.

In my opinion usernames are given too much weight here and a Quora model adopted. e.g. real names only. I can see the beginnings of this with the social login.

Currently way too many duplicate accounts, particularly those with business interests. If they start selling social media services suddenly we see username "supremesmm" in the marketplace saying they've been a member for years despite the new profile. 3 months later it's an inactive account when they realise running a business is more than a username. It drags integrity of whole forum down.

Pretty sure nothing to do with Freelancer.

Great tip by John and the probable reasoning as well.

I actually requested to have an old account deleted and that is also no longer an option.

Somebody registered my profile name as corny as it was as their Domain name.

But I had a very successful WSO on that old profile with over 16 beautiful pages of positive comments sniff!

Where is the teary eyed button? That would darn near be a mission impossible feat these days but I try any way.

Art

Why not listed your "previous name" as the second line now...such as

"a/k/a 'name'"