To think frequent name changes are okay???

[Liddlemoreaction]

I’m a frequent changer of MN user name. Particularly if Il e commented with details that out together with other posts might make me identifiable IRL.
I know quite a few people who are always trying to ‘find’ people they know on MN. I’m not particularly controversial in opinions for the most part but value my privacy.

Colleague says it’s cheating! And I should keep same name as it’s part of my MN brand…

YABU - she’s right! Cheat
YANBU - you’re right! Or at least you have the right to do as you please.

I've been here over 15 years and I name change frequently - pretty much anytime I feel I've posted too much stuff that's identifying if all put together.

MN makes it easy to name change, and it's a good thing considering the personal nature of a lot of the topics on here.

My theory is that there are only 100 people on here and everyone just changes their name really regularly 😂

Go to the right hand side of screen and press the little person icon
Then go to settings and write in a new username
Press save username

You can also go to username history to reactivate one of your old ones

Yep OP I can’t understand why anyone would be critical of doing this tbh !

I thought the same as you and had the same username for years - but then I got cyber-stalked by a crazy.

She trawled back through my posting history on AS and found the most pathetic thing as (what she weirdly assumed was) a gotcha.

It was something so ridiculously trivial and arbitrary as well: the equivalent of if I'd said in a lighthearted thread about comestibles "Yay, Quality Street are the best!!" - she then came on and tried to make out that my whole life was one big lie because, in 2017, I'd commented that I really loved Twixes.

Saving username protects you from being trolled
I was recently trolled with abusive comments relating to my religion. They didn’t like my opinions on something unrelated, looked me up found out what my religion was and out of nowhere made abusive comments about it.
They were taken down by MNHQ but if you want to avoid unwarranted bullying it’s wise to change your name sometimes.
Might change it now that I’ve said my peace here.

I name change about once a week. I don’t see the slightest issue with it, the site explicitly allows it (and has removed the immediate possibility of sockpuppeting on the same thread), and I don’t have a ‘Mn brand’. I do appreciate posts from longterm posters whose names I recognise, like @thepeopleversuswork and @gannett , but I suspect I’d recognise their posts under another name, as we so often seem to find ourselves saying similar things about perennial Mn hot potatoes like opposite-sex friendships, people-pleasing not being a matter of ‘too nice’ etc.

So if you name change does it mean that nobody can see your posting history before the name change?

Yes exactly. You can only see previous posts by specific usernames.

I don’t look any names of posters but I sometimes wonder if people recognise name changes by their posting style but it’s such a busy app that it’s probably hard to notice.

I’ve only once but was thinking it’s not a bad idea when a poster once said dhe’d searched me and hated my people pleasing, nicey nice, doormat attitude. She said it in a way that really said she hated me with a vengeance!!

I did have someone once say they recognise a name change from my ‘style’ but it weren’t me, just someone else who constantly mistyped the same latter 😅 letter! See wot J mean?!

It's there to use. I personally haven't ever name changed. People IRL know who I am on here and I don't post threads so no point.

This is me too. I've been on MN for 20 years and never name changed. Not even after the Great Hack. It's never been a problem

What was The Great Hack?

I can't remember what year it was, at least 10 years ago, probably more. MN apparently got hacked and everyone was advised to change their user name. I can't remember if it was related to access to personal data, I can't think what else it could have been. I didn't name change, nothing happened (as far as I know!). This was when it was smaller and much easier to get familiar with regular posters. It were all green fields then

I read the line "it’s part of my MN brand…" and almost threw up.

I name change very frequently too - every few threads at least. I don't post anything controversial but I still don't want different aspects of my life linked.
Some usernames are just for one on-going thread (love that you don't have to change name now for each thread!)

Namechanges are part of the way MumsNet works. I CBA to namechange often and I only post under one name on any one thread (barring accidents) because multiple names on the same thread is too much like sockpuppeting. But if you're on different threads then namechange away!

It’s never occurred to me to try to find anyone on here. But on one thread as the op gradually gave more and more details, eg kids’ gender/ages, work history, relationships in the past etc I realised that this was an ex-colleague who I’m still fb friends with (I’m 100% certain on this, no doubt whatsoever). I’ve since seen a couple of other posts where she’s talked about quite personal problems and it makes me cringe for her that people who know her (even if it’s only me) are reading this stuff. From that perspective, name changing feels like a good idea!

I name change all the time. If you don't want people searching past threads, or worse trying to work out who you are, it's the only thing to do.

If you post on a thread, then name change and post again, the original name you used will be displayed. No 'sockpuppeting' possible any more.

Haven't for a while because I haven't started a thread for ages. But when I post a lot, I change, otherwise my family, job, situations all lined up together seem quite obvious. I had a thread picked up by the daily fail once, and if I hadn't named changed, I'd be worried. I also have a friend who seems determined to find me by sending screenshots saying "haha sounds like you" or "do you post on Mumsnet?" which quite frankly is weird.

I’m so greatful I can change my name often! I’d hate to be outed or someone IRL to find me and my posts.

If you had same name but wanted to change details someone would accuse you of lying and link your old threads.