[Submission] Username and User Title Changes

[Tay]

Log of Username Changes

In accordance with forum rules (link), username changes are to be recorded by admins on this thread.

 

CHANGES

Naomi -> ~Mayumi~ 1/19/2014

Potocki ->  Tom 1/24/2014

DarkDarkDark -> Izuru 1/30/2014

 

 

Original Post:

Hey everybody!

 

A long time ago, in anticipation of forums features which have not-yet seen the light of day, I disabled username-changing and the ability to edit a user's "user title".  On-and-off through Fuwanovel's history, people were allowed to change these once they hit a certain post limit, or by begging certain weak-willed moderators  .

 

 

Here are the fields I'm referring to:

 

The history of why these two features were disabled is really long, and the reasons for them change often.  They weren't meant as creative suppression, or punishment.  Most recently, they were disabled to pave the way for a badge-system upgrade I'm working on.

 

The point:

How important is it to you fine folks to:

1) Be able to change your username;

2) Be able to change your user title?

 

And if it is important to change one/both of them, what qualifications (such as post count, frequency, etc.) are reasonable to regulate these changes?

 

 

Please respond to the above points.  If you'd like to know a little more about my opinion, feel free to read below.  Thanks for your time!

 

---

 

Yuyuko Saigyouji (who I now believe is the artist formerly known as "Kaguya") wrote an impassioned plea for freedom today in a PM.  I wanted to make sure I know how the wider user base feels about this, and also explain my personal opinion (which isn't the law, but it is important to sway if you want change ).

 

Title Changes: I'm totally fine with user title changes.  There have been problems in the past, but as long as we can agree that titles shouldn't be offensive, hateful, or sexual, then I'm okay with opening them up.  The question for me is what criteria should we attach to these changes?

 

Username Changes: Speaking only for myself, I really do not like username changes.  They're confusing (like the whole Kaguya/Yuyuko Saigyouji thing today), have been abused before, and could lead to problems on a lot of levels.  I'm really hesitant about unleashing this power, and would rather keep things as they are: "If you want to change your username, write an admin with a good reason, and we'll happily do it on our end."

 

I don't mean to be a killjoy about this.  If a lot of people feel differently about this, please let me know.  But you'll also need to convince me that it's a safe and reasonable policy.

[Guest madoka12345]

_{Atleast let someone do it once. Not on a weekly basis.}

_{I am not fond of "advanced member"}

 

_{And  I think I would like to get rid of these numbers in my name as well.}

[Nosebleed]

I remember Yuyuko Saigyouji mentioning these changes in a PM discussion when we were talking about what titles we wanted. I remember being a bit sad that it was disabled when I was about to reach the post goal.

 

In regards to the questions

1) I think that username changes are a feature that should not be abused, just like you said. It can be confusing when one changes name frequently and you lose track of that user. But sometimes you feel like your username is getting old or you just think you weren't thinking straight when you created that username. In these stances i think it's fairly nice to allow username changing. However freely changing the usernames whenever someone feels like it is wrong in my opinion. If there's a suggestion I can make, username changes if implemented at some point again, should only be admin/staff aproved and there should be a minimum time gap between each username change, let's say 90 days for example, these are just my thoughts. I don't plan on changing my username but I recognise it's still a feature that for some users can come in hand. I do not agree with it being freely used though.

 

2) I find title changes important mainly for the reason that it's unique. It defines you as a user. Just like you mentioned in your post, as long as it's not something made to be offensive or sexual, title changes are unique to every user and when i found out about it i was pretty eager to get one and set myself appart from other users. It's not that it changes anything in particular but I think it's a nice little touch of exclusivity for one to have. Something you want to obtain but have to be productive to get, that's how i see it. Regarding the limit I think the previous 500 posts was perfectly reasonable. Regarding the safety of the titles I think the only way to do something about it is having to PM a Staff member with the desired title change. And to make my point more valid I believe the title change should only be allowed once, that is what makes it exclusive and unique.

 

If i can leave one personal opinion. I think most of the fuwanovel community is considerate enough to respect the rules regarding this, or at least the people i've seen and the more active users. That's why I don't think at least the title change should be taken away as I don't believe it'll be abused in the future. A person that has reached 500 posts (or whatever the limit might be) has to have some common sense regarding this. That's what i think at least.

[Flutterz]

I pretty much completely agree with you on both counts.

While I can certainly understand the desire to change your username (for example you registered intending to only ask a single question, ended up staying and didn't want everyone to know you as iansgasd1234), it's also a pain when someone changes their name and you have no idea who you're talking to all of a sudden. Same actually goes for avatars, but I understand that it's completely unreasonable to have people not being able to change theirs.

If you were to add title changes, I'm sure that would suppress at least some of the expressive urges that drive people to change their names. At the same time, I'm sure it'd be doubly nice to have a post count requirement for this, because then people would feel like it's something that they've earned. 100 posts maybe? 500? As for frequency, you should have something that doesn't have you waiting for ages before you can change your title, but not to the extent that someone can change theirs at the slightest whim. Once every week seems like a reasonable time restriction to me.

[nohman]

Custom titles are fun and pretty standard for forum communities. They're nothing substantial, but they add to the user experience. I can see how it could be abused though. I didn't even know they were disabled, I was sort of looking forward to reaching the previous required post count.

 

As for username changes, I was a little surprised when I discovered you could change your username on here and that you could do it so freely. A username change can be confusing, but I guess that in itself isn't too harmful. This is just me, but I wouldn't want to do it. It seems strange to build and invest in an online identity within a community and then change it. I think having to PM an admin would be the best and most safe way of having username changes.

[Steve]

Username change: If there is a possibility to give everyone 1 name change and that's it, it would be the ideal way - I for example started with my generic username and changed it right away to Steve so I can separate my login information and my name on forums, which is useful in many ways. But as we have seen some people changed their username on weekly basis and that is clearly a misuse of the feature.

 

User title: I think that having custom user title that is not offensive is quite fun, I have min after all set. Hard to say if use reputation or posts - since now games and chatter is not tracking posts (or is it?), the post limit might be good, 500 posts worked fine.

Alternatively it can be reputation, but I wouldn't want this to turn into forum where you beg for rep in your posts, if I like a post I might decide to rep, if I write a post I don't expect to get rep and if I get it, I have notification enabled to see who actually liked my post and it gives me feedback on what people do and don't like - and that's how it should be used, not to use it as a goal or bragging system.

So in I would actually recommend NOT using reputation as a criteria for any reward, as the feedback you get through the rep system is reward in itself So I'd say 500 posts.

[Tay]

This topic will remain open for a while yet, so I encourage people to keep sharing their thoughts/discussing the points raised by others.

 

For conversation's sake, how would people feel about this approach?:

 

Username Changes: Allowed, but not built into the system.  To change your username, email an admin (right now the active ones would be Nayleen and I) with the desired username and your reason.  Alternately, I suppose we could make a username change request topic, but it doesn't seem quite as elegant a solution.

 

User Title Changes: Restore the 500+ posts rule.  Freely change-able after that mark, but no offensive/sexual titles.  (Title changes wouldn't require mod approval, but mods can remove them if they're either offensive or sexual)

[Nosebleed]

That approach seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Username changes  should only be allowed with a valid reason.

The title change is fine as well, returning to the way it was previously, nothing bad happened then. 

In my opinion of course.

[Luch]

That sounds good to me.

[Steve]

That sounds good to me.

 

You better start posting so you can set your title 'Time Vampire'~

 

 

DAMN ITS LATE, Luch struck again and my time disappeared

 

 

 

 

This topic will remain open for a while yet, so I encourage people to keep sharing their thoughts/discussing the points raised by others.

 

For conversation's sake, how would people feel about this approach?:

 

Username Changes: Allowed, but not built into the system.  To change your username, email an admin (right now the active ones would be Nayleen and I) with the desired username and your reason.  Alternately, I suppose we could make a username change request topic, but it doesn't seem quite as elegant a solution.

 

User Title Changes: Restore the 500+ posts rule.  Freely change-able after that mark, but no offensive/sexual titles.  (Title changes wouldn't require mod approval, but mods can remove them if they're either offensive or sexual)

 

sounds about right, as for the change request, if there is option to require mod/admin approval for name change, that would be the way but I guess such function is not there and it is either freely changeable or not changeable at all?

[Stanleys]

I like it. That system seems perfectly reasonable

[Guest madoka12345]

ah no, I need to wait a while to title change then.

[Tay]

 if there is option to require mod/admin approval for name change, that would be the way but I guess such function is not there and it is either freely changeable or not changeable at all?

Yeah, unfortunately the only two ways to control display name changes are either: 1) post counts, or 2) Can change display name "X" times per month.

 

Thus my inclination towards taking it out of the UI and making it a request system.

[Nayleen]

This topic will remain open for a while yet, so I encourage people to keep sharing their thoughts/discussing the points raised by others.

 

For conversation's sake, how would people feel about this approach?:

 

Username Changes: Allowed, but not built into the system.  To change your username, email an admin (right now the active ones would be Nayleen and I) with the desired username and your reason.  Alternately, I suppose we could make a username change request topic, but it doesn't seem quite as elegant a solution.

 

User Title Changes: Restore the 500+ posts rule.  Freely change-able after that mark, but no offensive/sexual titles.  (Title changes wouldn't require mod approval, but mods can remove them if they're either offensive or sexual)

Agreed, name changes are not something that should happen frequently.

[Zakamutt]

I agree with your proposition in general, Tay. I'm not sure if 500 should be the cutoff for posts though, something somewhat lower might be better. That said, 500 certainly worked fine in the past, so should cause no unneeded drama at that level. Having it high did motivate me to make more posts in the intro forum, so I suppose that's good some people are a bit too lazy in welcoming topics in my opinion but oh well .

 

I also agree with Flutterz about avatar changes often being silly, but many people seem to disagree lol

[Steve]

I also agree with Flutterz about avatar changes often being silly, but many people seem to disagree lol

 

I feel you, every time sometimes changes avatar I don't recognize them anymore xD And what is even worse if someone changes avatar (or signature image) and some other person changes avatar to what the previous person used to have.

Like when batman changed the monogatari loli to something else and Kendjin changed his thing to the monogatari loli I always thought its batman posting while it was actually someone else :/

So I read the whole post in batman voice in my head and then realized its not actually batman!

[solidbatman]

 

Like when batman changed the monogatari loli to something else and Kendjin changed his thing to the monogatari loli I always thought its batman posting while it was actually someone else :/

So I read the whole post in batman voice in my head and then realized its not actually batman!

A tragedy indeed. 

[Kaguya]

This topic will remain open for a while yet, so I encourage people to keep sharing their thoughts/discussing the points raised by others.

 

For conversation's sake, how would people feel about this approach?:

 

Username Changes: Allowed, but not built into the system.  To change your username, email an admin (right now the active ones would be Nayleen and I) with the desired username and your reason.  Alternately, I suppose we could make a username change request topic, but it doesn't seem quite as elegant a solution.

 

User Title Changes: Restore the 500+ posts rule.  Freely change-able after that mark, but no offensive/sexual titles.  (Title changes wouldn't require mod approval, but mods can remove them if they're either offensive or sexual)

 

I'd like to vote for the second option on the "username change", but I guess it's fine that way too~

And yeah, restoring titles with the usual +500 should work. I know this is kind of bland, but I already wrote everything that I thought to you on that pm. Thanks~

 

Also, gravatars were disabled. It would be nice if you enabled them again.

 

Quoting from Nayleen on this thread:

http://forums.fuwano...efault +picture

 

" I disabled Gravatars for the time being so people even see this, because Gravatar keeps displaying the old one regardless of what I try - its cache simply doesn't expire. Gravatars will be back, that I promise and am very sorry to have caused you problems."

[Steve]

...

 

who are you! Aah its Kaguya in a disguise - this is exactly why you should not change your name once you have 10+ posts.

 

- which actually might be a good idea, Tay is it possible to have a MAX post count till which you can change your name (since nobody knows you yet that well) and once you are over it only admin could change it?

That way newly registered people could change their name to be different from login name but people with some posts would keep the same so it doesn't cause confusion on the board

 

 

OR

 

have a name history displayed on every post xD

[solidbatman]

I kind of want users to be able to change them without having to contact an admin. Use the limited number of changes a month method and if a user has reason to go over, contact an admin. You guys really don't need anymore work than you already have. 

[Tay]

 

who are you! Aah its Kaguya in a disguise - this is exactly why you should not change your name once you have 10+ posts.

 

- which actually might be a good idea, Tay is it possible to have a MAX post count till which you can change your name (since nobody knows you yet that well) and once you are over it only admin could change it? 

That way newly registered people could change their name to be different from login name but people with some posts would keep the same so it doesn't cause confusion on the board 

Like I mentioned above, unfortunately there isn't.  

 

I kind of want users to be able to change them without having to contact an admin. Use the limited number of changes a month method and if a user has reason to go over, contact an admin. You guys really don't need anymore work than you already have. 

As far as the work involves goes: it takes ~10 seconds for us to change a username.  My main concern is to feel out whether or not people really want this functionality.

 

 

Thanks for continuing to offer input, everybody!

[Guest]

As long as nobody with the audacity to complain about anybody who has one but doesn't have 500+ posts says anything, I support this motion completely--and I'm actually not even referring to my own title regarding this.

[Tay]

As long as nobody with the audacity to complain about anybody who has one but doesn't have 500+ posts says anything, I support this motion completely--and I'm actually not even referring to my own title regarding this.

Oh, thanks a bunch Naomi -- I wanted to comment on this!

 

500 posts is a lot.  I realize this.  Originally in my head, I was thinking, "How could a user change their user title before 500 posts?  Maybe it could be given as a reward! For either working on the site, or reading Batman's blog, or making a walkthrough, etc."

 

We'd need a list of applicable deeds-rewards, but I think title changes are fun and should be encouraged, even at low post numbers.  (Members with 500 posts clearly deserve them, and should be rewarded for their participation by being able to change them at any time)

[Nayleen]

Seconded. Which is why I gave Naomi a (very) personal title back when we were doing the whole FuwAide thing - I know there were complaints, but none have reached me and the title still isn't changed, which I attribute to your second paragraph.

[Steve]

It might sound like complaining from my side... and it actually is xD

But it is justified, I am recently not reading forums that often as I used to (so only... like 10 times per day now xD) and I am already struggling with some people changing their name, having to go to their profile to actually check who it actually is.

 

There are people who visit the forums once a week, even month - how are they supposed to keep up with people changing their name, even if like batman suggest it is once a month, it is still too often.

 

 

This is not really a suggestion to Tay on how to improve the system (but well the name history in post information under the location for example could work... maybe?) but a plea to the people actually changing their names often - please don't xD Its confusing