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> Durov did mention this in a message a few months ago that username squatters were becoming a problem. This is gaslighting

• NayamAmarshe 4y ago
  It's not gaslighting if they have analytics to back the claim. https://t.me/durov/195 https://t.me/durov/195 > Until recently, 70% of all Telegram usernames had been reserved in inactive channels by cybersquatters from Iran. This created a graveyard of dead usernames that cluttered search results and prevented millions of Telegram users from selecting appropriate public addresses for their accounts, groups and channels.
  • ls15 4y ago
    Like with every other social media platform, this is not an actual issue. If the username that I would like to have is taken, I can pick another name that is not taken. It is not unreasonable to take a 3 month break from a messenger app. Search results don't have to prioritize inactive channels. Just pulling the rug on people for money makes Telegram look very unreliable. Compare this to how it works on reddit: people can request to take over a dead subreddit as a mod, but it requires that the subreddit has been dead for at least six months and they will try to contact the previous mod first and only transfer it to the requester if that fails. At no cost.
• stiltzkin 4y ago
  That's not gaslighting
  • ls15 4y ago
    Having inactive usernames is not an actual issue when people can just use other names. He is just trying to make more money by selling them and he is blaming it on the users. "See, they did not use the names in the artificially short period that I defined. I had no other option than taking them away and selling them to the highest bidder." Obviously he's not only selling Iranian names.
    • Arainach 4y ago
      Regardless of whether you consider this action just, it is not gaslighting. Gaslighting has a specific definition, and this isn't it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
      • ls15 4y ago
        > manipulating someone so as to make them question their own reality. That's what he did. Telling users it is their own fault that he had to take their names and sell them. You were causing issues, because you did not log in for three months.
        • t-writescode 4y ago
          Ironically, what you are doing is gaslighting by trying to redefine it and say that’s what it’s always meant.
          • ls15 4y ago
            I am not redefining it. I took that quote from the wikipedia page that GP linked.
        • Arainach 4y ago
          Justifying your actions isn't gaslighting. Blaming someone isn't gaslighting. Gaslighting involves presenting a false history of things that did not happen. There is real data here that there are a huge number of inactive accounts.
          • ls15 4y ago
            From your link: > The term may also be used to describe a person (a "gaslighter") who presents a false narrative to another group or person, thereby leading them to doubt their perceptions and become misled, disoriented or distressed. A false narrative is not necessarily including a false history of things. He is spinning a false narrative by using facts, but presenting them in a way that is misleading. like a politician. He is inventing a problem ("dead accounts are a huge problem that is causing my valued users many issues") and presenting a solution for that new problem that is mainly benefitting himself. All social media platforms have a huge number of inactive accounts, but that's for some reason only an issue sometimes. For example when Elon Musk takes over Twitter. Generally these platforms welcome inactive accounts, because it is inflating their numbers. Now Durov wants more money and he is inventing a problem and pointing at the users as the culprit. He is achieving two (edit: tree) things with that: 1) He is gaslighting users into believing that it is their own fault that they lost their account name, because they have not logged in for three months, when stealing account names is actually just an arbitrary decision that he made. 2) He is incentivizing occasional users to log in more often, so they can keep their name. I guess he can then later use these numbers to sell ad space: "Unlike on other platforms, our users are much more engaged. Edit: 3) Money