5 ms·
OkCupid user since 2006 here (with multi year periods of inactive account). The OkCupid website hardly changed since 2006. The only big changes I've seen is ma
by verst 9y ago
OkCupid user since 2006 here (with multi year periods of inactive account).
The OkCupid website hardly changed since 2006. The only big changes I've seen is making their messaging someone dependent on first liking / starring them. Now this name change...
I'm surprised by the sudden change -- I was prompted when I opened the app. I did change my profile name to my real first name.
I'm already easily identifiable on the internet (for example through an image reverse search), but my first name and city usually suffice to find me on your favorite search engine. While this puts me at risk (which I can personally manage), it does make others more comfortable. In fact, I want people who are motivated to be able to verify that I am a real person.
That being said I'm glad that OkCupid (now; perhaps a policy update) is not forcing real names to be used. It would be better if they altered their prompt and asked for an online nickname that is not a username and need not be unique.
I doubt OkCupid will let users search by real name. The username still seems to be an internal identifier for the time being. The profile URLs are of the form https://www.okcupid.com/profile/<username> https://www.okcupid.com/profile/<username>
If you knew my username you could still directly jump to my profile despite my real name update.
Just for fun -- compared to the OkCupid population I'm apparently:
* More Organized * More Polite * More Scientific * More Nerdy * More Mathematical * Less Spiritual * More Confident * More Athletic * More Trusting * Less Suave * More Indie * Less Friendly
There is definitely some bias since OkCupid users mostly come from a US culture background I believe. I come from a certain European country that would be well described by the above ;)
- zenlikethat 9y agoIs Germany the correct guess where you're from? :)
- verst 9y agoYes! I came to the US for college and have been here 12+ years. But once a German always a German ;)
- ashleyn 9y agoA "real name" policy (which is really just a "legal name" policy) would drive away trans users, which is arguably a major portion of their userbase. I do not use Facebook because it is impossible for me to change my legal name due to restrictions of my birth state. What the government insists on calling me is a legal name, it is not my "real name". This is far from exclusively a trans issue: Facebook even harassed Salman Rushdie over it, because that's only his pen name.
- verst 9y agoThanks to you and others for raising the perspectives I never considered. This is why I love HN. When I saw the real name request I only thought to myself -- "this isn't the OKC I know, why would they abandon their quirky usernames... but ok, here is my real name." I never thought about their definition of "real name" or whether noncompliance would result in accounts being banned. I still recall the "real name" discussions when Facebook first adopted that policy. So of course I should have known that this little change could hurt others.
- Godel_unicode 9y ago> due to restrictions of my birth state I was under the impression that the 14th amendment guarantees the right of Americans to change their name, are you saying that this is not the case? In which state(s) is this happening?
- superb_herb 9y agoSweden or Germany?