Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Super sorry to the guy with the username reset on GitHub

discuss.systems

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 261 posts

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

#191

Post by acters »

arcbyte wrote: post #170
OJFord wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the claim? In the UK at least SCC requires that your claiming for some kind of (small) financial harm. What's that here? Even if that's not the case in the USA (small civil claims against un-pursued crime?) it's still not clear to me what the issue is, or what 'right' they've violated. The judicial system isn't there for 'how displeased you are'.

Maybe I have my github account printed on business cards or even plastered on my car as advertising for my consulting practice. Or its embedded on marketing pages for consulting support for my open source project that now I need to pay a dev or dedicate time to update. Or any other scenario where o have customers and potential customers that discover or interact with me at least partly through my github account.

This is the main issue I wanted to bring the conversation towards. instead I got flamed for making it seem like I am a "sue-aholic." Some people use their Github for business use and allowing Github to change a username without notice is bad blood. On top of that Github has no mention of telling its user base of changing usernames with or without notice. There is almost no mention that they can do whatever they like on their platform with your personal account details. If Github ever does end up changing someone's username and that person was doing what you said. Github would be in deeper trouble than what OP does have.

Obviously OP understands the company's decision for changing his username but he was allowed to have it in the beginning. It is odd to backtrack and force a name change without notice. Github should update their policy with new reasonings for allowing themselves the ability to change your username(or account details) without notice. Afterall If Github can change my username(or account details), I would like that to be communicated to me.

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

#192

Post by stavros »

djbusby wrote: post #190
stavros wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is 23000ish and I still couldn't get "Stavros" (a friend got it first). EDIT: Wait, how? His ID is 500k or so. Hmm.

Name recycle. For a while I had a username monitoring tool. Names drop, just like domains.

Hmm, I'll need to make sure that GitHub's Stavros... retires, then.

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

#193

Post by moffkalast »

Retr0id wrote: post #73

I accidentally pasted a backtrace into a github issue outside of a code block. It was a deep stack, with each line prefixed by "#0" "#1", "#2", etc. GitHub decided to turn these into links to the corresponding numbered issues, for every issue , (including back-reference notifications in each of those issues) and there didn't seem to be any way to undo that action.

Sounds like you should... open an issue.

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

#195

Post by acters »

blibble wrote: post #186
acters wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

they don't have to update their policies, it's their website and they can do what they want with it unless you've paid them (which @usernamex doesn't seem to), then there's not even a contract with them they will call your bluff, you'll go to court, then you'll lose and you'll have their legal fees to pay

If Github has the power to change usernames or account details without notice then I would like them to communicate that to me clearly and upfront. Also, you dont have to pay github to have legal grounds. If the account is used for business purposes(business card, or other forms), then github could cause you financial damages no matter how small. As a business, they should try to be more open and communicative with the users. OP clearly does not have much of a case, which makes that a lame example to bring up this court stuff. This is my bad, however if OP was using his account as we both mentioned then he would have a good case.

Overall, Github should update their policy to communicate more clearly with us. This is something we should demand from them. We can just throw up our hands and say github can do whatever they want. If that was the case and Github came out to say that, I would never do business with them or use their services/platform.

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

#196

Post by mrtranscendence »

slau wrote: post #46

I used to work at Realm (the mobile database company). In order to keep an eye on what was going on, there was a Slack integration that reposted any mention of @realm on Twitter. One morning, we woke up to a #twitter channel full of very nearly porn. Young men, scantily dressed, flexing their abs and flashing smiles at the camera. Turns out someone added a bot on Twitter that would repost things from Instagram to Twi…

I have @CommonFirstNameCommonLastName on Twitter, and I occasionally get mentioned or DMed by people thinking of an entirely different person. It’s not often enough to be too annoying, though.

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

#197

Post by krupan »

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...

Thanks for starting this thread. I have my first initial and last name for Gmail and it's nice to know I'm not the only one getting all kinds of mail for other people with similar names!

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

#198

Post by pc86 »

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…

You are not damaged by losing a username. You will lose no money, no status, no clients, nothing. If you choose to print your username on the side of your car that's your choice and GitHub isn't responsible for that. Your case would be dismissed immediately, in some states with prejudice, and rightfully so.

> It is feedback in a professional manner for disrespecting one of their users/clients.

NO, this is emphatically not what the court system is for. You don't sue someone (or a company) to "provide feedback." Courts exist for when you are damaged, you need to be made whole, and the parties cannot come to an agreement without a neutral third party.

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

#199

Post by acters »

imdsm wrote: post #165
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> requires that your claiming for some kind of (small) financial harm. There may be very small differences, but I believe it is also exactly the same in USA. Judge Judy is not going to give you a dime just because GitHub changed your username. You might still get on the TV show though but only so that she can yell at you publicly for wasting everyone's time.

In a more illustrative example, twitter.com/x was up until a few days ago, a protected account owned by someone? and now it is Twitter... X's handle. I bet he wasn't paid a dime either. Be careful, Devon. https://github.com/x

that is what the previous owner of the twitter x handle said. No compensation or warning. However, Twitter(or X) was exercising their trademark policy. Github just changed OP's username without any warning or breach of any policy.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-takes-over...

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

#200

Post by JackFr »

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…

> On the contrary, this is playful, it is not evil or abusive.

Taking someone to court is not playful.

Post reply on HN