Should lichess let you change your username?

I just hate my username lol I thought it was funny when I made it but oh well. It'd be nice if they gave you a chance to change it once or make a small donation to change it.

yeah

don't worry, it's still funny.

The purpose of a username is so that people know who you are. If you change your username, people don't know who you are.

Also, nothing on lichess is pay-for, so a "small donation" to change a username would be a premium feature of sorts which goes against lichess's goals.

I remember ICQ. They used to assign you a number. Then you can make whatever username you wanted to cover up the number, but everything defaulted to a number instead of a specific word. I wonder what the techie reason for not continuing this method is.

@TCF_Namelecc that is a strange logic. Shouldn't the actual user get to choose the purpose of the username? The username changing can be helpful if someone doesn't want themself to be identified. Lichess already gives the option to be anonymous for GMs and titled players. If or when they choose to implement username change, they can make it accessible for all. And only those who want the feature can make use of it. I don't see how that is against lichess's goals.

There should be a warning on the register page saying that your username decision is final

also @sayaro TFC-Namelecc refers to the fact that Lichess is a way larger community compared to a small forum with 50 active members all knowing eachother, so when you change your name, other people who might already know you by your previous name might get confused and consider you a different person etc. and wonder "what, I already played that guy? What was his previous name?" etc

Usernames aren't supposed to be changed. That would kind of defeat the purpose of having them. They are merely a way to identify an individual. If you can change them, then they are no longer an effective means with which to identify an individual, and serve absolutely no purpose.

I don't remember if a warning existed when I created my account but a simple message saying no changes can be made suffices when someone creates a new account.

It has been discussed multiple times on Lichess Twitch streams that allowing people to change username will cause huge problems due to the database and so isn't worth the consequences, it just isn't feasible.

@sayaro All features currently existing and those introduced in the future will be free on Lichess, irrespective of whether one is a patron or not. (donates or not)
Introducing a system where an individual can pay for some feature they desire is against the very idea of Lichess.

Personal conveniences cannot be catered to unless it is established that development of the feature is actually useful for Lichess, and the community as a whole. Money doesn't arise anywhere in this entire process.

Ideas/suggestions on Lichess are taken up based on software merit and utility mostly.

"Personal conveniences cannot be catered to unless it is established that development of the feature is actually useful for Lichess, and the community as a whole. Money doesn't arise anywhere in this entire process."

Then I will repeat my suggestion one last time. Assign a number to each account, then allow people to change their nickname anytime they want. If your name is Bob, you can be Bob. No one needs to be Bob2.

If you want a new name, you don't have to make a new account.

People know who they are playing is the same or someone new based on the number.

You can promote events. Say your name is Bob and you want to set up an Arena tournament. Change your name to Bob Arena. People on your list see your name change. Maybe you are done or just want to blitz. You can be Bob Blitz.

The endless possibilities of allowing name changes are more than a convenience. They allow people to be creative and useful at the same time. After a while, I won't want to be a reindeer. I will close my account and make a new one.

I will have a new name. So, is that more useful to the community and Lichess? Yes, the techies behind the curtain can trace my IP and know me as that number, but the average Joe coming to Lichess will see a new person.

Let's try this. What are the reasons NOT to allow name changes? We already can assign numbers to accounts, so that won't mess up databases. In fact, if you keep one number and be allowed to change your name the database will keep your games as a group regardless of the name you temporarily assign it.

And one final reply to anyone who has a suitable reason NOT to allow name changes, what if you do the same but with a name? So, you could make something generic like "chessluvaluva" (ok, maybe that was selective) and then cover that with "chessdemon2020" and in a month change it to "chessdemon2021" or "BettyGotBack". Whatever, your name would still default to "chessluvaluva".

If people are already going to do it with making a new account, I don't see how it helps to have all the instances of a new account name be separated.

Peace, I'm out.