Comments on: Recycling Usernames?

Recycling Usernames?

mkultra — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:53:37 -0800

Are usernames becoming recycled? I noticed a new user that I could have sworn had a taken username- it's a username I use often and almost always check for first when signing up places. Or am I imagining all of this?

By: geoff.

geoff. — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:57:39 -0800

You're imagining it. Though during my search I found this early pre-9/11 gem. A link to a Metafilter thread on the front page. Ahh the early days.

By: riffola

riffola — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:59:47 -0800

Eric Costello used to work at Schwa, as did many others. There were/are a bunch of others who were at Schwa on MeFi too.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:00:22 -0800

geoff., that was a B.M. moment

(the days before MetaTalk)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:05:38 -0800

But there is a user named login now, right?

By: mkultra

mkultra — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:20:51 -0800

Oh, don't get me started on the Schwa guys! They picked up schwa.com like a week before I decided I wanted my own domain, and haven't done much with it in the last 10 years.

*sighs, mopes*

By: yhbc

yhbc — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:29:00 -0800

I miss demo.

By: grateful

grateful — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:24:23 -0800

I really wanted jackal when I first signed up. Wanker has never even used his account.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:26:40 -0800

"geoff., that was a B.M. moment"

I had a B.M. moment this morning, but I won't bother you all with the details.

By: ericost

ericost — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:28:51 -0800

We did lots with it mkultra! My primary email address has been @schwa.com ever since we registered it, for one :)

By: matteo

matteo — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:46:01 -0800

But there is a user named login now, right?

EXACTLY! why, Matt?

By: mkultra

mkultra — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:51:54 -0800

We did lots with it mkultra!

Where are the flaming, spinning logos, huh? Where is the Flash navigation? For god's sake, man, WHERE'S THE EMBEDDED MIDI?!?!?

Don't mind me, I'm just bitter that it's not mine... ;)

By: Jamie Farr

Jamie Farr — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:54:02 -0800

What matteo said.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:05:35 -0800

I explained it before. I removed the user login completely from the database, something I rarely do. This means there's no record of it ever existing, so when someone went to sign up the name, it wasn't taken, because there was no record of it.

The person that signed it up didn't use a lame password that is easily guessable, so there's no security problem in having it around.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:28:29 -0800

What was the origional problem with the username 'login'?

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:32:49 -0800

Why not auction off unused/old usernames? I've seen a lot of old ones out there that are virtually unused. I even have an old one that I don't remember. Granted, not a lot of people wouldn't clamor for BigSexE1 (except me...maybe..) or some obscure username but you could take the proceeds and donate to the Red Cross or something? Just a thought.

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:33:52 -0800

P.S. my opening bid for "BigSexE1" is $50.00

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:34:27 -0800

delmoi, I think login's password was also 'login' (and he/she posted that info in a thread somewhere), and so everyone was logging in as 'login' and posting random garbage.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:08:45 -0800

iconomy is right, people went crazy with the old login name; I seem to recall the goatse picture posted under that name.

Who am I kidding, I haven't been able to erase the image from my mind. ::shudders::

By: nile_red

nile_red — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:47:47 -0800

delmoi, there was kindof a frenzy of login/login posts, with multiple non-members commenting and posting and while some people used it as a way to finally get their say on the blue, others used it to post noise and do shoutouts, kindof "look ma! I'm on Mefi!"

By: ursus_comiter

ursus_comiter — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:54:44 -0800

You'll always be schwa to me mkultra.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:54:46 -0800

He just better not reassign my name when I leave!

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:59:33 -0800

Nah - we'll always have Paris.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:16:02 -0800

I was hoping to become ParamusParis, but both Trenton, and the Quai D'Orsay objected...

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:20:50 -0800

I still think you are a different person than posted for the first half year of your account Paris.

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:58:00 -0800

A link to a Metafilter thread on the front page. Ahh the early days.

And a comment by jkottke. Waves of nostalgia ...

By: teece

teece — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:59:11 -0800

You should have just registered as ə, mkultra. (my font has that symbol: YMMV).

I actually thought schwa was an old account. Surprised to find out that it was only a week old. It seems familiar to me.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:02:03 -0800

Who is that jkottke guy, anyway?

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:04:38 -0800

He's the Kevin Mitnick of popcorn.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:40:15 -0800

posted by Jamie Farr at 10:54 AM PST on September 9 [!]
Haha ha...if true.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:59:16 -0800

He's the Kevin Mitnick of popcorn.

Ok, that was awesome.

By: Mid

Mid — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:39:43 -0800

Hah!

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 23:41:46 -0800

Okay, Divine Wino wins.

By: Hat Maui

Hat Maui — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 03:34:13 -0800

Ok, that was awesome.

seconded. but Nah - we'll always have Paris.
is pretty fucking dope too.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:48:28 -0800

Please, please, what is Popcorn, and what is it's URL?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 07:04:52 -0800

Popcorn!

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 07:06:16 -0800

Err, sorry.

Popcorn!

By: mendel

mendel — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:26:52 -0800

This came up recently in MeTa but I can't find it -- the "login" account was deleted after all of the fun we had with it, so someone came along and created it fresh. Dunno if that's what happened with schwa or not.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:21:19 -0800

Is it possible to change my username? I just realized I'd joined MeFi years ago, forgot it completely, but discovered it again. I don't have any posting history to speak of.