Can someone change my username?

[Celes Chere]

It baffles me that name changes//AKA is this confusing to everyone
I mean even if we change our names the AKA will ALWAYS be the same (besides the most recently added in name or whatever) and usually our signatures stay the same but idk. I really don't think it should be the big deal it always is

but I did notice the two week rule has been buried. If you don't want people to change their names every week then stay true to that rule again.

 

[Tifabelle]

to be fair, signatures don't usually stay the same. When people do a name change to a character, they change the avatar & sig to match.

But yeah... most people's AKA fields don't change. And speaking of rules, I thought there was a new rule that the AKA field had to be updated before a name change. So that's the mods' responsibility.

 

[ForceStealer]

The admin who makes the change could probably update it at the same time (not wanting to create extra work for them or anything though), so the old name would be visible immediately.

Yeah that was tried before and caused a shitstorm.

As was stated, right now the AKA doesn't change either except for the addition of a name. But having just one makes reasonable sense to me. I don't really care as long as it's consistent and isn't done under the premise that "people should just know who we are."

 

[Cookie Monster]

This is why I only have 4 names in my aka field, even tho I've used a plethora of other names. And, I've been wanting to remove Rick Grimes since I didn't use it that long, but I'm too lazy.

Also considering a change to Don Draper, btw. Sooooo into Mad Men right now.

 

[Ⓐaron]

The problem with having just one name listed is that most people are referred to by several names, and if the name listed isn't one people remember them using, then that will be no help to those people at all.

 

[Cookie Monster]

If you've had V & Aaron in your aka field this entire time, which you have, I'm pretty damn sure I'll know who you are regardless of what name you're using now.

I've never seen anyone consistently call you The Kenosha Kid, Matthew Sobol, Ford Prefect, Willie the Pimp, Nestor Makhno, Vampire Potter, Roger Sterling, Captain America, Tyrion Lannister, or Tobias Fünke. Actually, I don't even remember you using most of those names.

 

[Ⓐaron]

My point is that if someone was here when I used one of my lesser-known screen names, didn't look at my aka field then, went away for awhile, and then came back now, they would have absolutely no idea who I am. I don't expect everyone to be as pedantic as I am about including every SN I've ever used here, because the odds of anyone fitting that description are indeed rather low, but I feel that recent screen names at least should be included because there are likely to be people who don't look at or remember the contents of aka fields.

 

[Tifabelle]

But if you always have Aaron in there, then it doesn't matter what your username was or is. They'll recognize you by that.

 

[Zee]

I keep theme names sometimes if I'm planning on switching back, but tbh I think theme names should be removed after a week or to so as not to discourage someone else from joining/restarting it.

Having 10 names in your AKA field is always going to be more confusing than just having one or two.

My point is that if someone was here when I used one of my lesser-known screen names, didn't look at my aka field then, went away for awhile, and then came back now, they would have absolutely no idea who I am.

But you always have V in your aka field
and you always type in a distinct font

 

[Ⓐaron]

But if you always have Aaron in there, then it doesn't matter what your username was or is. They'll recognize you by that.

Unless they have no idea that I'm called Aaron, which may be the case with some new members. The font, signature, and other things would also be giveaways, but some people might have those disabled.

 

[Joker]

If someone does not look at an aka field, it seems like that is their own problem. But if someone consistently has the same userbame or two in their aka field, it does not seem unreasonable to expect people to remember 'okay, karkat is the person with celes cheer in her aka field. Wait now the person with that aka field is named dudley do-right I guess she changed her name."

Yes I'm using the first person that came to mind. I WONDER WHY THAT IS TIFF

 

[Alex]

If you've had V & Aaron in your aka field this entire time, which you have, I'm pretty damn sure I'll know who you are regardless of what name you're using now.

I've never seen anyone consistently call you The Kenosha Kid, Matthew Sobol, Ford Prefect, Willie the Pimp, Nestor Makhno, Vampire Potter, Roger Sterling, Captain America, Tyrion Lannister, or Tobias Fünke. Actually, I don't even remember you using most of those names.

Shut up John Dillinger.

 

[Tifabelle]

Unless they have no idea that I'm called Aaron, which may be the case with some new members. The font, signature, and other things would also be giveaways, but some people might have those disabled.

It doesn't matter whether they know people call you that, or that it was a previous username, or w/e. If it's always there, that's how they recognize that you are the same person even after a name change.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Flintlock just said that he doesn't remember everyone's aka fields. If there are other people like that then we obviously can't depend on people to recognise us by just our most frequently used aliases. Yes we could demand that people just remember people's aka fields, but asking people to remember the contents of the aka field in addition to their usernames might be asking too much of new users.

 

[Tifabelle]

well if they're not using the aka field, then I don't see how putting another username in there will help.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Because if it's the username they used most recently, they'll be able to recognise it after the name change. Bear in mind it's not necessarily that people aren't using the aka field, but that they can't remember whose aka field has what contents. However, adding the most recent username won't necessarily help unless everyone has it in a consistent place (like, say, the end of the field).

 

[Cookie Monster]

We really just need that ACF feature that recorded previous usernames automatically in the profile.

 

[Ⓐaron]

We really just need that ACF feature that recorded previous usernames automatically in the profile.

Yes, that would be ideal. Unfortunately I don't think there's an existing version for this version of vBulletin, and I can't seem to code anything functional for it. And I think Yop just doesn't care enough.

 

[Madame Mayor]

I suppose an option would be to have a category on profiles for name changes. This would be something that members of TLS would have to agree is the right place a mod has access to update, and can be updated at the same time as a name change is made.

This way there's a place for big long lists, but your aka field can stay small and relevant. It would also require a way to let new members know that the best way to keep track of someone is to check out the aka field rather than the username. And, if that fails to help identify, one can go to the big long list on profiles.




Also... vote you bitches: http://thelifestream.net/forums/showthread.php?p=404877

 

[Cookie Monster]

Just to let you know, I cba to do all that shit. I say we let the n00bs drown in a torrent of usernames.

 

[Ⓐaron]

I could be arsed. If no one else could be arsed I would even be willing to take on the responsibility of handling all name changes going forward.

 

[Cookie Monster]

I was just joking. But if that's what it's going to take, so be it.

 

[looneymoon]

but asking people to remember the contents of the aka field in addition to their usernames might be asking too much of new users.

but they dont have to remember usernames so long as you remember at least one constant in the aka field? i mean, i don't think it should matter if i have ten or one username in the aka, so long as that one (in my case it'd probably be looneymoon) never changes.

honestly, i think whatever you want to be known as should go in the aka. i've had the username "kanaya" for a long time but it's still a little odd when people refer to me as that username. not that it matters, but it still seems more natural to be referred to as "looneymoon" or "looney" since that's my one constant alias when i'm not participating in themes.

 

[Joker]

If someone is having trouble remembering aka fields, which is something that's uh...right there on the left part of every post...then I'd think that maybe they just have trouble remembering names.

I don't see how that is due to any shortcoming on anyone's part to fill out their aka field. I mean, it wouldn't matter what is in the aka field if you don't remember, right? Maybe it's just from not being around us for very long or sonething, idk.

Now I'm rambling and I forgot why I started this post. ._.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Well, think of it this way. Usernames are one thing to remember. The correlation between usernames and aka fields is another thing to remember. Having to remember both amounts to twice as much data to remember, which, when you're new and don't know anyone, is a lot. There are a lot of users here, and many of them change their usernames almost weekly. It's hard enough just to keep users straight without having to add an entire new field to the mix.

Honestly, I think having the field only visible in the profile which is updated by staff is probably the most comprehensive way to deal with it. If it's updated by staff then presumably it will be done in a consistent manner (with most recent usernames either first or last) so if someone wants to see a user's most recent username they only have to look. We could just ask users to do that, I guess, but it's hard enough just to get them to update the aka field when they change their name. Having it done by staff in a field only visible on the user page would keep a comprehensive reference for people who are confused while allowing users close to complete control over what gets put in their postbit (obviously the aka field would still have to identify them, of course).