Allowing username change, is it good?

[Little Mouse]

Within last couple of months, a few users have changed their username. This creates a confusion. For example, today when I check the Spam Buster Club thread, I just had surprised that how can the thread creator be changed. I used to know who the creator is but he is not the one there. For a moment, I forgot that theymos sometimes changes username on request. Now, if someone had business with an user of the forum and came back after a long time, how much confuse will he be? What do you think? Is it a good idea to allow changing username? I do not oppose it but it seems it may create issue in future.

[iamsheikhadil]

I think a change in username should be allowed as long as their own username keeps attached to them like in their forum profile it can be shown their old username or their old username profile link redirects to their new username profile.

I think it's a good idea to able to change username. The spammers and scammers are exceptional, majority of users would love to use it to change their usernames for good reasons like if it's name revealing etc.

[Raytheon]

I used to know who the creator is but he is not the one there. For a moment, I forgot that theymos sometimes changes username on request.

Nah, that guy sacrificed 50 BTC and "VIP" title for the name change: (jk)

I had some 50 btc lying around and I just thought, why not  change my name just for fun?

The spammers and scammers are exceptional, majority of users would love to use it to change their usernames for good reasons like if it's name revealing etc.

That's the problem. There are many spammers and scammers who aren't being tagged. They can leverage the username change feature to change identities and then continue their dirty work.

In general, I think changing username shouldn't be allowed. This is a forum, not a game - where you can freely change your character's name.

[logfiles]

If Username change was allowed to be done by anyone. There would be too much chaos and mayhem and scammers would use it to their advantage to confuse some other members.

For example they would make a deal or an Ann,  scam someone then change the username just before a scam accusation is made and this would confuse the victims.

I believe Theymos receives so many requests to change usernames but he probably does the favor for a few reputable and old members who might have genuine reason to change their usernames without having to donate that 50 BTC first.

[UserU]

Its never a good idea man. I rather not see people with multiple personality disorders posting.

Easy for scammers to "run" too. Imagine seeing a theymos_original with a bunch of negative reps.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Few users have been granted that request by theymos and we all knew that reputation is also part of this decision and if you are an established member of this forum. However, some exception could be made like this case:

Yes, a change from alia_armelle to alia is a minor change which I would normally do for anyone who can convince me to spend time on it. (If I recognize your username, I'm much more likely to handle your requests. I'm also much more likely to look into your scam accusations...)

I never accept payment for this sort of thing.

Likely its a case to case basis and depends on theymos judgement.

_{But like others point of view.  Changing username could do some confusion and harm to such situation like potential scam deal}

[Rikafip]

That's the problem. There are many spammers and scammers who aren't being tagged. They can leverage the username change feature to change identities and then continue their dirty work.

I don't think that username change is something that is done easily/hastily. Not in this case, and not in those cases few months ago. AFAIK, all those that got their name change request approved were long standing and reputable members on the forum, that wanted to change the name for various reasons. Some random spammer can submit request for name change, but I honestly think that chances of him getting positive answer are slim to none (unless he churns out 50 BTC).

[LoyceV]

It's confusing in a community, but since it doesn't happen that often, I think we can manage

My main concern is how it complicates my Trust list viewer, which relies on my list of usernames.

[Raytheon]

That's the problem. There are many spammers and scammers who aren't being tagged. They can leverage the username change feature to change identities and then continue their dirty work.

I don't think that username change is something that is done easily/hastily. Not in this case, and not in those cases few months ago. AFAIK, all those that got their name change request approved were long standing and reputable members on the forum, that wanted to change the name for various reasons. Some random spammer can submit request for name change, but I honestly think that chances of him getting positive answer are slim to none (unless he churns out 50 BTC).

Maybe the OP didn't point out the problem clearly enough. I and some people in this thread thought that he was mentioning about username change in a massive scale. Yes, if username change must be submitted as requests and needs approving from admin then it's fine, although some jealousy may arise. Anyway, my point remains, username change shouldn't be allowed.

[Upgrade00]

As long as it is done with discretion from yhe admins, then username change is not a big issue and would not have a negative effect on the community in terms of scam evasion.
However I would suggest an official log on such changes stating clearly the old username and the new one. I believe something of this sort was done by a member, I don't know if it's still updated. An official list will be more accurate. So any user who is unsure of who they're dealing with can visit such thread to check if any changes were made on the profile.
Something like:

Old username	New Username	User id	Date of change	Forum rank
_________________	__________	____________	___________________	____________________
xxx	xxx	xxx	xxx	xxx

Now, if someone had business with an user of the forum and came back after a long time, how much confuse will he be?

This would solve this issue and it will due to the low number of name change requests that are sent and accepted, it would be fairly easy to keep updated.

[crwth]

If some member has previous transactions and didn't interfere with anything, I think. it's okay. It's going to be weird at first, but they can immediately connect the dots if they have a different username. It doesn't affect so much unless that person managed to scam people and then just changed the username. That's highly unlikely, though.

[Krislaw]

The user we are talking about here has a good background history in this forum and change of name isn't something that happens often. Theymos only do that for users with good background if I'm correct.
Maybe a log would help or a tag on such user's profile.

[Asuspawer09]

It's confusing in a community, but since it doesn't happen that often, I think we can manage

My main concern is how it complicates my Trust list viewer, which relies on my list of usernames.

That could be a great feature to have here in the forum but your reason is enough already to not allow to change usernames here in the forum .

It could create confusion to other users even if the username change is recorded the forum just work out something with the username, and could also create web bugs in the websites because of the trust list history We just don't know if it could handle it.

As long as it is done with discretion from yhe admins, then username change is not a big issue and would not have a negative effect on the community in terms of scam evasion.
However I would suggest an official log on such changes stating clearly the old username and the new one. I believe something of this sort was done by a member, I don't know if it's still updated. An official list will be more accurate. So any user who is unsure of who they're dealing with can visit such thread to check if any changes were made on the profile.
Something like:

Old username	New Username	User id	Date of change	Forum rank
_________________	__________	____________	___________________	____________________
xxx	xxx	xxx	xxx	xxx

Now, if someone had business with an user of the forum and came back after a long time, how much confuse will he be?

This would solve this issue and it will due to the low number of name change requests that are sent and accepted, it would be fairly easy to keep updated.

I thought of something like that too but I think the forum just works this way, and even if we did that it will still go to create confusion. A unique user ID or ID number could do it but we already started without it.

Another thing is a lot of users here in the forum might abuse this feature.

[Upgrade00]

A unique user ID or ID number could do it but we already started without it.

Every profile has a unique user id, it's the last digits on the profile link.
Your profile link - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1136961
Your user id would be - 1136961
Even if the display name is changed the Id number remains the same.

[Asuspawer09]

A unique user ID or ID number could do it but we already started without it.

Every profile has a unique user id, it's the last digits on the profile link.
Your profile link - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1136961
Your user id would be - 1136961
Even if the display name is changed the Id number remains the same.

Oww yeah, I forgot about that my mistake!

Still doesn't recommend since the ID number is not recognizable and we don't use it more often to identify a user, its more likely the username so it should not be change .

[Bttzed03]

~ Now, if someone had business with an user of the forum and came back after a long time, how much confuse will he be? What do you think? Is it a good idea to allow changing username? I do not oppose it but it seems it may create issue in future.

@asu did an "experiment" before where he tried to re-register a username of an old account. Impersonation was the real danger here but it looks like the recreating of accounts has been taken cared by the admin.

~
Nah, that guy sacrificed 50 BTC and "VIP" title for the name change: (jk)

I had some 50 btc lying around and I just thought, why not  change my name just for fun?

Don't forget to insert sarcasm  

I think a change in username should be allowed as long as their own username keeps attached to them like in their forum profile it can be shown their old username  

Something like this "TheBeardedBaby formerly iasenko" ? If so, what's the point of changing username?

or their old username profile link redirects to their new username profile.

Changing usernames doesn't change the link to the profile.

~ Maybe a log would help or a tag on such user's profile.

There was a list before but some members opposed it.
 

[masulum]

The main concern if anyone can change their username of course they will change it frequently as they want. I know we can use a codes to limit it to prevent abusing feature. but let's thinking about something negative such as scamming possibility, when member want to scamming people and have similar activity with real account, they can use this feature. Even we have a list of member who make a change, i believe not all member will read that thread.

And some member already proven if theymos accepted member to change their username, but you need to meet requirement. What requirement? I don't know much about that. Maybe one of them as mentioned by @krislaw in this posts

-snip-

[LoyceV]

However I would suggest an official log on such changes stating clearly the old username and the new one. I believe something of this sort was done by a member

That idea ended here:

Why are you guys posting the old names of people who clearly needed their names changed for privacy reasons? Obviously any data posted online is going to be quickly archived somewhere, but that doesn't mean that your highlighting/reposting of it has no effect. In some cases you may literally be putting lives in danger. If you were investigating a scam or something, that'd be different, but you seem to just be indiscriminately & recklessly dredging up data that would best be forgotten.

If someone wants to publish their name change, they can simply put it in their personal text.

My main concern is how it complicates my Trust list viewer, which relies on my list of usernames.

That could be a great feature to have here in the forum but your reason is enough already to not allow to change usernames here in the forum .

An easy solution would be to show userIDs instead of user names in trust.txt.xz, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet.

[Little Mouse]

Nah, that guy sacrificed 50 BTC and "VIP" title for the name change: (jk)

Lol, was not that a joke? I can not see him VIP tag on his profile.

The user we are talking about here has a good background history in this forum and change of name isn't something that happens often. Theymos only do that for users with good background if I'm correct.
Maybe a log would help or a tag on such user's profile.

It is not about any certain user, it is not about iasenko or any other user. I created this topic in general for the discussion of impact on changing username.
Theymos reason behind the idea is good although.

[Lachrymose]

I don't think that changing the username will be allowed if there are more members here in the future but a person who has been actively using the forum for years should have the right to change his username for various reasons. Theymos previously expressed his thoughts on this issue and said that he rarely allows some members with special reasons to change their usernames for now.