8 ms·
X is reportedly selling inactive usernames for $50k
- WheelsAtLarge 3y agoLong term they would be way better off selling them the way domain names are sold. To-be owners pay a varying amount depending on the name's popularity but only for a year. Brand names and key words would go for big bucks while nonsense letter names would go for a buck.
- tennisflyi 3y agoRandom 2/3 three letters accounts could still fetch a nice penny.
- abenga 3y agoSelling someone's trademark to just anyone sounds like extortion with extra steps. "Give us money or we will allow your competition or scammers to use your name to say gods-know-what on our platform."
- WheelsAtLarge 3y agoCompanies have to pay for their trademarks and domains to maintain them on all the areas where they want them protected. They aren't free so there's nothing new there.
- true_religion 3y agoIf they actually let that happen, then they would be sued, wouldn’t they? It would be fine if they charged a flat rate universally like domain names but the moment they determine trademarked names are more valuable, they open themselves up to civil suits.
- cushpush 3y agotrademark does not give you a cubby with your name on it at every company that could possibly exist, but in the age of the 'net maybe something like this makes sense?
- ksaj 3y agoI bet they won't try to sell Donald Trump's inactive personal account. This will have interesting consequences if, for example a reporter who no longer uses X, gets their username sold. The person who buys it of course will appear authenticated, and then the fraudulent news begins. This is literally facilitating impersonation. I don't see how anyone could consider it ethical, and surely there are legal ramifications.
- ThePinion 3y agoTrump tweeted August 24. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1694886846050771321 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/16948868460507713...
- ksaj 3y agoAh, so he did. It's still outside the 30 day limit. Just not as far outside as I originally thought.
- GuB-42 3y agoYou don't have to tweet to keep your account active, just log in.
- ksaj 3y agoI log in every time I get an email saying I got a DM from someone I actually know, generally from the two people I know who keep complaining about X, but haven't gone somewhere federated where I'm far more accessible. As long as they keep finding things to tell me in "private" I have a good reminder process for logging in often enough to keep my account from being sold by the X protection racket for $50k.
- Grimblewald 3y agotrusting anything on twitter post elon is like trusting 4chan content.
- 3y ago
- cyanydeez 3y agoso basically, threatening anyone who tries to leave with extortion. interesting. wonder how quickly it'll result in a lawsuit.
- jgalt212 3y agoYou get what you paid for. oh, wait ...
- bko 3y agoIsn't this another form of cyber squatting? Highly coveted names encourage people to snap them up and hoard them with the hopes of reselling later. And they're almost certain sophisticated organized projects. Maybe not at the onset of social media, but now for sure. I've also heard that if you have a coveted name you're constantly fighting hacking attempts.
- neaden 3y agoI think there is a difference between a name that is covered because it's cool or noteworthy vs. a name that's coveted because it implies the identity of the person. If a business or celebrity is leaving Twitter they still probably would not want someone to have their old Twitter name because it could lead to deception.
- kodapoda 3y agoHighly doubt there is any basis for a lawsuit. It's a private company, if they want to take away someone's handle, they are free to do that. Pay-to-play public square—Musk's ultimate dream.
- Grimblewald 3y agohonest question: those who still use X without looking at alternatives, what does X currently offer other than an activly fleeing userbase? I've never used twitter but its ability to survive this X phase is fascinating me, and i want to understand how it has proven this resiliant.
- gajus 3y agoNetwork effects cannot be underestimated.
- kodapoda 3y agoIt's resilient due to the wide prior adoption. For example, I rarely see Threads or Mastodon embeds in new articles, it's still mostly Twitter. Changing that will take years.
- brightball 3y agoYep, network effect. The numerous competing platforms that want to replace it are all competing for users, which prevents a migration to a single alternative platform. And that buys time for X to improve, which IMO it is. I may be wrong but I think long term it’s going to come out on top. At this point it’s getting tough to bet against Musk.
- rglullis 3y agoCounterpoint: I can bet that in the past three months there has been noticeably more mastodon threads hitting the front-page of HN than twitter.
- YetAnotherNick 3y agoYou really think that? In any case I would take the bet if you want money bet.
- KerrAvon 3y agoI don't know if that's true yet, but there are a lot of FOSS and infosec and other software people on Mastodon. Centrist politics seems to be gradually migrating to Threads; lefty politics seems to be going to Mastodon. I'm starting to see Mastodon and Threads embeds where you'd expect Twitter embeds on mainstream sites. Twitter isn't dead yet, but it's no longer the universal town square, and the longer Musk controls it, the further away from that it will get.
- charcircuit 3y agoIt's better that the money goes to X than some hacker from the OG names community.
- tennisflyi 3y agoNot sure if it's better going to X but definitely better that it's official and not OG names community like you said.
- romwell 3y agoBetter for X. Maybe. In the short term.
- tennisflyi 3y agoNot surprised. Should be SOP anyways. Also, p sure Xbox relinquished (inactive) gamertags not too long ago. - https://www.geekwire.com/2016/xbox-gamertags/ https://www.geekwire.com/2016/xbox-gamertags/
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoPretty much all sites and services should have this functionality.
- romwell 3y agoWhy not banks too? Haven't used your money in a while? Poof! Someone else would make better use of them. Real estate too. Taxes ain't enough - confiscate vacant property, and sell it at a flat rate at an ~open~ secret auction. And cars too, of course. Didn't drive it on public roadways in a year? Clearly you don't need it. ---- The first analogy is the closest one. People keep money in the bank for convenience, and that's what allows banks to operate. Social networks use users' posts in the same way. It's their currency. Without it, they are nothing. This is very different from gaming accounts, where a user profile is little more than the username. People cherish their post and comment history. It's their deposits into the social network. Of course, I sincerely welcome this move by X. I wouldn't be able to come up with such a great way to shoot oneself in the foot.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoThe only problem I see is that the inactivity timeout is 30 days. Make it a year and I can see no valid complaints.
- charcircuit 3y ago>People cherish their post and comment history. It's their deposits into the social network. The old account just gets renamed. All of the contents still exists. Even old links to posts would continue to work since the username in a URL does not actually matter.
- 3y ago
- rchaud 3y agoTo paraphrase Megadeth, usernames sell...but who's buying (at that price)? OpenSea is still selling NFTs for thousands of $ too.
- nullc 3y agoAh, it may explain how faketoshi got hold of the Satoshi username again.
- dzhiurgis 3y agoSlimy, but far better than darknet extortionists that swat your home
- rsynnott 3y agoThat'll go well.