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Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

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Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#171

Post by ipaddr »

iamthejuan wrote: post #135
resetexistence wrote: post #90

@reset here. Always reply when I get @‘d because I love the laugh and also genuinely find the joy in looking at what people are building afterwards. Never stop, it’s a great part of my day

Mine was @username and GitHub just suddenly changed it to usernamex.

There use to be a site called batcave.net that gave free space and a subdomain. I had the name search.. search.batcave.net until one day when they decided to take back the search subdomain name and use it for themselves. From that point I've avoid great common usernames that one day might be too great

Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#175

Post by throwawaymobule »

nic547 wrote: post #159
RheingoldRiver wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really, really want to avoid it I'm pretty sure you could use a link shortener (bit.ly etc) behind markdown, and it would mask it (haven't tested) But please only do this for personal repos where you're the only contributor because otherwise this looks incredibly sus for anyone to click on

I think I stumbled on togithub.com, which simply does a 302 redirect to github.com, which keeps the url understandable and doesn't create the backlink. But I have no idea who actually runs the servers, so I instead went back to a text file. It's only personal repos, that's why I don't want to create the irrelevant noise for lots of other people.

Reminds me of enwp.org for Wikipedia redirects/shortening. I assume a German owns it, since dewp.org does the same thing.

Seems dangerous to use, if you come to rely on it, but sometimes handy.

Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#177

Post by mcdonje »

acters wrote: post #163
DC-3 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no great fondness for big tech companies, but equally I do believe that society is made worse by people who behave like this.

I am unsure how society is "made worse" On the contrary, this is playful, it is not evil or abusive. also helps keep companies on their toes. Changing someone's username without notifying them AND consent should be frowned on. Taking a large company to small claims will not make the company worse or hurt anyone. Most of the time it is helpful and sometimes brings about the creation of needed regulations. It is feedba…

I agree with providing feedback to companies, and sometimes the court is the correct avenue. You raise a good point about how that can help to further everyone's interests. I just think that there is often a solution that's less painful for both sides before going to court.

I suppose if you're dealing with a large company that has lawyers on staff but doesn't care about user support, then this is a good avenue. Small companies and non-VC backed startups on the other hand wouldn't see it as playful.

So, contextually, I can see a situation where your perspective makes sense. Like those situations where you can imagine a corporate lawyer laughing at you for taking them to small claims over a username. You just need to read the room and know when it'd be good fun vs when it would cause problems.

Oh, and you also need to have enough money for expensive hobbies. The subset of users who are in a position to engage with companies this way probably differs significantly in many ways from the total population of users, assuming a popular product.

Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#178

Post by cogogo »

TylerE wrote: post #9
ukd1 wrote: post #6

I've got a three letter twitter (/x?) handle it happens all the time. It's not quite annoying enough to change my username though.

I have my HN username at gmail, and the novelty... wears off. So many recipts, confirmations, random bccs... Where it gets really ugly is gmail's (incredibly dumb, imo) feature where dots don't matter. I've had mulitple people get quite insistent that they own the email tyler.e gmail, which of course routes to...

I have my first name . last name @ gmail and it’s definitely a reminder of how big the world is. I had previously thought my name was fairly unique. I don’t engage anymore unless it’s a small business trying to get paid.

Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#179

Post by acters »

blibble wrote: post #154
acters wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

and you'll be suing them for what exactly?

It will be done in arbitrage before anything like that. It is perfectly ok to sue a business for inappropriate actions that are not clearly stated or wrongfully done. After closely reviewing Github's policy and terms of service. They do not state they will change your username(with or without notice). Unless the account is "inactively held for future use." I highly doubt OP had been inactive enough to be considered a squatter. Either way, Github needs to update their policies describing why and how someone like OP had to have their username changed without notice. If this happened to me with a username that I carefully crafted and was unjustifiably acted on. I would certainly speak with support then sue them if there is no resolution, hoping to settle out of court because going through the court process is a giant pain for both parties.

Re: Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

#180

Post by nullindividual »

acters wrote: post #163
DC-3 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no great fondness for big tech companies, but equally I do believe that society is made worse by people who behave like this.

I am unsure how society is "made worse" On the contrary, this is playful, it is not evil or abusive. also helps keep companies on their toes. Changing someone's username without notifying them AND consent should be frowned on. Taking a large company to small claims will not make the company worse or hurt anyone. Most of the time it is helpful and sometimes brings about the creation of needed regulations. It is feedba…

Using the courts “for fun” is an abuse and misuse of the system. As the grandparent said, I hope people don’t act like this.
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