That and I really don't care for figuring out who the hell is who when people change their names constantly.
This.
This this this this. O_O
People constantly changing their names drives me
crazy, and it honestly makes it really easy to just completely lose track of a person and think you're talking to a complete stranger when you meet up with an acquaintance who's actually had a name change that you didn't know about. I like being able to actually
recognize people around the forums as opposed to seeing "new people" who are actually people that I may have known all along but never realized it because I assumed they were actually 3-4 different members. It's like... how do you even expect people to remember your names if you don't have a stable name to return to?
Not to mention, it's a hassle to tag people when you realize that what you
thought was their username no longer works, and then you have to hunt down a post of theirs that you're 100% sure they made in order to figure out what their new name is,
just so you can properly tag them.
Oh, and it's also annoying
as a GM to have people constantly change their names, because, for example, Gwazi is in some RP's of mine, and Gwazi used to change his name so often that I had players who honestly
did not know who I was referring to when I used the name "Gwazi". It was legitimately causing problems in my RP's and it was just plain annoying.
Names are labels that we use so that we know who the hell everyone is. If your name changes constantly,
it loses that purpose, and it's annoying as all hell.
The same thing sort of happens on Tumblr, where people can change their URL's whenever they like, and it honestly makes me forget who people even are when I see them on my dash. And I've come across countless stories of people becoming friends on Tumblr, only to drift apart as they kept changing their URL's to the point where no one knew who anyone was anymore and they forgot why they followed the person and eventually unfollowed because they thought, "who the hell is this, anyway?".
Like, if you're someone who's changed their name recently? I'm sorry, but I literally don't know who you are anymore. It doesn't matter if we used to talk to each other in the past -- I will assume you are someone completely different until it is made explicitly clear that you used to have X/Y/Z as your username. I don't have time to check everyone's profiles to see what their names used to be and then memorize who's who. The only way I can remember anyone's identities is if they just maintain a solid identity to remember. @_@
Now, if you
occasionally change your username? That I can deal with, so long as you make it clear who you used to be. But people who
constantly change them? That I just can't stand.
I've never changed my Iwaku username, though I've been recently considering changing it to something
similar to what I have now. I'm starting to not like the "-kun" and so I kind of want to remove that, but just plain "Kaga" sounds too short and plain, even if that
is what most people call me. I'm thinking I'd want my actual username to be something a little bit longer and more interesting.
But something as trivial as changing it to match an avatar change? Fuck no. I like it when people can actually recognize me from post to post, dammit.
