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AIBU?

To ask users with a name like user123456788 to name change?

134 replies

MajesticWhine · 27/05/2017 11:34

Hate these usernames. I don't know why they started and they are not conducive to communicating with others online. You can't recognise the person easily if they post on different threads. You can't form an impression of the identity of the poster. It's just rubbish. Please can we stop it?

OP posts:

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MajasticWhine · 27/05/2017 13:26

I think user name can be just as confusing, if not more.
You can simply quote the sentence you are replying to, so there's no risk of confusion.

PeanutButterJellyTimeforTea · 27/05/2017 13:26

If you don't like them, complain to HQ, they are the ones that give them out. Don't start dickish complaining threads about them, its rude.

user1491401693 · 27/05/2017 13:29

And boring. There have been loads of these threads.

Don't you check OP to see if other threads have been started on the same subject>

How very dim.

hownowbrowngoat · 27/05/2017 13:30

After Jeffrey hack I now name change every few days.

It's so much easier on the app than the mobile/desktop site.

BertieBotts · 27/05/2017 13:31

The sign up email I agree is a bit weird. Mine (in 2009) had a link to confirm my registration, of course that page is no longer in existence, but IIRC it strongly suggested namechanging because the default name was just a long strong of numbers and letters.

I could see people not changing if it's difficult for them to do so but I am a little bit baffled at the hostility towards the suggestion.

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 27/05/2017 13:32

I don't approve of username fascism. If you want to be a user-user, you be a user-user. Be numbered. Be proud. Usernames don't matter anyway. I know this, because everyone always ignores me.

user1471517900 · 27/05/2017 13:34

nauticant - the irony is beautiful. The "users" have been told they are going to be ignored, are a bit dim and should be forced to change to another name. In return they've simply said they can't change their name, or don't see a problem with it.

I think if we were to look at who the angry ones were......

MajasticWhine · 27/05/2017 13:39

Not everybody ignores you PelvicFloorClenchReminder

nauticant · 27/05/2017 13:39

Did someone say something?

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 27/05/2017 13:40

scottishdiem · 27/05/2017 13:43

But usernames are so arbitrary. People can change their name to post (and they tried to claim some odd level of authenticity by pointing out the threads they have seen - I mean what the fuck is that all about).

In a system where one person can post with more than one username it really doesnt matter what the username is in any way. User-n or not. Online communication to work in the way that the OP wants relies on people being the same person one day to the next. MN doesnt need that.

If we can get rid of the "Nc changed on this post" as a function then I'd be more sympathetic I suppose.

Firesuit · 27/05/2017 13:45

How can someone not engage because they have a user number instead of a name.

Just imagine that the forum software had a glitch that meant the number part was never displayed, just the word "User." This would mean if there are 10 different "user" posts in the same thread, they will look as if they were all made by the same person, even though they could have been made by ten different people. And because we know they could have been made by ten different people, we may treat them as such, even if they were made by the same person.

For most of us, a number several digits long is impossible to retain in short term memory, so the number part of your name might as well not exist for the purposes of identifying you. Our brains are filtering out the number part, so it's exactly as if the forum software were not bothering to display it. (If the number were only 3 digits long, instead of 10, that would be a different matter.)

If you only want to have "conversations" where no-one says more than one thing to each other, your username is fine. If you want to be able to post a follow-up question/comment or enable someone else to respond to you as if you hadn't name-changed between every single post, you need a name people can actually hold in their head.

Firesuit · 27/05/2017 13:49

But usernames are so arbitrary. People can change their name to post

Could you hold a sensible conversation with someone who name-changed between every single post, within the same thread? Because that's what conversing with a "user" is like, unless it's a very quiet thread or they do something explicitly within every post to remind you of the content of all their previous relevant posts in the thread.

TheMysteriousJackelope · 27/05/2017 13:51

Firesuit Exactly. If I respond to a 'user' name I just put user and they can sort out who it is that I'm talking to.

senua · 27/05/2017 13:53

btw. We have noticed that MajasticWhine is not the OP, MajesticWhine.
Because it's easy to do that with words but not so easy with numbers.
Hence this thread.

scottishdiem · 27/05/2017 13:57

Could you hold a sensible conversation with someone who name-changed between every single post, within the same thread?

Yes. Because people do. You can see it when they post. The original post is in green and then they answer someone but its in white. Cause they were stupid and forgot to change the name. Again. So you end up with multiple OP replies in green and white.

If we were all users-n then I can see why it would be confusing. But I can cope with looking at the last couple of numbers and seeing that its a different person. And I have to read the posters name anyway. There is no difference in how I post when its Firesuit or AnyFucker or anyone else. I read the name. I have to. I dont have an eidetic memory with an odd block on user- names. I have to get the name each time I am reading posts.

MajesticWhine · 27/05/2017 13:57

Hey PelvicFloor - great username

OP posts:

MajesticWhine · 27/05/2017 14:00

No I don't check user, at least not on the app. Sorry to be so dim.

OP posts:

peaceout · 27/05/2017 14:02

Thanks Firesuit👍
you have precisely elucidated the problem with the indistinguishable usernames

Thinkingofausername1 · 27/05/2017 14:02

I think it makes people wonder if the person is genuine??

Topseyt · 27/05/2017 14:04

I didn't realise that the new username system had that glitch and made the name difficult to change once given.

Is there a chance to choose your own username before being given one of the generic ones?

I don't try to make User12345 etc. feel unwelcome, but I just cannot process or memorise the long string of numbers when trying to engage. That doesn't make me dim. My mind just doesn't function in that way, and I am certainly not alone there.

Can people with these generic usernames actually always remember their own one? All the numbers etc.? I know I just never could.

MajesticWhine · 27/05/2017 14:12

Last post addressed to user149, for clarity

OP posts:

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Fluffypinkpyjamas · 27/05/2017 14:14

Spot on Firesuit

bibbitybobbityyhat · 27/05/2017 14:18

I am quite sure that if every single one of us changed to a usernumber name, the existing usernumbernames would hate it.

usershitloadofnumbers · 27/05/2017 14:25

The original post is in green and then they answer someone but its in white.

but that only applies to OP, not the replies to the threads.

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