# Username squatters...



## yobutt5 (Mar 28, 2010)

I happen to have stumbled on many, many userpages without any submissions, comments given or received, and user info and such. many of them have been registered years ago, with only 20 or so pageviews, usually from people like me typing random things like "Ulquiorra" or "lelouch" into the user/ field...

That's a practice known as domain squatting, where someone will register a domain with the intent to make sure others don't get to have it... 

Is there anything we could do about that? i mean, one of my friends was trying to register an FA account, but his alias was already taken by someone who had apparently registered years ago, and not submitted/faved/written one thing, ever. 

I mean, it's sad that this goes on, but there has to be something that can be done about it...


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## Bando (Mar 28, 2010)

Accounts that are inactive for 2 or more years can be merged, I believe. Only for forums as far as I know, though.


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## yobutt5 (Mar 28, 2010)

well, i was referring to the site itself.. i've noticed users within the forum are much easier to manage than in a database, like the site. you can change usernames without adverse effects, you can remove posts and it won't leave broken shortcuts...


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## Verin Asper (Mar 28, 2010)

FA dont delete accounts, some folks would remove everything then leave, thus the account is stuck there. No you cant ask for the account as its still was made by someone else.

I'm sitting on 5 accounts on FA, though I only use 2-3 maximum


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## Artificial Ginger (Mar 28, 2010)

Can't your friend just pick a different name?


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## yobutt5 (Mar 28, 2010)

yeah, he did, but still, it doesn't seem right to be able to take names to use them later..


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## Artificial Ginger (Mar 28, 2010)

yobutt5 said:


> yeah, he did, but still, it doesn't seem right to be able to take names to use them later..


Welcome to the Internet. "Right" and "wrong" are meaningless here.


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## Verin Asper (Mar 28, 2010)

yobutt5 said:


> yeah, he did, but still, it doesn't seem right to be able to take names to use them later..


as the post above me say "welcome to the internet, where there could be 32 different folks with 'Naruto' in their name in a game"

User names arent Squat-able while DOMAIN names could be if the person is desperate enough to pay for the domain name. Like my main account on FA
Deskai, I wanted Des, but there is already a Des on FA so I just went with Deskai


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## yak (Mar 29, 2010)

If the account has been inactive for a year it is acceptable for us to hand it over to anyone requesting.


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## OxfordTweed (Mar 29, 2010)

Who's to say that the person "squatting" doesn't just use the account to be able to browse the site and see adult art? That's what my husband does with his to a point; he looks at artwork and stuff, but very rarely adds anything to his favourites.


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## Kusatsu (Mar 29, 2010)

Zeddish said:


> Who's to say that the person "squatting" doesn't just use the account to be able to browse the site and see adult art? That's what my husband does with his to a point; he looks at artwork and stuff, but very rarely adds anything to his favourites.


Agreed. 

It's a completely different case though if, say, the person registered and never logged in since. Or hasnt done so in like 2 years. Then I could see it being acceptable to delete and free up the name.


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## anthroguy101 (Mar 29, 2010)

_*DELETE THE SPACE-WASTING ACCOUNTS!!*_


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## Cataha (Mar 29, 2010)

I have to agree with this, there are other sites that do that when an account has been inactive


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## Irreverent (Mar 29, 2010)

Zeddish said:


> Who's to say that the person "squatting" doesn't just use the account to be able to browse the site and see adult art? That's what my husband does with his to a point; he looks at artwork and stuff, but very rarely adds anything to his favourites.



An account that is accessed regularly, but has no content is still active to the admins.  It may not have content, but we would not  turn over an account that is being accessed regularly. 

Now if the account was completely dormant for 2-3 years and/or had only been used on the day of registration 2-3 years ago, it would be fair game for recycling.    And the person taking over the account has to agree to be responsible for any drama that might come out of the take over.


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## JoJoJoshua (Mar 31, 2010)

anthroguy101 said:


> _*DELETE THE SPACE-WASTING ACCOUNTS!!*_



By space-wasting...are you referring to the one entry in a giant mysql database?


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## Dragoneer (Apr 1, 2010)

If a name is abandoned and not established for a year we have no problem turning it over.


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## Kusatsu (Apr 1, 2010)

Dragoneer said:


> If a name is abandoned and not established for a year we have no problem turning it over.


How would we go about doing this? There's an abandoned account name made in 07 and never used that I was interested in seeing if I could have.


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## Dragoneer (Apr 1, 2010)

Kusatsu said:


> How would we go about doing this? There's an abandoned account name made in 07 and never used that I was interested in seeing if I could have.


Send me a note on FA.


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## ShadowEon (Apr 1, 2010)

What a douche move. XD But sometimes they might just be inactive accounts, ditched ones, or etc. I didn't use my account fully until a year after I registered ( but I did have one drawing up). But for the ones that DO do that, geez.

This reminds me of that time that on my youtube account, I one day get a angry message from a younger user saying that I stole his username,this is of course, three years after I have created my account.

...And it's "shadoweon", which I use everywhere, and if you google, only one other user has ONCE used such a name. So lulz.


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## CerbrusNL (Apr 1, 2010)

Dragoneer said:


> If a name is abandoned and not established for a year we have no problem turning it over.


Hmmm, then I have a little question, 'neer:
I have 2 FA accounts: CerberusNL and Cerbrus
I'm currently using CerberusNL, since I've got all my stuff, watches, comments etc up on that account, but I have "Claimed"  Cerbrus, since it's My fursona's name.
On both pages, I'm linking to the other profile. In this case, What if I weren't active on Cerbrus for a year, could someone just go and try to claim it?


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## Aden (Apr 1, 2010)

CerbrusNL said:


> What if I weren't active on Cerbrus for a year, could someone just go and try to claim it?



Yeeep, and someone SHOULD claim it if they wanted it and would actually use it.


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