Unused for accounts

Unused for accounts (Full Version)

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normie -> Unused for accounts (12/8/2009 23:08:37)
I've realized that when I went to the list of members on the forums, I realized that half of the accounts were created like 2 years ago, and have 1 or 2 posts on it, usually none at all. Almost all the good names were created by people who never there accounts, and I think thats totally unfair. My idea was this: After a period of about six months (or varying depending on how many posts were made), if not used, the account name becomes takeable. When I say that, I dont mean the account gets deleted right away, I mean that it will only get deleted if someone creates a forum account with that name. Until then, the account stays on the forums.

Evo -> RE: Unused for accounts (12/8/2009 23:39:40)
Some people make a forum account just to read posts on the forums and use all the functions by being a member. You can't judge a member just by their posts. You have to look at the last time they have logged in. Also remember the forum is constantly being purged of old posts so sometimes a member that has posted numerous times has had all of their posts deleted by a purge so it looks like he/she has not posted in a long time.

Chii -> RE: Unused for accounts (12/8/2009 23:40:48)
Hmm. The problem I see with this is that from an outside perspective, there's nothing to show when a person's account has been removed and claimed by someone else. Imagine this scenerio: You tell a person you know about one of the AE games and they make an account and join the forums. For awhile, you exchange a couple PMs on the forums and everything is fine. The user eventually goes away for whatever reason and their account becomes inactive. Six months later, their account is deleted and someone else takes the name. One day you get a PM from someone with the exact same name as your friend, and this PM is of a less than savory flavor. There's absolutely nothing to show you that it's not the same person on the same account, so you're likely to think it's the person you knew. It's the perfect impersonation, because you actually have the same account.

normie -> RE: Unused for accounts (12/9/2009 8:13:01)
Ok, to add on to my post, the ammount of time it needs to activate that name replacment thing will vary also depending on when was the last time they logged in; because they wont care if they havn't went on that ammount of time. If they havn't went on in like two years, and they have barely EVER made a post, it would probobly fine with them. The only thing is...(I think this a good/bad idea) for those people who made the acc's but neveer used them, if we wend them an e-mail before we activate the name replacment thing, they well most likely just log on and log off to keep the account, but STILL not do anything. Besides, 6 months, 1, 2 years, thats a long time, and its unfair for them to have good names that everyone else might want. And remember, if it is NOT a popular name, and no one chooses it, then there account will stay. As soon as they long on, the name replacment thing will delay for a few months.

Seahawk -> RE: Unused for accounts (12/9/2009 14:01:22)
As Evo said, the forum does periodically purge old accounts with low-to-no post counts... I honestly forget the frequency at which said purges run. Keep in mind too, much as Chii was saying... if we did frequent purges of unused/idle/banned names so that we could put those names back in to circulation, you'd run the risk of inheriting all the baggage of an old account. You may think a certain name is really cool, but what if the guy who had it before you was a complete jerk who was constantly being banned and was constantly making enemies on the forums? People would naturally assume you were him when you suddenly appeared using his old name. As part of my job handling forum name changes, I do on occasion remove accounts that have never logged on and are in "email verification pending" status... which means they were likely created using a bad email address and have never been activated for use. But other then that, even if an account is 4 years old, has one post, and hasn't logged on since 2007, I would still prefer not deleting it just to free up a name. It's always possible someone who is still an active player created that account to access the forums for a specific reason (like a bug report or whatnot) and just hasn't seen the need to log in since. Plus, from a far more pragmatic view, I'd prefer not to start getting into "Well, <so-and-so> has been idle for 8 months... can I have their name?" discussions every time someone requests a name change... and once you open the door to that, you can't easily close it again. Keep in mind as well, sometimes an account you see as idle may be kept around for a reason. For example, we have accounts created and names reserved for many of our NPCs to prevent impersonation or because we may someday want to use those names for our own purposes. Likewise, an account that is on a permanent ban ties up a name, but we don't want to delete the account because then we destroy all record of it, and we may need those records down the road. Unfortunately, it's a sad fact that when a community gets as big as ours has, the name you like won't always be available. It's been a LONG time since I've been able to register anywhere as "Seahawk" without having to add a number to the end or something...

normie -> RE: Unused for accounts (12/9/2009 21:55:19)
Oh, ok... I understand...but just asking, do new accounts slightly/barely alter the speed of the forums, or not at all?

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