Suggestions

I don't see anything wrong with closing an account that was never used.

I do see something wrong with closing an account with any activity, though. Earned progress and all that.

Question- what'd happen to the user id of the closed account? Would we all get bumped down a few pegs? I sign my art with my user id, this'd cause issues for me.

[quote name="Warchild" date="2019-12-19 22:32:07" ] Kids probably are more likely to naively break all kinds of rules, but in the instances I've seen locked accounts getting their names changed the usernames were as innocent as "LightningPizza". (Not the actual name, of course.) Maybe usernames get changed when the staff is 100% sure that they won't unlock the account again. If I remember right setting up an account while under the age of 13 is one of the reasons why an account gets permanently locked. Even if they tried to explain they were only joking about being only 12 (or any age that would indicate the account was created when they were below 13) the account will remain to be locked forever. Edit: Typo, added clarification. Also I tried to find an exact quote to confirm what I believe to have read, but I sadly can't find it. Still it's probably better to just never lie on here about age, not even as a joke. [/quote] Yeah, I figured it was not that all kids did it, but enough that it was better to simply change the names rather than try to cherry pick which were information that could be used and which couldn't. I also agree it is much better to nor lie about your age being younger than 13, on any site, since sites can get into trouble for allowing children on sites unless they have certain things in place. Thus sites are more likely to punish users who say they are under 13, since if they don't, they can open themselves up to punishment themselves. As for accounts with no activity, that would negate the entire 'name squatting' Nightwind and I were talking about, where people will take usernames on certain sites to make sure someone else can't take it and use it to 'tarnish' their name. This would be especially important for people who have businesses related to said site theme (again, such as an artist who draws dragons taking their business name to make sure others can't take it and use it to scam others in their name). Again, until this truly becomes a problem (and since there are less than half a million accounts and according to a google answer: [quote] more than a million total words, about 170,000 words in current use[/quote], just in the ENGLISH language, let alone the non-english names/words that can be used as well as alternate spellings and creative ways to spell words, I don't think it will be a problem for a while), I don't think there is any need to remove names from players who may come back, even accounts with no activity, while not likely to have the creator come back, could. @Renaiwom About the IDs, nothing would change, as that would create a HUGE problem, since I am sure that everything about an account is identified on the back end by ID, not UN. All that would happen is the ID would stay the same for that account, but the name would be changed to 'NamechangeXXXXXX' or some other generic name.

No support. There are a few simple ways to go about getting the name you want without trying to take it from someone else, regardless of their activity: - Add some numbers. - Replace text with number lookalikes. H3110, for example, could be translated to Hello. - Alternate spelling. - Spelling from another language. I'm not sure if special characters can be used, but I usually avoid them for the people that type out my pinged name. Just a personal preference there, though. I'm sure there are other ways to go about this that don't include wiping an inactive account, be they actually inactive or not. My name is 'wolf' in Greek; however, it is an alternate spelling I found. I mean, really, I have a ton of other names I have found that generally aren't taken just so I have a name I will like when I join a site. I changed my name once in my lifetime on FR, and that was just because I was an edgy little teen at the time. [size=1]Although it is annoying to occasionally get pinged for Lycos.[/size] [quote name="Renaiwom" date="2019-12-20 03:41:16" ] Question- what'd happen to the user id of the closed account? Would we all get bumped down a few pegs? I sign my art with my user id, this'd cause issues for me. [/quote] ID isn't affected because it is really the only true way of account identification. Everything else on your account can change or be the same as another, but your ID is static.

I'm totally for reusing banned account names.

Not so much 'abandoned' ones.

accounts that have literally not done ANYTHING whatsoever for 4-5+ years? sure, release the username, im not really bothered. if the account has had any activity, even if that's just making progens and running? then no, imo

im not as horribly opposed to the idea of completely unused accounts having their usernames freed up - it has been done on other sites. maybe usernames that are reminiscent of or exactly the same as well-known internet personalities (if they are indeed being held to prevent impersonation) can be reviewed individually, but other than that, i would rather usernames went to folk who participate in the site, even if its only making a progen and yeeting outta there.

tbh I don't really get how players that want an already taken username expect that this would work out from the player side... OK, let's imagine that staff decide to clean up the list - when/if they tell everyone that it was done, what happens then? Do everyone mad-rush to change their name to TheDragon* and someone happens to get lucky? If there a raffle and the lucky winner? Is no one told and then some new player, when creating their account, becomes TheDragon? Does a random player when changing their name discovers that TheDragon is free? Does anyone who wants an already-taken name check whether it's free every couple of days? Perhaps the usernames are already cleaned-up and no one notices...

* btw I picked TheDragon at random, but apparently there is an old inactive user with that name when I checked, so my theoretical example became a real one


Basically, my problem is that it doesn't matter whether the names are freed after some time or if they aren't... the majority (or possibly even everyone) who want a particular already taken username aren't getting it anyway even if the usernames are cleaned up. For example, my example with TheDragon - there are 516 accounts that include that as a partial name, so I have to assume that there would be several dozen people interested in that username... but there's only one username. So I don't see much point in spending time doing something that doesn't even seem to fix the "problem".

[quote name="@PhoebeDesmons" date="2019-12-20 13:41:10" ]first and last names![/quote] [u][i][b]Do NOT do this.[/b][/i][/u] I realize that many of y'all come from places like Facebook, where it's expected you will--but not only is it an [i]incredibly unwise[/i] thing to do when it comes to online security, [i]FR itself has told people not to do it.[/i] [quote][size=5][b]Account Security[/b][/size] In this section we're going to be covering some of the basics of securing your personal information online. For those of you who've been around the internet a time or two, this is likely old news to you. [i](irrelevant data cut out here--snek)[/i] Some other basics of maintaining (any) account security include: [b]Selecting a unique username.[/b] This means your username should not contain: *Your first name *Your last name *A combination of your first and last name *Your date of birth *Your email address When a username (for any website) contains this information, it makes it trivial (easy) for someone with malicious intentions to access it. Usernames with Personal Identifying Information also directly discloses information about who you are and where you might be located offline. For this reason, if the Flight Rising Support team comes across an account with a username that discloses any of the above, a name change will be initiated. If this happens to you, we're not likely to penalize your account, barring repeated violations or the disclosure of someone else's information. The goal is to protect your information and our overall community, not close accounts.[/quote]

[quote name="Snek" date="2019-12-20 14:26:06" ] [quote name="PhoebeDesmons" date="2019-12-20 13:41:10" ]first and last names![/quote] [u][i][b]Do NOT do this.[/b][/i][/u] I realize that many of y'all come from places like Facebook, where it's expected you will--but not only is it an [i]incredibly unwise[/i] thing to do when it comes to online security, [i]FR itself has told people not to do it.[/i] [quote][size=5][b]Account Security[/b][/size] In this section we're going to be covering some of the basics of securing your personal information online. For those of you who've been around the internet a time or two, this is likely old news to you. [i](irrelevant data cut out here--snek)[/i] Some other basics of maintaining (any) account security include: [b]Selecting a unique username.[/b] This means your username should not contain: *Your first name *Your last name *A combination of your first and last name *Your date of birth *Your email address When a username (for any website) contains this information, it makes it trivial (easy) for someone with malicious intentions to access it. Usernames with Personal Identifying Information also directly discloses information about who you are and where you might be located offline. For this reason, if the Flight Rising Support team comes across an account with a username that discloses any of the above, a name change will be initiated. If this happens to you, we're not likely to penalize your account, barring repeated violations or the disclosure of someone else's information. The goal is to protect your information and our overall community, not close accounts.[/quote] [/quote] Just want to point out that while this is absolutely true, and shouldn't be done, it doesn't HAVE to be REAL first and last name. For instance, I tend to use Jemadar or Tavin on various websites. Since I dislike smooshed together names, I don't tend to use their full names, which are Jemadar of Caer Salis and Tavin Bellansour. But if I didn't mind, I could use TavinBellansour and JemadarofCaerSalis. First and Last name, but not real ones. However, definitely do not use your real names.