Problems with the new username feature

ZippySqrl
HARD WERK - Merited Perfect Pony Plot Provider badge with only their own art and really hates Applejack
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Lady's Wink -
Toola Roola - For helping others attend the 2019 Community Collab
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends

Tired Artist
@Zeb  
Peoples aliases exist far beyond just their actual account name. You have mentions in comments, descriptions, tag/source changes of the name, the images themselves(signatures and such). You’d have to go through every instance of their name appearing and edit it out or delete it entirely.  
If someone wanted to truly disassociate with a name, then they’d change the name of their old account to something jibberish, ask for their art to be deleted or have all traces of their name removed from images(which we HAVE done before), and then make a new account anyway.  
People should not use the name change feature as a way to disassociate from old usernames, making a new account altogether is definitely preferable, it’s a clean slate with zero connections.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
I happened to see this post from a user who had just changed their name and, on a whim, looked them up to see if they’d been mentioned in the description of an image.
 
They had, and I think this illustrates why this isn’t just a “maybe” problem: >>1195876  
Their comment on that picture captures it all. This is just a user who was unsatisfied with their username, nothing more, and they waited two years to be able to do it, rather than just starting over with a new account. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, this is who the feature is for.
 
But two weeks from now, the only way to tell that this user is the one who requested the picture is from inferring it from their comment. And I’m sure you can imagine that it won’t be like this all the time.
 
This is what Zippy and I are talking about. Even if you put the time into replacing every link to a user, there are still going to be references everywhere. I guarantee you that for people who just want to change their name, you are doing them a disservice.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
@ZippySqrl  
Some users disagree with you. In cases where an artist wants to be completely anonymized, or where a user has a specific situation that requires that they “disappear” (usually related to Rule #8), we will, and have, edited comments, replies, posts, descriptions, etc - across the site - to ensure that they will (when various caches - including Google’s - expire) “disappear”.
 
Creating a new account doesn’t make the old one disappear.
 
And if an artist is rebranding and the scope is within something we can safely do by hand, we do take the effort to make sure we get them set up the way they would like.
 
Re: @WingbeatPony’s comment, if the person you are referring to wanted the description changed to reflect their new name, they may report the image if they would like and we will take care of it.
 
We do that kind of stuff all the time. This isn’t a new situation, by any means - we’ve been changing names by hand for people for a long time. We’ve just made it so that people who want to do so can do it by themselves now.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
The point we are trying to make is that the feature you have designed has elements with one group in mind, and elements with another group in mind, and those groups have very different vested interests.
 
From a design perspective, most of the choices made have been to the benefit of people who simply want a cosmetic change without an identity overhaul - clearly identifying their past name, updating old comments, retaining user data. But a few choices, and the attitude of staff response in general, are oriented towards breaking off that identity altogether.
 
If it truly was meant with the latter group in mind, then not only is it ill-suited to their needs, it is also a major departure from the way Derpibooru has operated. I don’t think you were trying to do that. Rather, I think you were trying to please both sides, and I’m sorry, but it’s just not designed for it.
 
You’re 90% of the way toward making this the feature that people who just wanted to change their name was asking for. It is these concessions toward the other group that is problematic. They are much better served by creating a new account with no ties to the old one, and other existing options such as “php” artist tags and so on.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
@WingbeatPony  
I did not design the feature. I’m just a user of it, and someone who helps others use it.
 
For me it works pretty good. It’s a significant step forward, and so far has been very helpful for people who I have been helping rebrand themselves.
 
I’m sorry that you think it should be withdrawn, but it so far has been very helpful for many and I hope it will continue to be available for anyone who wants to use it.
 
And, as has been pointed out multiple times, anyone who wants to create a new account can do so today. They’re welcome to do so.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
I’m not saying it should be removed indefinitely. I’m saying it should be disabled temporarily until the kinks are worked out, because it is dangerously unfinished.
 
I do think the feature is useful, but only if the scope of the feature is narrowed to being a cosmetic change and nothing more. The fix for the problems is simple enough (forwarding links from the old username, by way of dummy profiles) that it shouldn’t have to be disabled for long, if at all.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
I mean, there isn’t a justifiable reason for letting old user names become available for reuse by default. Having that aspect of the feature is breaking parts of the site, creating unnecessary risks, and so forth. The only possible explanation is that it is meant to appeal to users who are trying to distance themselves from the old name, and as I think we can all agree, there’s a better way to do that than using the name-changing feature.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
There are a significant number of users for whom the existing functionality is not only suitable, but desirable. It has been an enormous help since it was implemented, and has made made some things users and artists have asked for in the past not only possible, but trivial to accomplish now.
 
If there are changes you would like to see in this new feature, you can recommend them in the features request thread - the feature doesn’t have to be completely withdrawn until the development time is available to document, implement, and test the changes you are asking for. Even if that’s only a couple months, there’s no reason to pull the feature as it is today.
 
Demanding that the feature be denied from users for whom it is a significant improvement and a highly desirable feature is just … why are you doing that?
 
@WingbeatPony  
There are many instances where people need a name completely wiped from the site. It is a service that we re happy to provide if people have a good reason for it.
 
This name change tool has nothing to do with those instances. If someone needs their existing profile anonymized or to completely disappear, for whatever reason, doing so requires intervention from staff, and that doesn’t need to change.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
Here are some nice things about creating dummy profiles for forwarding links:
 
  1. All that’s required is code to register a new user, and fill out the “about me” section with a link to the new profile name.
     
  2. This solution works indefinitely, as repeated name changes simply results in a chain of forwarding links.
     
  3. Works without having to change anything in the schema or cause potential redirect chains/loops.
     
  4. By registering the dummy accounts, malicious use of the names is prevented.
     
  5. Completely automated, and reduces the workload from policing malicious behavior (see #4) to occasionally deleting the dummy profiles for anyone who really wanted an abandoned name (extremely rare).
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
There are instances where people may want a name wiped from the site, as you said. And as you said, that’s something site staff handle outside of this feature.
 
Therefore, if that is not the intended use of the feature, then it should not be wiping names from the site. That is effectively what it is doing right now.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
@WingbeatPony  
Obviously, I disagree with regard to how much of a problem malicious re-use of names will be.
 
But, I have seen enough people genuinely happy that they are finally be able to claim a profile name that someone else parked eons ago that I’m a fan of people being allowed to repurpose names.
 
Is it worth noting that malicious name abuse was already happening anyway thanks to Unicode? The new profile name change tool hasn’t really introduced anything, it’s just a different slice of the same pie.
 
And the happiness I’ve seen result from the new tool seems infinitely worth any abuse that will continue to happen.
 
Personally, I like that we’re coding to happiness and fun, rather than based on fear of potential misuse. I think we have enough ways to deal with that potential misuse already, and are doing so at a level that I wish other sites would rise to.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
The difference between unicode name spoofing and name reuse is that old links don’t point to the troll account. That is a completely different situation.
 
I want this tool to exist, too. I just think it needs to be completed. If you think the fix can be applied retroactively, and soon, then it doesn’t need to be temporarily shuttered.
 
Sure, other sites could rise to our level in regards to active moderation, but please understand that we have to rise to their level, if not better, with this feature.
 
Oh, and if freeing up parked account names is something you’re worried about? I already talked about how freeing up inactive accounts after a certain amount of time (I suggested 6 months) could play nice with this, too…it’d just mean that links go dead 6 months in the future, rather than immediately.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
Please stop trying to guess what I want. Here; I’ll tell you:
 
If you want to recommend improvements, the feature request thread is waiting for you. If you don’t like the feature as it stands, don’t use it.
 
But please stop advocating for the “shuttering” of a feature that is benefiting people today.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
I already posted in the feature request thread.
 
But back up for a second, I kinda glossed over something you said.  
But, I have seen enough people genuinely happy that they are finally be able to claim a profile name that someone else parked eons ago that I’m a fan of people being allowed to repurpose names.
 
Are you telling me that people are reusing these names already, less than two weeks after the feature was introduced, and the “previously known as” notification is still visible on the original account, and no such notification is visible on the new accounts?
 
And not only do you not see a problem with that, you’re telling me it’s a good thing?
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
@WingbeatPony  
People can have as many profiles as they want.
 
That is how it has been since the rules were created.
 
None of the profiles that were freed up because of the new feature (and thus are currently in the 2 week cool down) have been claimed by others, as far as I know.
 
However, there have been some “parked” names that were freed up and have been claimed by people who changed their profile name using the new feature, so those are now being “reused”.
 
Also, we’ve been doing this by hand as long as I’ve been a volunteer, but usually only when there were extraordinary circumstances. Doing it by hand is just too much work, and introduces too much risk. The new feature brilliantly avoids those problems and makes it something we can hand to users to do for themselves, if they would like.
 
So, yes - there are re-used names on the site today, and lots of people who have more than one profile, and none of those profiles are linked to each other in any way normal users can see - unless the person who owns those profiles chooses to link them via their “About Me” or some other means.
 
And - this is very important for me - as long as people don’t abuse having multiple profiles (including being able to use the site as a “Background Pony”) we don’t publicly link people’s BP posts or their various alts together.
 
In another way of saying that, as long as people don’t break our rules, we don’t “out” people as having more than one profile, link their profiles in any way that can be publicly seen, or expose their posts or votes on one image or thread as having been created by the same person on another image or thread.
 
And I don’t think we should ever start doing that.
 
The idea of publicly linking people’s profiles all together, or somehow pointing out which profile belongs to which “unique individual” on the site, is rather unseemly to me. And pointless - especially given you can post as BP with the click of a button, or just create another profile if you would like.
 
If people want to have alternative profiles, or post as BPs, or reuse profiles that are no longer in use, as long as they aren’t breaking the rules I don’t see a problem.
 
This isn’t a “Unique Identity Platform”, and it’s never pretended to be one.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Derpy Whooves  
I think you may have missed my point.
 
If the 2-week notification is there to reduce confusion after a name change, then I think it’s an oversight not to prevent confusion by letting people pick up and start using these names immediately (and, aside from an avatar change or lack of badges, show no official indication of being a different user). That’s a problem regardless of how people are using the names, or of how long it’ll be before it happens.
 
As for being a “Unique Identity Platform,” we do put restrictions on sockpuppeting. Just because you can police it doesn’t mean you should create the opportunity for bad behavior if you don’t have to.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Joey  
And I think it’s a little weird that we don’t do the same thing on the other side, if we’re allowing immediate re-use. Imagine seeing someone using Watermelon Changeling’s old name and being like “hey wait.” Even if someone really did just happen across that name somehow.
ZippySqrl
HARD WERK - Merited Perfect Pony Plot Provider badge with only their own art and really hates Applejack
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Lady's Wink -
Toola Roola - For helping others attend the 2019 Community Collab
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends

Tired Artist
I guess the premise is if people don’t want their old names to be snatched, they can manually make a new account with their old name and redirect or not.
 
Though of course since usernames are now case insensitive, I cannot do that, so my lowercase links will be forever dead.
Derpy Whooves
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Artist -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Artistic Detective - For awesome dedication to sleuthing out and maintaining artist tags and links
Economist -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

Looking For My Doctor
@ZippySqrl  
If you would like your old name back, please PM me or report yourself with the reason of “Other” and describe what you would like in the text field. If someone ends up someplace they don’t want to be, then we will do what we can to get them back if that’s what they want.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
Hey, so I asked Wesley Foxx for permission to use his old name as an example of how it would work.
Check this out: https://www.derpibooru.org/profiles/Keith+Mowz
I don’t think that’d be hard to automate, nor do I think it’s intrusive on the original account with an updated name. Link abuse, squatting, and trolling is effectively prevented. It’s also easily undone. Win-win-win.
And personally? I don’t think this name change feature can ever be a satisfactory solution for people who want their names dropped. It already connects too much of their past to them, putting their new name on comments they want to leave behind them. To change that would turn this into a “delete my account” button, which I know would never fly, and it would make life harder for anyone else who just wants to change their name.
Staff have already acknowledged that creating a brand new account is a better solution for them, anyway. We need to stop encouraging them to use this feature instead.
WingbeatPony
Daring Do Dakimakura - Attended a Derpibooru panel at a MLP convention
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.
Equality - In our state, we do not stand out.
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Cool Crow - "Caw!" An awesome tagger
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday

Tag horse
@Joey  
How many people are changing their name on a daily basis? There were 136 registrations today, and it’s been consistently over 100 users for a good long while. This will barely make a dent. And if you’re really that worried about it, maybe consider doing something about accounts that have lain dormant for years without ever doing anything.
 
The alternative is creating an entirely new database to keep track of link redirections. It’s up to you.
Interested in advertising on Derpibooru? Click here for information!
Techy Cutie Pony Collection!

Help fund the $15 daily operational cost of Derpibooru - support us financially!

Syntax quick reference: **bold** *italic* ||hide text|| `code` __underline__ ~~strike~~ ^sup^ %sub%

Detailed syntax guide