Question on Screennames

[DougC]

- - - How long does an unused screenname persist? After a certain period of time that it isn't used, is it automatically deleted? I wonder because it seems like the new users keep using longer and longer names , , , - MC

[UncleBeer]

Screen names are never retired. I dunno about them getting longer recently. Might be just a statistical anomaly. I have't noticed.

[Majordomo]

There is a limit of some kind. When I signed on my first choice wouldn't fit, so I left it at this.

The password slot is also tricky. I almost selected one too long to fit in the slot for posting, which seems to be smaller.

[Duck Duck Goose]

Not all of us can be happy with only two consonants and no vowels.

P.S. Majordomo, next time I see you, would you be so kind to clarify for a hapless wearer of bifocals whether your sig says, "The night is full of YAMS" or "The night is full of YARNS". It's driving me crazy.

Thank you.

[wring]

In case he doesn't see your queary, to MY not as good as they once were, but I can still read that print" eyes, the word is "Y A R N" as in the stuff sweaters are made from.

[Arnold Winkelried]

My personal theory: at the beginnings of the SDMB, many posters came from the AOL boards where they were known by their AOL name, limited to eight characters. Most of those posters decided to stay with their AOL name to be recognized by their friends, hence most usernames were eight characters or less.

Increasingly, the board is being joined by people who didn't come from the AOL message board, and those people see no reason to limit their names to eight characters in length.

And as we all know, the longer the name, the better (or so says the moderator with the longest username.)

Of course, it's not the length of your handle, it's how you use it.

[matt_mcl]

Duck, you do know that you can increase your browser's text size, right?

[2sense]

I didn't know that Matt.
How do I do it?

[matt_mcl]

if you are using IE, go to View > Text Size > a bigger one than you are using.

[2sense]

Thanks Matt.

[Czarcasm]

Arnold, we went through this in my forum already.
It's not how long it is, it's how you use it!

[Duck Duck Goose]

Well, now I'm feeling really special. I got the text SIZE increased. Whoopee for me, the family's computer expert who didn't know you could do that. Duh.

However, it still looks like "yams". Anybody wanna inform the Resident Doofus here how to get a different font with IE5?

[slinks shamefacedly back into broom closet]

[Fonz]

If you want to be sure, cut & paste the words into an editor and see if you can add a space between the letters.

This is a fun thing to do on purpose, by the way.
I always change my friend's top-left icon to read:
My Cornputer (That is, "M y C o r n p u t e r")

It does drive them nuts.

[TubaDiva]

Ya know, Arnold, I think you hit the nail right on the head.

When we were on AOL, screen names were a maximum 10 character limit . . . now screen names on AOL are, what, 16 characters? And elsewhere, you're not so limited.

So, it's natural that the names would get longer.

I repeat that there really needs to be no competition in screen names, except in creativity. Nobody cares about shorter or longer . . . except that when it gets to be a pain in the fundament to other users (like names that are so long they break or so short that they're not useful), we will ask you to choose again.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator

[DougC]

- - - No no no people, that's not what I mean. The letters "MC" are not my initials, they're somebody else's initials. I wanted to change my screenname to my initials but couldn't because someone else had already registered that screenname, even though I haven't ever seen it used. If screennames are allowed to persist forever, new members will have to use longer and longer names. I would suggest for all screennames, maybe after a year of non-use, kill the registration. If someone doesn't post at least once a year how much of a user are they? - MC

[Duck Duck Goose]

So you're stuck with "MC" because somebody already had your initials? Why don't you ask Tuba for a name change? You don't have to lose your post count or anything. How about "Poster Formerly Known as MC"? How many characters is that?

I know lots of nice posters who hardly ever speak up. What a shame to think of them having to watch the calendar and make sure to post something before their License to Post expired.

[Never Say Dice]

Maybe you can spell it out, like you current name would become Em Cee, like Dick Clark.

And DDG would be Dee Dee Gee, the newest Bee Gee.

I think we have a theme here.

[Easy Tokyo]

Originally posted by Bill H.
I want Bill. But some squatter owns it. No posts seem to exist for him. That's just life sometimes.

__________________
formerly billehunt

Maybe they would go for a variation though, like M C, M-C, M.C., or M_C.
That's what every other board and mailbox allows as variations.

[DougC]

- - - Seems to me that lots of people register a name, post a few times and then never return. Posting once a year isn't any great effort; just coming to ATMB and posting "test" once every twelve months would be enough. - MC

[Never Say Dice]

This topic just came up again.

[samclem]

Why couldn't the mods in their spare time email posters who haven't posted for , say, 12 months, and tell them they will be de-registered. This could free up names.

Of course, this might drop the number of registered persons in half, thereby cutting the advertising revenue of the site.

[Lynn Bodoni]

samclem...hahaha. Our spare time?

Actually, this would have to be for admins only, as moderators don't have access to this information. Every now and then I DO look at the newest registrations, and remove the idjits who register with obviously fake emails. I don't know, maybe their back browser button doesn't work or something. Anyway, I do free up some names that way.

Generally, we don't free up usernames because it would be rather confusing for someone new to come in and start using an old name.

Any time that I spend doing this means that I spend less time on other staff duties, and frankly, I'm not inclined to do so. But if I ever DO find myself at loose ends, I'll keep your suggestion in mind.