On December 21, the U.S.-based online dating site OkCupid announced that it would begin to phase out usernames in place of real names, or more accurately, "what [users] want their dates to call them". The "flippant" announcement post made fun of several (slightly edited) usernames that had been in use. Users have not reacted positively to the change:
Days after deleting an OKCupid profile that included personal information, Reddit user Drinkscocoaandreads logged onto Facebook to find an unpleasant surprise. "I had like three guys find me on Facebook within two days, screaming at me for leaving mid-conversation/not ever acknowledging their initial message," the Redditor wrote in a thread about OKCupid. "One of them also added a few of my friends before I figured out what was happening and got him blocked."
Drinkscocoaandreads is one of many Reddit users reacting to OKCupid's recent announcement that it will ditch usernames in favor of a real-name policy. "It's because, like the recent goodbye we said to AIM screen names, it's time to keep up with the times," OKCupid explained. "We've also heard from many members of our community that they want to maintain the privacy they enjoy with usernames—with this change, we won't be collecting full names; instead, we encourage our users to go by the name they'd like their dates to call them on OkCupid."
Via email, a company spokesperson told The Verge that OKCupid won't require legal names, but the shift is already unpopular with users. Online, the reaction to the news has been overwhelmingly negative, with users either flocking to Reddit to discuss the change, or leaving angry comments on the post itself.
The change isn't just, as OKCupid's flippant post suggests, about users no longer going by aliases like "BigDaddyFlash916." The allure of a place like OKCupid as opposed to, say, Tinder, is that it was a secure place to share more intimate personal details, including sexual preferences. Dating apps made for phones are generally looking for users to find matches based on proximity, age, and gut-instinct attraction to other people's photos. OKCupid invites users to answer questionnaires, build elaborate profiles, and describe themselves thoughtfully. For users, this is a double-edged sword: you get to know people better, but you also make yourself vulnerable to strangers who can potentially learn a lot about you.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Monday December 25 2017, @09:12PM (1 child)
and when they locked me out of my account for not using a "real name" they said I had to enter my name, and then upload one of these documents (Social security card, Passport, State ID or Drivers License) or two of these (Utility bill, School ID, Phone bill, Vehicle registration) to prove that I was telling the truth this time. They "promise" to delete it after you upload it to their servers.
Needless to say, I have not logged on since, though I have given thought to photoshopping my screenname (among other edits) onto my drivers' license just to log on and grab all of the poetry I used to post there. C'est la vie.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday December 26 2017, @02:51PM
Always interesting to compare FB's real names weirdness to claims that voter ID laws are immoral and you shouldn't be expected to carry a drivers license when you drive yourself to a voting place, and so forth. Tells you whats really important to the powers that be.