• Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    Is it better to periodically clear unused handles and have them snatched up by bots or should they sell them? To me selling them gives people a chance to get the handle they want and stops bots from grabbing up popular handles.

    If I want the handle fizz I’ll pay about $10 if someone wants to pay more then they want it more than me. I’d rather be able to bid on it than have it grabbed by a bot.

    • trakie@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      You think those are mutually exclusive? What’s to stop a bot/bad actor with some money from buying “unused” handles?

      I guess this isn’t the worst idea he’s had for twitter but it seems like a short term money grab while the ship is sinking. By his own valuation twitter is worth half what it was a year ago and still not profitable, selling usernames won’t change that

    • ReCursing@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      If I want the handle fizz I’ll pay about $10 if someone wants to pay more then they want it more than me.

      No, if someone is willing to pay more than you they may want it less but also value their money less because they have a lot of it, or they may think they can use it to make more money than you are willing to pay for it. capital=power, not desire

      • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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        1 year ago

        In my opinion that still results in the handle going to someone who wants it more.

        • ReCursing@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          how??? How does someone wanting it less but having more money to throw around that you mean they want it more?

          • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Poor people don’t really want things - you need a certain level of cash flow to qualify as a proper person with dreams and feelings, haven’t you heard?

        • Melmi
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          1 year ago

          Poor people should try wanting things more

      • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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        1 year ago

        Because it’s their platform and you aren’t using the name. They don’t want all the good handles stuck on dead users.

          • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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            1 year ago

            The username is being sold either way. Either Twitter sells it or a bot scoops it up when the inactive accounts get released and sells it.

            The original user is not in the question. The names being freed up are from users that have not logged in for years.

              • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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                1 year ago

                Most sites that use a unique username free up old ones periodically so I don’t think that’s the issue here. Usernames have value and that’s why they should be freed and auctioned to people that want them. On a proprietary website like Twitter nothing belongs to the user.

                  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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                    1 year ago

                    They can have it both ways. Usernames can have value and Twitter can sell them and users can not sell their own accounts.

                    I looked into who owns the tweets and Twitter said users own their tweet but a us judge ruled that Twitter owns the tweets. I don’t think it’s reasonable to think you own a Twitter username and I think its reasonable for Twitter to delete your inactive account and release the username and sell it if they want. I don’t think you would win a legal battle and Twitter can update their policy to do whatever they need to do to remove your ownership if you had any.