Recycling Usernames?

September 9, 2005 8:53 AM

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?
posted by mkultra to Etiquette/Policy at 8:53 AM (38 comments total)

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.
posted by geoff. at 8:57 AM on September 9, 2005

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.
posted by riffola at 8:59 AM on September 9, 2005

geoff., that was a B.M. moment

(the days before MetaTalk)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:00 AM on September 9, 2005

But there is a user named login now, right?
posted by jessamyn at 9:05 AM on September 9, 2005

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*
posted by mkultra at 9:20 AM on September 9, 2005

I miss demo.
posted by yhbc at 9:29 AM on September 9, 2005

I really wanted jackal when I first signed up. Wanker has never even used his account.
posted by grateful at 10:24 AM on September 9, 2005

"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.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:26 AM on September 9, 2005

We did lots with it mkultra! My primary email address has been @schwa.com ever since we registered it, for one :)
posted by ericost at 10:28 AM on September 9, 2005

But there is a user named login now, right?

EXACTLY! why, Matt?
posted by matteo at 10:46 AM on September 9, 2005

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... ;)
posted by mkultra at 10:51 AM on September 9, 2005

What matteo said.
posted by Jamie Farr at 10:54 AM on September 9, 2005

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.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:05 AM on September 9, 2005

What was the origional problem with the username 'login'?
posted by delmoi at 11:28 AM on September 9, 2005

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.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:32 AM on September 9, 2005

P.S. my opening bid for "BigSexE1" is $50.00
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:33 AM on September 9, 2005

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.
posted by iconomy at 11:34 AM on September 9, 2005

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::
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:08 PM on September 9, 2005 [1 favorite]

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!"
posted by nile_red at 12:47 PM on September 9, 2005

You'll always be schwa to me mkultra.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:54 PM on September 9, 2005

He just better not reassign my name when I leave!
posted by ParisParamus at 12:54 PM on September 9, 2005

Nah - we'll always have Paris.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:59 PM on September 9, 2005

I was hoping to become ParamusParis, but both Trenton, and the Quai D'Orsay objected...
posted by ParisParamus at 1:16 PM on September 9, 2005

I still think you are a different person than posted for the first half year of your account Paris.
posted by caddis at 1:20 PM on September 9, 2005

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

And a comment by jkottke. Waves of nostalgia ...
posted by feelinglistless at 1:58 PM on September 9, 2005

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.
posted by teece at 1:59 PM on September 9, 2005

Who is that jkottke guy, anyway?
posted by sciurus at 2:02 PM on September 9, 2005

He's the Kevin Mitnick of popcorn.
posted by Divine_Wino at 2:04 PM on September 9, 2005 [1 favorite]

posted by Jamie Farr at 10:54 AM PST on September 9 [!]
Haha ha...if true.
posted by thomcatspike at 2:40 PM on September 9, 2005

He's the Kevin Mitnick of popcorn.

Ok, that was awesome.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:59 PM on September 9, 2005

Hah!
posted by Mid at 3:39 PM on September 9, 2005

Okay, Divine Wino wins.
posted by Vidiot at 11:41 PM on September 9, 2005

Ok, that was awesome.

seconded. but Nah - we'll always have Paris.
is pretty fucking dope too.
posted by Hat Maui at 3:34 AM on September 10, 2005

Please, please, what is Popcorn, and what is it's URL?
posted by ParisParamus at 6:48 AM on September 10, 2005

Popcorn!
posted by loquacious at 7:04 AM on September 10, 2005

Err, sorry.

Popcorn!
posted by loquacious at 7:06 AM on September 10, 2005

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.
posted by mendel at 9:26 AM on September 10, 2005

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.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:21 PM on September 11, 2005