Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

[zaluzianskya]

Title:
Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

Area:
journal creation, renames

Summary:
We can buy purged usernames now. This is awesome! But if you want to use a purged username for a new journal, you have to register a throwaway name and then rename that. Not so awesome.

Description:
Let's say you have a username you really like -- let's call it "loveandkittens". You really want to register "loveandkittens" for your new journal, but it's been deleted and purged! Luckily, Dreamwidth now has journal renaming, which is highly nifty. But in order to rename to "loveandkittens", you need a journal to actually rename.

So, you register a journal to rename. It can have whatever name you want -- if you're savvy about how renames work, you'll probably register something like "sldjcw982198nfckj", something no one would be likely to ever pick in the future. But, alas, not everyone is so savvy. A lot of users, especially new ones, would pick something like "hateandkittens", and then rename that to "loveandkittens". This, however, causes a problem if someone else wants to come along and register "hateandkittens" later on: It's either now a deleted and purged username, and the whole process starts aaaall over again, or it's a permanent redirect to "loveandkittens", which is even worse.

I'm not suggesting that we do away with having to pay for purged usernames; obviously, that's necessary. However, there should be a way for brand new journals to register these usernames without having to register a throwaway name first. They would be asked for payment up-front, and then some behind-the-scenes process would do whatever it has to do to move all of "loveandkittens"'s former activity over to "ex_loveandk123" so the new journal can be "loveandkittens". My suggestion is to register a journal with a username of the form "ex_123456789", and then apply the rename to it without the user ever seeing it.

And, obviously there'd have to be a link to some page explaining why you have to charge $15 for a brand new journal, and explaining that they're free to pick a different username instead if they don't want to fork out the money, but that's just standard for all rename-related shenanigans.

Poll #5132 Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 82

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
71 (86.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (12.2%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.2%)

Comments

[denise]

This isn't niggly enough for me to have rejected the suggestion entirely, but just noticing that kateshort is an active DW user, so to avoid weirdness, would you mind editing the entry to use a different example? Thanks!

[zaluzianskya]

Ack, sorry. Sure!

Edit: And it's been changed. I went and made sure these were usernames that aren't in use, this time.

[denise]

Thanks! It's just a little thing, but I wanted to make sure :)

[solitarywalker]

In theory this is a good idea, but it's probably complicated to implement, and questionable how much of a call there is for it. It's hard to imagine someone who doesn't have a DW account choosing to fork over cash for a username on a site which s/he may well end up not using. (I suppose DW admins could find out how many people buy a rename within 24 hours of opening an account... if that turns out to be a large number, this suggestion may be worth implementing.)

Maybe just write a FAQ question explaining that if you want to start an account with a purged username, you should create an account with a gibberish name, then click here to rename.

[azurelunatic]

Consider the case of the existing user who isn't interested in renaming their existing journal, but is interested in starting a new journal with the username they've always wanted.

Though I come from a social circle where having more than one journal is very common.

[foxfirefey]

I think that is the main case for this happening.

[liv]

I take your point, but I think a lot of people are willing to put $15 into snagging their favourite username. That's why so much effort has to go in to policing username trading, after all. Also, there are still quite a few people who have a pretty good idea what DW is, because many of their friends are on it. Being able to get their username with minimum hassle (even if it costs money) may make the difference to some, I think.