What's the opinion on selling-on user ID's?

March 26, 2003 2:23 AM

What's the opinion on selling-on user ID's?
posted by Frasermoo to Etiquette/Policy at 2:23 AM (25 comments total)

I think it's great.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 2:26 AM on March 26, 2003

I'm not going to do this but was interested, particularly as the site's popularity continues to grow... (hello google ads... a mention in The Sunday Times last weekend...etc..)

I am proud of my sub-12K user ID and even though I very rarely post or comment anymore I am glad I have the option. Just curious.
posted by Frasermoo at 2:28 AM on March 26, 2003

If the user ID has been used, then no, it shouldn't be sold. If Matt himself is doing it, ala #8, then yeah it's a good thing.
posted by riffola at 2:38 AM on March 26, 2003

If I put mine on eBay, I'd probably net more than mathowie from a year of ads.

But the mathowie did me a couple nice private unexpected favors recently, so I won't do it (but if I did, I'd split the proceeds...)

(Note to self: never post after 2AM local time again... sober)
posted by wendell at 2:43 AM on March 26, 2003

who owns your userid?
posted by crunchland at 3:05 AM on March 26, 2003

Don't tell anybody, but I'm going to sell my user ID to Hama8. Sshh....
posted by hama7 at 4:25 AM on March 26, 2003

it would be a bit odd to sell on an id with an established personality, while "anonymous" ids wouldn't raise much money anyway. so what's the point? iirc you can get an id if you pay matt some small amount.

either way, i can't imagine the world ending if someone did sell one.

(i have a spare id that i registered thinking i'd use it for an evil sociology experiment. but i could never be bothered and now i've forgotten the login name...)
posted by andrew cooke at 4:34 AM on March 26, 2003

well, just think - you not only get a username, you get a posting history! and a rep! wish YOU'D said this? now, you can make it so!
not valid where prohibited. some dissipation required. gastrointestinally distressed pachyderm not included.
posted by quonsar at 5:44 AM on March 26, 2003

I'd sell mine but then I'd have a baseball shirt with someone elses user number on it.
posted by corpse at 5:52 AM on March 26, 2003

What is the going rate for a MeFi user ID?
posted by darainwa at 6:18 AM on March 26, 2003

for mine, or anyone elses? cuz everyone wants to be quonsar, ya know...
posted by quonsar at 9:50 AM on March 26, 2003

I want to be a quonsar!
posted by riffola at 10:51 AM on March 26, 2003

Actually, I'm the real quonsar. The person who's been using quonsar's id is a cheap off-the-shelf knockoff . . .
posted by ashbury at 11:11 AM on March 26, 2003

...and thus, is better equipped to be quonsar!
posted by quonsar at 11:22 AM on March 26, 2003

Has anyone considered that maybe they aren't theirs to sell... I think this post brings up an important question as to the rights of the user in the eyes of site owners...
posted by mhaw at 11:36 AM on March 26, 2003

Ahh, but it's not the user ID you are selling: it's the password. And the password, of course, is your own creative product, your invention, your intellectual property. And we all know how crucial to the success of a democracy the absolute protection of the Intellectual Property principle is.
posted by Mars Saxman at 12:02 PM on March 26, 2003

Marx Sasman has it.
posted by andrew cooke at 1:02 PM on March 26, 2003

Previous ebaying episode.
posted by walrus at 1:03 PM on March 26, 2003

"So free mefi pro, which I hope to implement in September."

Ahem..... That would be Sept. 2001?
posted by y6y6y6 at 1:19 PM on March 26, 2003

passwords get you through the security, right? i would think they are illegal circumvention devices under the DMCA.
posted by quonsar at 1:21 PM on March 26, 2003

Interesting question, quonsar.
posted by anathema at 2:06 PM on March 26, 2003

I'd be fine with metafilter looking like MSNBC with ad content, as long as there aren't any pop ups, pop unders, or pop overs.

Matt, is the ad revenue eyes-based or click-based? I'd gladly hit refresh a few hundred times or click like a crack rat once or twice a day if it would defray some of your costs.
posted by KiloHeavy at 6:46 PM on March 26, 2003

oh, by the way, I have a relatively low usernumber, and of course my ID is for sale (offers by e-mail thank you, PayPal, Western Union and bank money transfer accepted)
posted by matteo at 7:45 PM on March 26, 2003

Sell? Sell? My metafilter ID? My sweet nickname? Not for any amount of money.


(Now leasing, on the the other hand, that's the ticket. It's all about the revenue streams, not the one-time windfalls, folks...)
posted by namespan at 8:26 PM on March 26, 2003

mmm...popovers.
posted by padraigin at 1:36 PM on March 27, 2003