Change username

I'd agree that a change, say once a year, would not be a bad thing conceptually.

It may however be a bugger to implement. Should your profile have an AKA of your old name? If yes, for how long? or forever? Does your old name become available again? And how soon? Or should "retired" names be forever unavailable?

Also likely a bugger to implement, but I'd love to see, is seasonal name changes. Names to reflect say Hallowe'en or Christmas or [insert holiday of choice here] ... the problem is how many holidays to include, and whose holidays? Probably just best to change the avatar, like I did, and leave names alone vis a vis holiday names.

OrangeSurfer :)

SilverSurfer wrote:
I'd agree that a change, say once a year, would not be a bad thing conceptually.

And the change should be automated and random )))))

tnt wrote:
And the change should be automated and random )))))

No, allow users, once a year, to change their usernames if they wish ... if technically feasible ... but your idea has merit for April 1st! :)

The reason we don't allow changing your username, is that it would be highly confusing to everybody else. Each user on TVmaze accrues a specific reputation; based on their forum posts, edits, and comments. If I see a forum post, I might think "ah, that's the guy who asked about a similar topic last month so I understand the context of his question". Or a Curating Contributor might see someone's questionable edit and either think "I know this user always makes high quality edits, so this one should be fine", or.. "this user has made mistakes in editing in the past, so I'll have to check this one carefully".

If we'd allow people to randomly change their username, it would be impossible for us to account for a user's reputation when judging edits/posts/etc, and our job would be much harder.

If you really want a different username, you can always create a whole new account and use the API to migrate your follows/votes/watched episodes.

david wrote:
The reason we don't allow changing your username, is that it would be highly confusing to everybody else. Each user on TVmaze accrues a specific reputation; based on their forum posts, edits, and comments. If I see a forum post, I might think "ah, that's the guy who asked about a similar topic last month so I understand the context of his question". Or a Curating Contributor might see someone's questionable edit and either think "I know this user always makes high quality edits, so this one should be fine", or.. "this user has made mistakes in editing in the past, so I'll have to check this one carefully".

If we'd allow people to randomly change their username, it would be impossible for us to account for a user's reputation when judging edits/posts/etc, and our job would be much harder.

If you really want a different username, you can always create a whole new account and use the API to migrate your follows/votes/watched episodes.

I thought of creating a new account but, it is history I was concerned with. I see the point of recognizability. I guess, without some kind of clarification, it could be confusing. I didn't realize technically it would be difficult. I'm not really familiar with the forums either. I thought perhaps, as with eBay feedback ratings, a users history would follow despite a name change. Also, just to be clear, I am not advocating frivolity. FoolBob, TurkeyBob and SantaBob was not what I had in mind.

ras44ecs wrote:
Also, just to be clear, I am not advocating frivolity. FoolBob, TurkeyBob and SantaBob was not what I had in mind.

Frivolity is always on my mind, 24/7/365 :)

SilverSurfer wrote:
Frivolity is always on my mind, 24/7/365 :)

There's a time and place for frivolity. Best to wait till the hall monitor's back is turned. ;}