Boards.ie policy on changing usernames

MrThrifty

This is a cross between some feedback and a complaint so apologies if this is not deemed the most appropriate forum. In a nutshell, I cannot understand Boards.ie policy of only allowing paid subscribers to change their usernames. To me, it makes no sense as a user could easily have picked an alternative name for free when initially registering, unlike say the other privileges that paid subscribers rightfully have access to. A lot of naive folk like myself picked, to be honest about it, silly usernames and Boards.ie is forcing us to pay for the right to change it. I cannot see any logical basis for this apart from possibly a money-making opportunity.

Granted, nobody wants to see people changing ther usernames every week but surely all Boards.ie non-subscribed users should be entitled to 1, yes just 1, user name change. This would help the likes of a user who gave themselves the name 'PatComyn" on day 1 not realising that this would have implications if they later wanted to post on certain personal-affairs related forums etc. Please, please, please would Boards.ie please reconsider their policies on this.

phasers

I cannot see any logical basis for this apart from possibly a money-making opportunity.

Bingo!

Sites need revenue, this is an easy way of doing it. Just pay the fiver ffs :cool:

Kinetic^

Do you think the Boards.ie administrators want thousands of these requests every day? Having to be a subscriber to get it changed prevents ongoing requests such as "I want to be called DEVOREELEVENTY this week and DEVORETWELVETY next week". It's an unrewarding time consuming task that if free, would be abused by everyone.

MrThrifty

Granted, Boards.ie is a great service and the first time I actually realised that it generated revenue was through trying to change my username... but this username policy is exploitative rather than creative on Boards.ie part. I'd happily pay a fiver or more even to continue using the 'service' a few months after registering but I take issue with this particular policy. It is to be honest about it a bit underhand in my opinion and has seriously dented my view of Boards.ie. Like I said, if all non-subscribed users were all of a sudden forced to pay some nominal amount to continue posting after x amount of time or posts etc., then I and I think a lot of others would consider this fair game.

Toto Wolfcastle

I sincerely doubt that the majority of posters would be happy to pay anything to continue posting.

seamus

MrThrifty wrote: »

Granted, nobody wants to see people changing ther usernames every week

Which is why the rule was in place initially.

but surely all Boards.ie non-subscribed users should be entitled to 1, yes just 1, user name change. This would help the likes of a user who gave themselves the name 'PatComyn" on day 1 not realising that this would have implications if they later wanted to post on certain personal-affairs related forums etc.

Where someone has a genuine need to change their username, like you describe, then they can make that request and they don't necessarily have to subscribe. At least it used to be that way when I was admin.

It's a technical/workload issue more than anything. If you want your name changed, it has to be done for you. This is an admin's time taken up. Granted, it doesn't take long, but it's still something which has to be done. Managing this on a "one-user, one-change" basis would be a nightmare. How do you manage it? Spreadsheet? Thread?

To manage it properly, you would need to add in functionality that allowed users to change their own names and recorded their "one change" in the database. Name changes also can't be done during normal hours because the vBulletin database is a piece of ****, so this would need to incorporate a queueing system for name changes as well as big banners all over the place telling people to wait 12 hours before whinging that they're put a change request in and their name hasn't changed.

This is a not insignificant piece of work for something which isn't all that necessary.

The general policy is that if you want a new username, you're free to start a new account. If you want to bring your account history with you, that's a privilege only extended to people who contribute something back to the site.

As Kinetic quite rightly points out, the purpose of the subscriber-only policy isn't to make money, it's to discourage hundreds of name change requests every week.

MrThrifty

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Do you think the Boards.ie administrators want thousands of these requests every day? Having to be a subscriber to get it changed prevents ongoing requests such as "I want to be called DEVOREELEVENTY this week and DEVORETWELVETY next week". It's an unrewarding time consuming task that if free, would be abused by everyone.

Ummm... without meaning to sound like a smart ass, it does not seem rocket science to allow users to change their usernames themselves via the website, just as presumably users can currently change their passwords. This is half implemented anyway as part of the initial registration form where people have to select a username that's not taken etc. If anything, existing users are unlikely to abuse a change of username unlike newcomers who might take the mick with some abusive username. Obviously it would be worth limiting the amount of times this could be done.

MrThrifty

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

I sincerely doubt that the majority of posters would be happy to pay anything to continue posting.

Maybe you're right, but I'd challenge you to put it out there to folks and get a voting poll going. I reckon the older users (>25 year olds) would be okay with paying some minimal amount while the younger users would probably take issue. Ironically, bear in mind here in this discussion my own username!!

Being ignorant perhaps, I'd guess there are more older users than younger users on Boards.ie so I'd reckon the majority would be okay about it then. Obviously though it's a problem straight away in that young folk can't really verify that they're young and you don't want to exclude them.

seamus wrote: »

Which is why the rule was in place initially.
Name changes also can't be done during normal hours because the vBulletin database is a piece of ****

Okay, I thought things were much more advanced and sophisticated! Fair enough - it sounds so like the name change thing needs to be done manually for now then.

seamus

MrThrifty wrote: »

Okay, I thought things were much more advanced and sophisticated! Fair enough - it sounds so like the name change thing needs to be done manually for now then.

I forget the specifics, but it has to go back through the database and change every occurence of the name in PMs, and perhaps posts, though I think it's just PMs. This causes a big write lock on the PMs table, especially if the user has thousands of PMs.

Yes, it's a violation of DB normalisation, one of many in the vB database I understand.

I'm sure it's a on a list somewhere to be fixed at some point.

seamus

MrThrifty wrote: »

Maybe you're right, but I'd challenge you to put it out there to folks and get a voting poll going. I reckon the older users (>25 year olds) would be okay with paying some minimal amount while the younger users would probably take issue. Ironically, bear in mind here in this discussion my own username!!

Being ignorant perhaps, I'd guess there are more older users than younger users on Boards.ie so I'd reckon the majority would be okay about it then. Obviously though it's a problem straight away in that young folk can't really verify that they're young and you don't want to exclude them.

Sorry, I missed this.

The vast majority of users (i.e. anyone who doesn't have a subscription at present), would just go back and register a new account every time their current one "ran out" rather than pay to continue using it. If it was any other site, that's what I would do.

You couldn't enforce a "no new accounts" rule because then people would just leave the site in droves.

TheZohanS

MrThrifty wrote: »

Granted, Boards.ie is a great service and the first time I actually realised that it generated revenue was through trying to change my username... but this username policy is exploitative rather than creative on Boards.ie part. I'd happily pay a fiver or more even to continue using the 'service' a few months after registering but I take issue with this particular policy. It is to be honest about it a bit underhand in my opinion and has seriously dented my view of Boards.ie. Like I said, if all non-subscribed users were all of a sudden forced to pay some nominal amount to continue posting after x amount of time or posts etc., then I and I think a lot of others would consider this fair game.

Exploitation?! Nobody asked you to change your username and €5 once off or each month is hardly exploitive. Asking people to do something for nothing is exploitive and that's what you want the Admin to do by changing your name for free.

Keep the name you have and there'll be no problems, you won't have to pay a penny and you can use boards away. But just remember the site doesn't work by magic, developers have to be paid to keep the site running, hosting companies have to be paid to keep the site live and for the bandwidth that the site uses and legal teams have to be paid when issues arise, rents have to be paid on premises, and accountants have to be paid for returns to the tax man.

-Corkie-

I would gladly pay the fiver so the OP can change his name to Mr. Miserable.

MrThrifty

Well it probably beats Mr Thrifty! Fire away if you want - I consent!!!

El Weirdo

MrThrifty wrote: »

Well it probably beats Mr Thrifty! Fire away if you want - I consent!!!

But MrThrifty seems so... erm... what's the word?




Apt.

Malice

MrThrifty wrote: »

I cannot understand Boards.ie policy of only allowing paid subscribers to change their usernames.

There is a way of changing your username for free:

Become a moderator.

TommyKnocker

Malice wrote: »

There is a way of changing your username for free:

Become a moderator.

Except

A moderator is not something you "become". It is something you have to be invited to become

MrThrifty

Nice one. Did I mention what a great job Boards.ie and all its dedicated mods are doing

Malice

MrThrifty wrote: »

Nice one. Did I mention what a great job Boards.ie and all its dedicated mods are doing

It's not really us mods you have to suck up to, it's the admins. They're the ones with the real power.

Dav

Username changes cost us way more than €5. Every time we change a username, it locks the entire site up. So the reality is, we have to do these changes at strange hours of the day or night when the site's not busy and even then, there's still a huge risk you're going to end up with a huge number of 503 errors.

The reasons for this are pretty simple - VBulletin was never intended to have nearly half a million member accounts and 24 million posts and I don't know how many gigabytes of a PM table. The PM one in particular, as seamus mentions above, is the critical one, it can bring the site down entirely.

So a fiver to change your name - considering the work and actual technical risk it involves - it's a bargain.

muffler

Dav wrote: »

So a fiver to change your name - considering the work and actual technical risk it involves - it's a bargain.

Thread moved to Bargain Alerts

Orion

Dav wrote: »

Username changes cost us way more than €5. Every time we change a username, it locks the entire site up. So the reality is, we have to do these changes at strange hours of the day or night when the site's not busy and even then, there's still a huge risk you're going to end up with a huge number of 503 errors.

That explains the before 7am thing I've seen mentioned. I knew it was a technical reason just not what exactly it was.

Dav wrote: »

The reasons for this are pretty simple - VBulletin was never intended to have nearly half a million member accounts and 24 million posts and I don't know how many gigabytes of a PM table. The PM one in particular, as seamus mentions above, is the critical one, it can bring the site down entirely.

So is there an alternative to vBulletin? We're not the biggest forum on the internet so surely someone has come across this before. Or is it more down to the community nature of boards that username changes are allowed and other sites don't allow it.

Dav wrote: »

So a fiver to change your name - considering the work and actual technical risk it involves - it's a bargain.

When you put it that way ...

Morag

Orion wrote: »

So is there an alternative to vBulletin? We're not the biggest forum on the internet so surely someone has come across this before. Or is it more down to the community nature of boards that username changes are allowed and other sites don't allow it.

There is no off the rack for sites when they reach this side.
Other large sites like Gaia Online have written their own custom system which is what is being done bit by bit for boards, but even there you get 1 free change and after that there is a charge.

Cabaal

OP, boards policy is all pretty reasonable.,

I suggest you join somethingawful.com*
Its $10 to join
its $10 to get yourself unbanned if your banned (unless permanent)
Its $10 to put a title under someone's username
Its $10 to be able to search the post archive

...and you think boards is expensive

*Price may have increased since I last check them a few years back

Malice

Dav wrote: »

VBulletin was never intended to have nearly half a million member accounts and 24 million posts and I don't know how many gigabytes of a PM table. The PM one in particular, as seamus mentions above, is the critical one, it can bring the site down entirely.

I'm probably getting overly-technical and I'm sure the devs have though about this already but would archiving some of that data help? I bet a high percentage of those half a million member accounts are dormant. Could any that haven't been active in the last couple of years be shuffled off somewhere? Ditto for the PMs. I've got nearly 3,000 of them, most of which I've read once and then promptly forgotten. As handy as it is to go back and reread seven year old messages it certainly wouldn't bother me if the retrieval of them became slower.

Hal Emmerich

Cabaal wrote: »

OP, boards policy is all pretty reasonable.,

I suggest you join somethingawful.com*
Its $10 to join
its $10 to get yourself unbanned if your banned (unless permanent)
Its $10 to put a title under someone's username
Its $10 to be able to search the post archive

...and you think boards is expensive

*Price may have increased since I last check them a few years back

How do I put a title under my name? Instead of Registered User.

El Weirdo

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

How do I put a title under my name? Instead of Registered User.

Subscribe.

Hal Emmerich

El Weirdo wrote: »

Subscribe.

I could have swore I seen a normal User with something different there the other day, Hondasm maybe, does it remain after a sub ends?

Insect Overlord

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

I could have swore I seen a normal User with something different there the other day, Hondasm maybe, does it remain after a sub ends?

That happens when subscribers change their tag-line, but remain in the "registered users" user-group instead of changing over to the "Subscribers" group on their profile.

RolandIRL

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

I could have swore I seen a normal User with something different there the other day, Hondasm maybe, does it remain after a sub ends?

Some subscribers don't use the pink stars and italicised name (like me) but you can still change your tagline and avatar.

Tagline and avatar settings are reset after the sub ends. Only name changes are permanent after subscribing. i think all other benefits are only active for as long as your sub lasts (larger PM inbox, no banner ads, S&S forum, etc etc)

damn you IO for beating me to it! *shakes fist* :P

Hal Emmerich

Insect Overlord wrote: »

That happens when subscribers change their tag-line, but remain in the "registered users" user-group instead of changing over to the "Subscribers" group on their profile.

Roland Deschain wrote: »

Some subscribers don't use the pink stars and italicised name (like me) but you can still change your tagline and avatar.

Tagline and avatar settings are reset after the sub ends. Only name changes are permanent after subscribing. i think all other benefits are only active for as long as your sub lasts (larger PM inbox, no banner ads, S&S forum, etc etc)

damn you IO for beating me to it! *shakes fist* :P

Thanks guys.

The Left Hand Of God

just clear your temp internet files and most importantly your cookies, Then get a new IP! and just start a new account.



simplez with google.

Hal Emmerich

The Left Hand Of God wrote: »

just clear your temp internet files and most importantly your cookies, Then get a new IP! and just start a new account.



simplez with google.

The new IP bit? How do you go about that, bar moving House/ ISP Provider or Proxy?

The Left Hand Of God

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

The new IP bit? How do you go about that, bar moving House/ ISP Provider or Proxy?

Depending on your provider you can just edit a few digits in your "mac address" via your router and reboot it. If your mac is 2b.m5.t1.23.ab just change the last two section to 24.ac

And then the likes of UPC etc give you a new IP address.

hth but remember to delete all your browsing history including cookies etc

Orion

If your mac is 2b.m5.t1.23.ab then you'll never make it to the internet at all anyway :pac:

pickarooney

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

The new IP bit? How do you go about that, bar moving House/ ISP Provider or Proxy?

Surely the vast majority of interenet users are on dynamic IPs so you'd only have to wait 24 hours to get a new one?

thetonynator

The Left Hand Of God wrote: »

just clear your temp internet files and most importantly your cookies, Then get a new IP! and just start a new account.



simplez with google.

Afaik you can make a new account on the same IP as long as its not to bypass a ban.

Corsendonk

If you subscribe are you allowed only the one name change or can you change it again after a certain time period?

Steve

Sharrow wrote: »

There is no off the rack for sites when they reach this side.
Other large sites like Gaia Online have written their own custom system which is what is being done bit by bit for boards, but even there you get 1 free change and after that there is a charge.

Gaia is run on phpBB according to bigboards.

http://rankings.big-boards.com/?p=all

Corsendonk wrote: »

If you subscribe are you allowed only the one name change or can you change it again after a certain time period?

No, you can have as many as you like as long as it's reasonable (i.e. you're not requesting them to the point of pissing off the admins )

Gordon

Steve wrote: »

Gaia is run on phpBB according to bigboards.

http://rankings.big-boards.com/?p=all


No, you can have as many as you like as long as it's reasonable (i.e. you're not requesting them to the point of pissing off the admins )

Gaia has massively changed the phpbb software afaik.

Jax Teller

ive just subscribed to change my name where do i do it ?

El Weirdo

keysersoze_88 wrote: »

ive just subscribed to change my name where do i do it ?

You'll be looking for the Subscribers forum, then.

Hal Emmerich

keysersoze_88 wrote: »

ive just subscribed to change my name where do i do it ?

I don't blame you.:p

Corsendonk

If your a mod or admin do you get the service for free along with the coke and hookers?

Insect Overlord

Corsendonk wrote: »

If your a mod or admin do you get the service for free along with the coke and hookers?

We do now. It's only been available as a free perk for mods since the start of this year.

Orion

Corsendonk wrote: »

If your a mod or admin do you get the service for free along with the coke and hookers?

Define free. My name change cost no money but what they made me do ... let's just say I hope my kids never see the video!