Larry and I just discussed the idea of having a "lottery" system for usernames which are freed up through an eventual user deletion system for dropping inactive users -- if we even build such a thing.
I told Larry I wanted to build it auction-style, but Larry's not keen on the idea of turning AP into a "currency" to spend on things, and instead came up with the idea of a lottery where we let 100 qualifying users put their account into a pool to "win" a new username. Qualifying, of course, would depend on when you last changed your username, etc.
I like my username as it is, so I don't think I'd want to have a lottery for it. Also, how many people would want one name? Unless they wanted it to begin and someone already had that...
Peter20, the lottery idea was for users who had been inactive for like a year or more, to delete their accounts, and have a lottery system to give that old username to users who *want* to change their current username.
The biggest example, is a username "1337" who has been inactive for quite a while. If we were to delete this account, there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of users who would love to get the opportunity to grab this username for themselves.
Overall, though, we're not really looking into this any more. If we do implement something like this, it will be done a long time from now.
I really don't care either way good or bad. I like my name though of course there are some names people really want... It may confusion...but go for it!
Ok i don't know if this has been mentioned or not(I read the first and second page then didn't feel like reading 3 lol). What if someone moves and they have to get internet again and their parents can't afford it immediately then their account gets auctioned off or if they live alone and can't get internet and their account gets auctioned off. I don't want to completely bash this idea, it's a good idea but i thought that i would bring that idea up just to include this idea in this thread.
Well, the original idea is to only put the deleted usernames into the lottery, which are accounts that have been inactive for quite some time, a period that is longer than a vacationing and shorter than too much of a wait. So if there is a reasonable time limit before an account is deleted, then this idea can pull off.
Yeah, I still don't like this idea. What if I went to college and was inactive for a while. Then when I went to activate my profile, I found my account didn't exist anymore and there was another Joe96. Maybe there could be something where if you know you aren't going to be on the site, you could say you are leaving and then someone else could have the name that way.
Yeah, a consent system would be good. I think that, if you did change your username, there would be a little label saying "my last username was 'xxxxx'" This way people could say, Oh, I know this person.
Maybe there could be a list on the signup page with cool, unused names, for people who can't think of any. Of course, it would have to be updated whenever someone made an account with that name, so no one tried to use a name twice.
Maybe there could be a list on the signup page with cool, unused names, for people who can't think of any.
THIS idea I like. When registering there can be a button with names to pick from that have been used, but are from unused, deleted accounts. Banned users are still in the database, so those names shouldn't be a problem.
