Official Feedback Request: Name Change Frequency

So for those of you who don't know, we hold name change periods here on PokéCommunity three times a year at 4-month intervals. I'm considering changing this to two times a year at 6-month intervals because I feel that (and I know that some people agree with me) 4 months is too regular and makes it difficult to keep track of who's who. Since I know that it'd be... less than popular for me to implement this right away, I wanted to gather some community feedback and have some sort of discussion first. What do you guys think of changing the name change frequency from 4 months to 6 months? Other suggestions welcome, of course.

By the by, this isn't anything to do with admin workload. I'm the only person who does name changes, we've agreed that between us, and I'm absolutely fine with it. It makes no difference to me in terms of workload / time requirements if we do this every 4 months or every 6 months, so having more admins working on name changes won't really change anything.

While I voted for 4 months, I'm actually perfectly fine with either.

Just nothing too frequent, I believe it pressures the server. I recall the shut down was damn frequent around 7-8 years ago when frequent name changes are allowed.

So yeah, the priority should be PC's server. That doesn't mean the members aren't important, it's just that if the server goes haywire, we have no place to go to! Lol

I voted for 6 months, mainly because Sun has a good point here. We all remember hearing how often the server went down in the name changes that happened prior to 2010 and while we since reinstated them due to an upgraded server, changing the names too often, as others mentioned sometimes may lead to confusion, especially if you're a new member and you needed to contact a specific staff member and if they changed names too often it could really get frustrating for the new member.

So basically, we need to think of both the server and the members. Doing twice-a-year name changes will help people adjust to a name better compared to the current three-times-a-year.

Honestly I think it should be once a year. You can do it the first week or two of the new year for those who want a fresh start. Shouldn't be changing all that often in the first place or it messes with everyone.

It's worth mentioning that the server impact isn't massive. Certainly, changing anything up to ~190 names at once, some of them having tens of thousands of posts, is no small task but long-term the server load is actually pretty low. The way name that changes are handled now is much more efficient than it was many years ago. Usually for the few days I spend actually changing the names we have occasional downtimes or laggy periods but for the most part, it's alright. Still, it's something, so if you guys think that's worth reducing name change frequency for then that's fine too.

If it doesn't end up staying at four month intervals (whether it be six months or once per year), I think that we should once again allow the Crystal tier or higher supporters one extra free name change in the year, which was a thing in 2014 I think. Some people might want to use a different name sooner than six months ahead, whether it be for a certain occasion or just because it ends up being something they're into at the time.

Other than that, I don't really care, because it's not likely i'm changing my name anytime soon.

I'm fine with it being at six months now, but hopefully no less than that, and hoping that the first name change of the year will still be in January.

I've also seen it to the point where we have new members go into CQ&F wanting to request a name change, only to find out that they have to wait for a certain period in order to change it. I honestly think that's a little unfair for them as new members that have to wait, whereas I've seen new members who join during that two-week period of name changes want an immediate change. Maybe something to look into if a fairly new member wants a name change? I'm not sure if it's all that common either, but it's some food for thought.

I think putting it at 6 months would be a smart decision. As much as I like some people changing their name to fit their theme, it confuses me a lot too, and I think it'll happen a lot less if the period is 6 months. With a 6 month period, changing names will be a bit more changing it because your online handle changed, and I think it's a good balance between having people being able to change their name, but not going crazy with it either.

I feel that name changes should be a rare thing. The fact that it's even allowed at all is something people should be happy about, but I don't think the fun of a new name really balances out the confusion of everyone suddenly having a new name.

A 6 month system is a good balance. Four months isn't too bad, but I know its a bit of a pain for you to have to deal with :L its a lot of headache for a luxury we could all manage.

Years ago, I would have said that the name changes are annoying and I hate having to relearn who everyone is, but it doesn't particularly bother me anymore. I'm fine with either way, but I think it should just stay the same. Four months always seemed pretty fair to me, as it had been the same way prior to the way we do the changes now, plus it allows people that make name changes they kind of get over quickly to remedy that sooner rather than later.

Overall, I'm not particularly bugged by the time frame, but I thought it was going fine at four months so I'm gonna hop on that boat.

I'd be happy with no name changes. 8) But that's personal preference for being able to identify people. At the same time, some members have changed their name and lost the stigma of their "past identity", so I know people would love to keep changing their names.

Six months would certainly make name changes more important and prevent people from doing silly or dumb names for a laugh if they were stuck with it half the year.

I HAVE A SUGGESTION: how about we keep it at 4 months but not let people change their names two periods in a row?

but honestly, either way it doesn't matter much to me, I just figure that might be a happy medium for those on either side.

I'm fine with it either way. I've never had any troubles with remembering name changes, as I just kept an eye on the change thread during the process, because I was interested to see what people came up with (and to prevent becoming confused). Nevertheless I can see why others can have trouble with constant changes.

While I don't have a strong preference how often the changes will occur, I don't want them to disappear entirely. (I know you're not planning to now, but some people mentioned it.) The fact they're available is a great thing, certainly for people who haven't taken the time to come up with a good name when they joined (this includes myself) and still allows them to continue with the same account.

maccrash said:

I HAVE A SUGGESTION: how about we keep it at 4 months but not let people change their names two periods in a row?

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That could work imo, but then there's the matter of making sure that people aren't lying when they come in for the next name change. I'm sure there's an easy way around that though, but it just adds an extra step, so that's something I'd leave to RL to figure out if he wants to handle.

Definitely possible and it's crossed my mind before. I can easily check when peoples' last name change was on their profile. The net effect would be that it's at least 8 months between name changes though and that's a pretty long time compared to what we have now. It also complicates things a little which is a bad thing - a lot of people struggled with understanding the previous system and indeed, although it's better, the same can be said about this one too. Still open to considering it some more, though, so please do discuss further.

I'll reply to other particular comments in a bit.

While I actually voted to keep things as they are now, I'm definitely a fan of the 6 month cycle and wouldn't mind that or a once a year cycle

Maybe we could maintain the 4 month cycle for PC Supporters or implement a system where name changes are done every 3 months; but you have to WAIT 6 months between name changes (per user limit)

6 month for the sake of fairness, but I personally think once a year is perfectly reasonable.

I actually think that name changes are way too frequent currently. While I am guilty myself of changing my username, I can't help but to feel for newer users who sign up as people are changing names only to see it happen again a few months later. It has to be confusing. Name changes are a cool privilege to have but I think people see them as a given right now. I'd be totally fine with it being reduced to twice a year, once in January and once in July, though I think that it'd be even better just to do them once a year in January. That's just me though.

I voted for four because, if you miss a name change thread, you would have to wait longer for the other to happen.
If something's not broken, don't fix it, right?