Want Last Names Back in SL? Vote On & Watch This JIRA

Here's a user campaign on Linden Lab's JIRA bug tracking software to bring last name options back to SL. If you want to join that push (launched on JIRA by Harlow Heslop), log in with your SL info, click More Actions, then click Add Vote, and also Watch Issue. (As pictured above.) I first saw this campaign noted on Daniel Voyager's blog, where there's a good conversation about why this is a good idea (though some think it's too late to change.) Also interesting advice on using the JIRA: "If you want to influence Linden Lab then one needs to WATCH the JIRA item," Nalates Urriah argues there. "Votes are nice but Lindens have said they only pay attention to the number of Watches." I'm not sure if it's possible to go back to the old way, where new users choose from a batch of surnames, which are then gradually eliminated and replaced with another batch. However, I sure think there has to be a better solution than what we have now, where for reasons that confuse me to the point of brain lock, new users get "Resident" as a default name, then get dot-filled usernames instead.

Update, 1:05PM: Arwyn Quandry has a good post on the case against the current naming method, pointing out it leads to discrimination against new users.

Comments

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Just let us change our last names, while we are at it. My name seemed snarky-funny at the time I signed up for SL. But no one can spell it but me :)

The only reason I can is because Father Raymond, that sadist, would use it as a spelling word and beat us silly with a 3' metal rod when we flubbed it.

Ah, Catholic military high school in the 1970s...another world, that. But I learned to spell lots of long words!

[Arwyn Quandry]

Thanks for the link, Hamlet!

[Canoro Philipp]

I don't agree in bringing last names back, there has been a lot of discussion about it, after a while you resign and find them cute once you get used to it, but the new user may feel forced to have one.

I felt that way, i didn't wanted a last name, I had to choose from the ones available, what for? what company ask for a last name when you register? I found it completely senseless when I registered, but oh well, couldn't do anything about it if I wanted to continue.

new users are finally free from having to choose a last name, so why bring that burden over them again? so that the oldbies can have a smile? create burdens in the life of others just to have a laugh.

if last names are going to be back at least make them optional, and that the user can write its own.

[Harlow Heslop]

Thank you so much for posting about this! :) It means a lot to see the Second Life Community rallying as a whole around this JIRA and I love seeing so many people wanting to see a change. It may be too late to revert back to exactly how it was, but I hope they are able to see the faults in the way things are now and they can find a change. Overall I think Linden Lab lately has been doing a great job, but this resident name change was something I never agreed with!

[rawst berry]

Where I work on SL, no one even has display names enabled. Lots of newbies come in, and all of the staff refers to them by their account name which is always something silly that sounds like an internet handle and not a name. It's really hard to relate to someone with the name iloveharrypotter69. Whether it is right or wrong, the SL culture favors having a realistic name instead of numbers or hobbies or TV characters. But new people don't know that when they sign up. Even after signing up, they think "Oh cool I can change my name" and often adopt a more realistic name like they see other people have-- but the older residents who hate display names have them turned off anyways and just ignore the new player's name preference.

I keep display names on because I think if someone goes through the trouble to change their name, this is what they obviously prefer to be called, and not respecting that is kinda rude. And this creates all sorts of problems like people who change their name every week so I'm never sure who it is at first glance, and when a group chat is minimized the names are sometimes different than when the chat is open.

I can't say that I hate display names but I do think it has caused more problems than it solved.

[Adeon Writer]

Actually, no one has the last name of "Resident" - you only see it as a side effect of using old viewers that don't understand the new naming system.

On 2.8, no one will have the last name "Resident" - even if you turn off display names.

[Flashing Merlin]

I found the old system of having to choose from a limited number of names to be a serious problem because several people I invited to try SL quit immediately when they couldn't find a last name they could live with. The current system is an improvement, and the increase in registrations proves this. However, it can be improved even more, and would satisfy everyone, if people get to choose the first and last name they want, provided the name is not already taken. The display name option, as people have pointed out above, has too many drawbacks to be a good solution.

[Penny Patton]

I would rather LL fix "Display Names" and "Usernames" into something more sensible.

Ideally, "usernames" would be entirely hidden and what we call "Display Names" would have sensible limitations making them more reliable as avatar names. Such as limiting how often we can change them in such a way that discourages people from changing them every week or so, and prevents people from using identical display names.