12 ms·

That's cute. Guess there's always one other option, for people that don't want to/can't let themselves be searchable by name delete's Facebook account

ryanhuff 13y ago
Or change your name to an alias.
- McPants 13y ago
  I recently tried to do this. Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it, saying that you can only use a real name. https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576 https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576 Facebook is just shooting themselves in the foot. Instead of accommodating for it's users it wants its users to accommodate for facebook. These decisions are just silly and a slap in the face to anyone who wants a shred of privacy.
  - MAGZine 13y ago
    I used my middle name as my last name. My name became incredibly generic when I did this, so bonus points for unsearchability.
  - EvanKelly 13y ago
    That's interesting, I recently had a friend change his name to something analagous to "SunBurned". I thought it was bizarre, and maybe just temporary, but it's there, and since I have my contacts merged in my phone, I have to remember to search for SunBurned rather than his name when I want to text him.
  - desas 13y ago
    My name is very unusual, so unusual that other family members haven't been able to sign-up with our surname for the three or four years as it's "too fake".
  - aroman 13y ago
    >Instead of accommodating for it's users it wants its users to accommodate for Facebook. No, they are absolutely accommodating for their users -- and their users are advertisers. That is THE problem. Facebook Inc's #1 priority is making money (like all for-profit enterprises), and therefore their #1 priority is to make advertisers happy.
    - marquis 13y ago
      Why should advertisers care if you incorrectly 'spell' your name? All Facebook should care about, to support their income, is engaging real users - real names or no.
      - tedunangst 13y ago
        Advertisers want engaged, affluent users. Affluent users don't like getting trolled or harassed (supposedly). Real names create accountability, reducing trolling and harassment (supposedly). An application of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, if you will.
  - objclxt 13y ago
    > Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it Not all fake names! About six months ago I went to interview on-site at Facebook. I have two Facebook accounts, a legacy from before testing accounts were actually available on the platform. One's my real account, the other is under the name of 'Johnny Appleseed'. When you arrive at Facebook you check-in using the e-mail address you've been using to communicate with your recruiter. What I didn't realise was that Facebook's systems then automatically look up that e-mail address, and pre-populate your visitors badge with information from that account. So the upshot of this was that for the rest of the day I was 'Johnny Appleseed'. Given I was interviewing for a iOS role this raised a few eyebrows with my interviewers. The receptionist told me this happens a lot for software engineering interviews.
    - mikeevans 13y ago
      Wow that explains something I've been wondering about for a while. I interviewed there a few months back (using an email address not tied to a Facebook account) and all of a sudden I started getting emails about how I had joined Facebook using that address, and hadn't added any friends. I guess if you don't already have an account, they make one for you?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - aestra 13y ago
    >Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it, saying that you can only use a real name They say they will, but I've had a ton of friends change their names to obviously very fake names that Facebook has allowed, including "Sauce Money" (a rapper).
- tonyplee 13y ago
  We can also clone some Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Japanese or Indian names.
- wwweston 13y ago
  Would this work? I think Facebook might not discard your old name, and might still let people search by all the names you've ever entered.
snarfy 13y ago
But all of your friends still mention you, post pictures of you, and tag you in them. You'll have to delete your friends too.
- selmnoo 13y ago
  That is one of the things that really, really, really bugs me. I want to tell my friends "don't ever put up pictures that include me on facebook" but I can't because it's too big of a request at this point, and I'd end up being too much of a dick if I started making that demand. I really struggle with this. Facebook, that evil behemoth, has won big. I really just wish that it would get hacked or something so people stop trusting social networking sites. Come on blackhats, do your thing.
  - MartinCron 13y ago
    You can't opt out of people talking about you on the Internet.
    - tedunangst 13y ago
      This is the part I don't understand. ok, we shut down Facebook tomorrow. All those people talking about you aren't going to move to LiveJournal or whatever? Are we going to shut down flickr and wordpress, too? Good heavens, imagine the clusterfuck it'd be if everybody ran their own server, as advocated by at least one HN post per week. You'd never be able to shut them all down!
      - jarek 13y ago
        Not having foreign keys to your profile all over the place would be a vast improvement though
    - pessimizer 13y ago
      You really can. In my experience, people respect your choices. They may pity you (if they're the type that generally pity anyone different than themselves), they may find it funny, they may actually lean toward feeling the same way, but just not feel as strongly. People still respect your wishes. Sometimes I feel that people have reached a point where a vast majority couldn't understand why a person would want to write a novel under a pen name, or donate anonymously, or work quietly. They can understand wanting to make up a name, but just to have a cooler name, not as a misdirection.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
christangrant 13y ago
You can always deactivate your account and only enable it when you need to use it.
electronous 13y ago
no apostrophe
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ryanhuff 13y ago

Or change your name to an alias.

McPants 13y ago
I recently tried to do this. Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it, saying that you can only use a real name. https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576 https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576 Facebook is just shooting themselves in the foot. Instead of accommodating for it's users it wants its users to accommodate for facebook. These decisions are just silly and a slap in the face to anyone who wants a shred of privacy.
- MAGZine 13y ago
  I used my middle name as my last name. My name became incredibly generic when I did this, so bonus points for unsearchability.
- EvanKelly 13y ago
  That's interesting, I recently had a friend change his name to something analagous to "SunBurned". I thought it was bizarre, and maybe just temporary, but it's there, and since I have my contacts merged in my phone, I have to remember to search for SunBurned rather than his name when I want to text him.
- desas 13y ago
  My name is very unusual, so unusual that other family members haven't been able to sign-up with our surname for the three or four years as it's "too fake".
- aroman 13y ago
  >Instead of accommodating for it's users it wants its users to accommodate for Facebook. No, they are absolutely accommodating for their users -- and their users are advertisers. That is THE problem. Facebook Inc's #1 priority is making money (like all for-profit enterprises), and therefore their #1 priority is to make advertisers happy.
  - marquis 13y ago
    Why should advertisers care if you incorrectly 'spell' your name? All Facebook should care about, to support their income, is engaging real users - real names or no.
    - tedunangst 13y ago
      Advertisers want engaged, affluent users. Affluent users don't like getting trolled or harassed (supposedly). Real names create accountability, reducing trolling and harassment (supposedly). An application of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, if you will.
- objclxt 13y ago
  > Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it Not all fake names! About six months ago I went to interview on-site at Facebook. I have two Facebook accounts, a legacy from before testing accounts were actually available on the platform. One's my real account, the other is under the name of 'Johnny Appleseed'. When you arrive at Facebook you check-in using the e-mail address you've been using to communicate with your recruiter. What I didn't realise was that Facebook's systems then automatically look up that e-mail address, and pre-populate your visitors badge with information from that account. So the upshot of this was that for the rest of the day I was 'Johnny Appleseed'. Given I was interviewing for a iOS role this raised a few eyebrows with my interviewers. The receptionist told me this happens a lot for software engineering interviews.
  - mikeevans 13y ago
    Wow that explains something I've been wondering about for a while. I interviewed there a few months back (using an email address not tied to a Facebook account) and all of a sudden I started getting emails about how I had joined Facebook using that address, and hadn't added any friends. I guess if you don't already have an account, they make one for you?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- aestra 13y ago
  >Facebook actually will recognize if a name sounds "too fake" and reject it, saying that you can only use a real name They say they will, but I've had a ton of friends change their names to obviously very fake names that Facebook has allowed, including "Sauce Money" (a rapper).
tonyplee 13y ago
We can also clone some Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Japanese or Indian names.
wwweston 13y ago
Would this work? I think Facebook might not discard your old name, and might still let people search by all the names you've ever entered.

snarfy 13y ago

But all of your friends still mention you, post pictures of you, and tag you in them. You'll have to delete your friends too.

selmnoo 13y ago
That is one of the things that really, really, really bugs me. I want to tell my friends "don't ever put up pictures that include me on facebook" but I can't because it's too big of a request at this point, and I'd end up being too much of a dick if I started making that demand. I really struggle with this. Facebook, that evil behemoth, has won big. I really just wish that it would get hacked or something so people stop trusting social networking sites. Come on blackhats, do your thing.
- MartinCron 13y ago
  You can't opt out of people talking about you on the Internet.
  - tedunangst 13y ago
    This is the part I don't understand. ok, we shut down Facebook tomorrow. All those people talking about you aren't going to move to LiveJournal or whatever? Are we going to shut down flickr and wordpress, too? Good heavens, imagine the clusterfuck it'd be if everybody ran their own server, as advocated by at least one HN post per week. You'd never be able to shut them all down!
    - jarek 13y ago
      Not having foreign keys to your profile all over the place would be a vast improvement though
  - pessimizer 13y ago
    You really can. In my experience, people respect your choices. They may pity you (if they're the type that generally pity anyone different than themselves), they may find it funny, they may actually lean toward feeling the same way, but just not feel as strongly. People still respect your wishes. Sometimes I feel that people have reached a point where a vast majority couldn't understand why a person would want to write a novel under a pen name, or donate anonymously, or work quietly. They can understand wanting to make up a name, but just to have a cooler name, not as a misdirection.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

christangrant 13y ago

You can always deactivate your account and only enable it when you need to use it.

electronous 13y ago

no apostrophe

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]