18 votes

Twitter will remove inactive accounts and free up usernames in December

Topic removed by site admin

14 comments

  1. unknown user
    Link
    Excellent! I currently have nz appended to my username handle, which is not perfectly desirable—even less so when the un-suffixed variant of my account name hasn't posted anything since 2013.

    Excellent! I currently have nz appended to my username handle, which is not perfectly desirable—even less so when the un-suffixed variant of my account name hasn't posted anything since 2013.

    9 votes
  2. [5]
    mat
    Link
    Yeah, I got an email asking me if I wanted to keep my dating-from-2007 three letter username. I do. Come april next year it will be 10 years since I tweeted anything. Over the next few hours I got...

    Yeah, I got an email asking me if I wanted to keep my dating-from-2007 three letter username. I do. Come april next year it will be 10 years since I tweeted anything.

    Over the next few hours I got a lot of emails about accounts I had forgotten about for various automation projects. Turns out I had quite a lot of twitter accounts.

    6 votes
    1. [5]
      Comment removed by site admin
      Link Parent
      1. mat
        Link Parent
        Good question. I didn't say I don't use it, I said I haven't tweeted for nearly ten years, which isn't quite the same thing. I'm not interested in tweeting. But there are, despite the site's...

        Good question. I didn't say I don't use it, I said I haven't tweeted for nearly ten years, which isn't quite the same thing. I'm not interested in tweeting. But there are, despite the site's general awfulness, a few people I can only keep in touch with via Twitter. I follow them using my account, and occasionally DM them using it.

        6 votes
      2. [3]
        Grzmot
        Link Parent
        My guess is hoarder mentality, or maybe they think they can sell it. A 3 letter username could be worth a decent chunk of money.

        My guess is hoarder mentality, or maybe they think they can sell it. A 3 letter username could be worth a decent chunk of money.

        5 votes
        1. [2]
          smoontjes
          Link Parent
          It's definitely worth some amount of money. Any 3-letter combination is bound to be an acronym for a company somewhere in the world

          It's definitely worth some amount of money. Any 3-letter combination is bound to be an acronym for a company somewhere in the world

          1. mat
            Link Parent
            Unfortunately it's not. I do have genuine reasons to keep it, but I'd sell it if anyone was actually interested. I did look a while back, just out of interest. Twitter cracked down pretty hard on...

            Unfortunately it's not. I do have genuine reasons to keep it, but I'd sell it if anyone was actually interested. I did look a while back, just out of interest. Twitter cracked down pretty hard on the sale of accounts some time ago.

  3. [4]
    tomf
    Link
    There's one handle I really really want. It hasn't been used since 2009. This is excellent news! I'd always used FirstLast for my twitter. Many years ago I shot a message to FirstL, asking if I...

    There's one handle I really really want. It hasn't been used since 2009. This is excellent news!

    I'd always used FirstLast for my twitter. Many years ago I shot a message to FirstL, asking if I could have the account if they weren't going to be using it. A year later I got a message saying, 'sure thing, boss! DM me!' -- and a few days later I was given the password.

    I am the only person I am aware of that has had an experience like this. It's a six-letter handle, so nothing crazy -- but its a fairly standard first name and last initial.

    If you own a business and the handle is taken, but not being used, there is a process to claim it. I had a three-letter handle that I lost to a large organization.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      hamstergeddon
      Link Parent
      I had someone reach out to me on a spare gmail account (firstLast@gmail.com) saying he was trying to get his online branding in order. Meanwhile I was trying to minimize my online presence for...

      I had someone reach out to me on a spare gmail account (firstLast@gmail.com) saying he was trying to get his online branding in order. Meanwhile I was trying to minimize my online presence for privacy reasons and figured I didn't need it anyway, so I gladly give it to them. Unfortunately I forgot to disable the forwarding rule that sent it to my main account before I handed it off. I tried contacting them several times about it, but no response. It's mostly just vet appointment reminders anyway...

      5 votes
      1. tomf
        Link Parent
        oh man, giving away a gmail address will earn you a sainthood. It goes to show, though, it's always worth asking. Still, that's really nice of you. I'm in the same boat where I'm trying to...

        oh man, giving away a gmail address will earn you a sainthood. It goes to show, though, it's always worth asking. Still, that's really nice of you.

        I'm in the same boat where I'm trying to minimize my online presence.

        4 votes
    2. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. tomf
        Link Parent
        Nice! It's best to just give it up. If you try to sell it and they snitch, twitter will just give them the account anyway.

        Nice! It's best to just give it up. If you try to sell it and they snitch, twitter will just give them the account anyway.

        2 votes
  4. nothis
    Link
    Wow, out of nowhere. I had a username I "reserved" like 5 years ago, then promptly forgot the password for, lol.

    Wow, out of nowhere. I had a username I "reserved" like 5 years ago, then promptly forgot the password for, lol.

    2 votes
  5. [3]
    moocow1452
    Link
    Yay, now I can reclaim my old handle if I ever wanted to go back into that shithole. How nice.

    Yay, now I can reclaim my old handle if I ever wanted to go back into that shithole. How nice.

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      unknown user
      Link Parent
      Twitter's definitely what you make of it, at least in my opinion—and is probably one of the more sculptable platforms in terms of defining what you want to see. At least for me, I don't get the...

      Twitter's definitely what you make of it, at least in my opinion—and is probably one of the more sculptable platforms in terms of defining what you want to see. At least for me, I don't get the feelings of anxiousness/algorithmic uncertainty/social depression on Twitter, unlike Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn (and increasingly other platforms, like YouTube, which I actually deleted from my phone today).

      Most of the causes of toxicity on the internet come from users themselves, although the platform does play a large role in either encouraging or dis-incentivizing bad behavior. Take Tildes for example: it does a great job of encouraging high quality writing; but there's still things I'd change. It feels a bit sterile/unexpressive and not really friendly/bubbly. But there's not a huge amount of negativity here, and almost no social dark patterns. Pretty good for an internet property in 2019!

      9 votes
      1. moocow1452
        Link Parent
        I know that Twitter is kind of what you make of it, but I've kind of always had this craving/fear of viral attention that makes Twitter terrifying, even without the worst case dogpile scenario....

        I know that Twitter is kind of what you make of it, but I've kind of always had this craving/fear of viral attention that makes Twitter terrifying, even without the worst case dogpile scenario. And it's not like I can't browse it without an account, so I can lurk whatever the discourse is or whoever I need the opinion of something happening now. Probably going to need it for promotion eventually if the creative stuff ever takes off, but I do not enjoy that website, tbh.

        1 vote