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Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

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Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#131

Post by Joe-Z »

FeepingCreature wrote: post #121
Joe-Z wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it didn't sound like they linked this dead account anywhere. They literally just squatted a name to never use for anything. Real class move btw, I hope GPs account gets deleted soon. (And then the flood of people having nothing better to do than destroy some nobody's reputation on social media comes in I guess...)

They literally said they referenced it on other sites.

Well if they literally said that, then I'm sure you can copy + paste said portion. Because even upon re-reading the comment, I can't find this statement.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#132

Post by zamadatix »

pmontra wrote: post #39

What they mean about GDPR compliance is a mistery. GDPR doesn't apply to deceased persons: Recital 27 > This Regulation does not apply to the personal data of deceased persons. > Member States may provide for rules regarding the processing of personal data of deceased persons. Each country has its own rules. This is a summary https://www.twobirds.com/en/in-focus/general-data-protection... However the tweets of a dece…

Twitter is targeting inactive accounts which just happen to include dead users not the other way around.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#133

Post by emiliovesprini »

guessmyname wrote: post #51
Sendotsh wrote: post #15

I understand why some people are upset about it (Eg due to accounts of deceased people), but I was really REALLY hoping to snap my first name which was registered by a European person 10 years ago, has 0 followers, and has never posted. I definitely feel like they could compromise and at least delete those blatantly unused ones.

> … but I was really REALLY hoping to snap my first name which was registered by a European person 10 years ago, has 0 followers, and has never posted. I created a Twitter account in 2012 and it was immediately put in “private mode” because I didn’t want to post anything; ±7 years later the account is still empty, no posts, no followers, nada. The only reason I created that account was to prevent cybersquatting over…

What if there was someone with the same name as you who did want to tweet? They would say you are the one squatting.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#134

Post by emiliovesprini »

As far as I can tell, there are two systems for meaningful names (as opposed to "arbitrary" ones like phone numbers or 4chan IDs):

1. A first-come-first-serve system like Twitter. I'd list drawbacks but this comment section is full of them.

2. A lease system like domain names, whose drawbacks are best explained in this tweet by @devonzuegel:

  > Domain names really hold you hostage. As soon as you've shared a link
  > from that domain, you have two options when it comes up for renewal:
  > (1) Pay the ransom for that domain registration, or
  > (2) Break the internet, specifically the part linking to your own
  > content
Does anyone know of another way to do meaningful names?

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#135

Post by legohead »

emiliovesprini wrote: post #134

As far as I can tell, there are two systems for meaningful names (as opposed to "arbitrary" ones like phone numbers or 4chan IDs): 1. A first-come-first-serve system like Twitter. I'd list drawbacks but this comment section is full of them. 2. A lease system like domain names, whose drawbacks are best explained in this tweet by @devonzuegel: > Domain names really hold you hostage. As soon as you've shared a link > fr…

what do you mean by meaningful?

you can just allow people to choose whatever username they want, that's a system...that nobody seems to allow for whatever reason. people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it. twitter already has a verified system to deal with imposters for high profile accounts where it would matter.

blizzard (battlenet) lets you choose any username but tags on a number for everyone. so there's bob#1234, bob#2342 etc. and then it hides the number for display purposes. that seems a decent compromise.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#136

Post by reaperducer »

legohead wrote: post #135
emiliovesprini wrote: post #134

As far as I can tell, there are two systems for meaningful names (as opposed to "arbitrary" ones like phone numbers or 4chan IDs): 1. A first-come-first-serve system like Twitter. I'd list drawbacks but this comment section is full of them. 2. A lease system like domain names, whose drawbacks are best explained in this tweet by @devonzuegel: > Domain names really hold you hostage. As soon as you've shared a link > fr…

what do you mean by meaningful? you can just allow people to choose whatever username they want, that's a system...that nobody seems to allow for whatever reason. people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it. twitter already has a verified system to deal with imposters for high profile accounts where it would matter. blizzard (battlenet) lets you choose any username but tags on a number f…

Or drop the alpha chars altogether and just go numeric. It worked for CompuServe. Everyone's ID was an octal number. 72167,4531 for example.

That way there is no overlap, and nobody is slighted when they find out that their name is taken.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#137

Post by TillE »

legohead wrote: post #135
emiliovesprini wrote: post #134

As far as I can tell, there are two systems for meaningful names (as opposed to "arbitrary" ones like phone numbers or 4chan IDs): 1. A first-come-first-serve system like Twitter. I'd list drawbacks but this comment section is full of them. 2. A lease system like domain names, whose drawbacks are best explained in this tweet by @devonzuegel: > Domain names really hold you hostage. As soon as you've shared a link > fr…

what do you mean by meaningful? you can just allow people to choose whatever username they want, that's a system...that nobody seems to allow for whatever reason. people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it. twitter already has a verified system to deal with imposters for high profile accounts where it would matter. blizzard (battlenet) lets you choose any username but tags on a number f…

That's a really messy system when you're a communications platform which revolves around the ability to @ people based on their username.

On Twitter or a forum like this for example, unique usernames are probably essential, because the alternatives are too confusing.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#138

Post by derefr »

legohead wrote: post #135
emiliovesprini wrote: post #134

As far as I can tell, there are two systems for meaningful names (as opposed to "arbitrary" ones like phone numbers or 4chan IDs): 1. A first-come-first-serve system like Twitter. I'd list drawbacks but this comment section is full of them. 2. A lease system like domain names, whose drawbacks are best explained in this tweet by @devonzuegel: > Domain names really hold you hostage. As soon as you've shared a link > fr…

what do you mean by meaningful? you can just allow people to choose whatever username they want, that's a system...that nobody seems to allow for whatever reason. people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it. twitter already has a verified system to deal with imposters for high profile accounts where it would matter. blizzard (battlenet) lets you choose any username but tags on a number f…

> people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it.

Yes, mostly by having systems that refer to people not by their names, but either by "universal" opaque IDs like social-security numbers, or by attaching to their name a system-specific hierarchical ID like a mailing address (because you're probably the only John Smith living at your address; if you weren't, it'd probably annoy you so much that you'd likely use a nickname.)

The "usernames" that this debate is about aren't "display names" (those can indeed be arbitrary), but rather basically "URL slugs"—things that allow you to target an email to that person, or to make a web request for the right person's content. Those have to be unique, in the same way that an SSN has to be unique. (They're primary/partitioning keys.)

Usernames, as URL slugs, are meant to be a "more readable, if possible" and "shorter, if possible" version of the opaque unique identifier, where you can maybe get something memorable and vaguely-resembling your own name, but where that can't be guaranteed, because a username—as a URL slug—can't sacrifice any of the properties of a unique identifier.

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#139

Post by thiagomgd »

reaperducer wrote: post #136
legohead wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do you mean by meaningful? you can just allow people to choose whatever username they want, that's a system...that nobody seems to allow for whatever reason. people have the same names in real life and we've learned to deal with it. twitter already has a verified system to deal with imposters for high profile accounts where it would matter. blizzard (battlenet) lets you choose any username but tags on a number f…

Or drop the alpha chars altogether and just go numeric. It worked for CompuServe. Everyone's ID was an octal number. 72167,4531 for example. That way there is no overlap, and nobody is slighted when they find out that their name is taken.

Compuwhat? sorry, never heard about it. (which might or not be related to this decision)

ICQ uses a number, but yeah, how many people still use it?

Re: Twitter account deletions on 'pause' after outcry

#140

Post by [deleted] »

thiagomgd wrote: post #139
reaperducer wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or drop the alpha chars altogether and just go numeric. It worked for CompuServe. Everyone's ID was an octal number. 72167,4531 for example. That way there is no overlap, and nobody is slighted when they find out that their name is taken.

Compuwhat? sorry, never heard about it. (which might or not be related to this decision) ICQ uses a number, but yeah, how many people still use it?

[deleted]
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