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Community Center F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2024 Nov 11 10:29 pm)
Subject: Username Change Feature???
I highly doubt that the price is a manpower thing. It's likely that the price is to dissuade people not to do this willy nilly to hide their identity after saying/doing bad things.
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Quote - Are you really planning to charge members 24.95 to change there usernames?
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a fantastic feature but, why would you have members pay for a name change when all they have to do is create another username for free?
Most people have at least two or more email addresses, so putting together another member profile is easy, “and free.”
The problem that some people find with that is that they don't have access to their purchase history. Sure you can create a new user name, but your purchase history isn't transferred to the new user name. So if you want access to it you currently have to login to an old user name. Some may not have a problem doing that, but most every post that I've seen where someone has expressed a desire to change their user name, once they find out that they can't transfer their purchase history, don't bother creating a new name.
Now if RO changes the name for you, then your purchase history goes with you. That seems to be what most people have been wanting.
Personally I like my user name so I won't be utilizing the service.
"It is good to see ourselves as
others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we
are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not
angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to
say." - Ghandi
I understand why people would want to change their username rather than create a new one, but the question is why renderosity would charge for this service. If too many members ask for username changes, write a form to do it faster so a person doesn't have to access the db manually. IMO, if the system is so ill designed that it takes too long to change a username, the members shouldn't have to pay for that, the owners should eat the cost of the fix. If they haven't been making profit from renderosity then someone in the marketplace admin has been lying about the state of the marketplace. Part of that profit should be reinvested in fixing the business... better and faster than has been done. Stacey and co, you guys generally do a good job (imo) and I think positively of you, hate to say this but this looks nothing more than money grubbing. :/ And making it a feature story... omg. Please reconsider this move. :(
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a sweet disorder in the dress kindles in clothes a wantoness,
do more bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part
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Here you go...Lucie
finfond.net
finfond.net
(store)
Wow I just assumed this funtion was available, it is so basic - very amazed to hear we have to pay for it.
On ebay they can do it for free - it may take a while, so why not here?
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things in the world cannot be seen nor touched... but felt in the
heart.
Helen Keller
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Someone said,
"I highly doubt that the price is a manpower thing. It's likely that the price is to dissuade people not to do this willy nilly to hide their identity after saying/doing bad things."
I don't know about that. far as I can tell, most of the stuff offered here for a cost is because they're hoping to cash in on it.
Something caused it - it doesn't seem like someone just pulled this idea out of their arse....
I figure alot of people sign up here with...whatever as a name. before long, alot of them see the MP and the amount of crud...I mean stuff which passes as...I mean becomes available for sale in the MP.
So, they say, 'hey, I have Poser and photoshop! I can do that!"
...but then they realize their username is "dungbeetle23", and think that maybe that's not the greatest for business...
...so they send an IM to an admin asking if their nick can be changed. Yeah, you can get a new account for free, but what they want is for everything currently attached to their old nick to follow along..gallery, join date, and so on.
So, this happens a few times (maybe many times) and suddenly a light bulb goes off in someone's head:
We can make money off this!!!
And there was much rejoicing...a Front page article, and, voila, there you are.
Not like this is significant or anything, but when Russ was webmaster here, back in '02 (somewhere around there) he did it for me for free...on request, and it took him all of 5 minutes, if that.
So, this happens a few times (maybe many times) and suddenly a light bulb goes off in someone's head: We can make money off this!!!
yes but... 25$ ??? :blink: That's an awful lot of $ just to change a username... Is it that complicated to change a username to justify this amount?
Lucie
finfond.net
finfond.net
(store)
It's Capitalism; there is no need for justifying anything.
Ok, although I think prices with the .95 added to them sound so....Ronco .... or something for the Sunday paper ads and the supermarket shelves, they can charge what they want.
I'm assuming this is not being offered as a "feature" The cost is not just to cover expenses. This is a scheme to cash in on a need - to "capitalize", if it does ya. This is pure American capitalism in all its glory. ;)
Heh.
I'm kinda doubting there will be much "chiming in" by the moderators; there isn't likely anything any of them know that isn't explained about this, 'cause it's really a very simple thing:
- You want username changed.
- They offer to do that for $24.95
- cha-ching!
- There ya go - enjoy your new personailty, and thank you for shopping at RosityMart.
Of course I do have to wonder how many moderators there are here who think this is absurd and...embarassing, even... I know you'd love to say so, too...but.... ;)
Quote - So, this happens a few times (maybe many times) and suddenly a light bulb goes off in someone's head: We can make money off this!!!
yes but... 25$ ??? :blink: That's an awful lot of $ just to change a username... Is it that complicated to change a username to justify this amount?
It's the wave of the future.
Many sites and online games are charging fees for "virtual" things like name changes, character transfers, in game items, character enhancements etc.
So long as people are willing to shell out the bucks, companies are going to keep coming up with ways to make that cash grab. Renderosity is a for profit site and it's purpose is to generate money. If they can generate revenue from user name changes, then they will do it.
The only reason that they have a gallery and forums is to attract people to the site in the hopes that those people will buy from their store. If there wasn't a store here, I doubt this site would still be in existence.
People have been asking for a way to change their user name and be able to retain access to their gallery and purchase history with the new name. Renderosity is giving that option now. And they are doing it in such a way that people won't be inclined to abuse it by changing their user name everyday.
"It is good to see ourselves as
others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we
are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not
angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to
say." - Ghandi
And they are doing it in such a way that people won't be inclined to abuse it by changing their user name everyday.
I'd say! ROFL
Lucie
finfond.net
finfond.net
(store)
Quote - Just so I'm not to be taken wrong, I personally think this is great.
I'm not planning on doing it, but it's things such as this that keep it...shall we say...'interesting'...around here. :)
I'll say! Right now I use a combination of key word, forum, date, and user name to search forums for threads. If people start changing their user names.... eeeek! I'll never be able to find anything, LOL
"It is good to see ourselves as
others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we
are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not
angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to
say." - Ghandi
25$ ? I don't even pay that much for a new passport or identitycard here in Belgium.
Where is the time, maybe some of you remember when "service" offered by "a company" was for free and because the service was good people spread the word and more customers came.
If R'osity is afraid to get bombarded by name changes why not put : you have the right of one free namechange if you want another namechange in the future you have to pay for it" That sounds much more reasonable then wham charging for the first time. It's most unlikely that dunglebeetle will pick a similar name.
The only thing I have to say on this is when I wanted to change my user name at another Poser site all I had to do was email one of the admins and it was done in about 10 minutes and at no charge.
When I first signed up for 'Rosity I was living in Missouri - hence the name. I'm not there any longer and would like to change my nick but I refuse to pay $25 for something that can be done in the database quickly.
Hugz from Phoenix, USA
Victoria
Remember, sometimes the dragon wins. Correction: MOST times.
I think its stupid myself, no body in their right mind would buy their name to be changed. You used to be able to ask mods to change your name for free if you where having problems with other members etc...
Seems a waste of rendos time, as like others have stated you can easily make a duplicate rendo account. I have two myself, one for poser works and one for photography/2D. I like to keep the work seporate ya see.
I think because of all the merchants leaving rendo, and members, i think this is just another scheme for rendo to make money because of the loss of profit from their own stupidity.
When will rendo staff/mods...whoever this joint is run by, listen to its members!?? Has one person said anything postive about this new product in this thread? No.... only that its a good idea, that has been horribly overpriced!!
Now lets put this into perspective, msn groups, you can change your username with a click of a button in your profile settings.... for free may i add! The same on many other messages boards... now why can't rendo do the same? Its not complicated..... wait.....sorry, Money issues yet again....ahhh money makes the world go around and all that!!
I too would like to know why this has come into being, i for one wont be changing my username any time soon, as i am known around the web as LillianaSapphire/Mushypea.
Please don't flame me for stating my opinion, as I've seen happen to so many people on these forums, and people being banned for stating their opinion and proving mods wrong. I shant name names....
Thank you for letting me have my say, and i'm sure lots of other people are thinking the exact same thing!
Anna
this is the most ridiculas thing i have heard, charging to change a name, its outragious!
no way in hell would i pay to change my name, when i was Rubbermelon, i left that behind and opened a new account, not like i actualy bought anything on that one, and purchase history doesnt disapear it stays helps if you remember passwords ETC.
but $24.95 to change a few letters, PFFTTTTT wake up people, smell the coffee, its called ripping people off!
i used to like this place but after the CHANGE its gone down the pan, and it aint comingo ut !
In the words of DarkStarRising:
"Sadness within sadness,
Darkness within darkness,
a shadow of a form lays upon the floor,
looking at herself
looking at her own shadows of loneliness"
Hmmm... I dunno how they came up with their valuation for the the process, but I can estimate what I might do if I were the tech support for a customer of mine that had a similar situation.
My guess is that the user name is probably used as a key in a lot of the database tables, so there are a number of data rows that will have to be changed, the new user name will have to be checked for uniqueness, the change will have to be synced with the timing of the process that allows new users to sign up, and probably will have to be synced with the backup routine. All of this can be automated of course, but for a user with hundreds of images, a similar amount of purchases, and a large number of forum posts, there's a lot of data to sync up for that one name change; the name change may run for a while and either a very smart program will have to schedule it or it will have to be manually scheduled by someone.
An important design criteria would be that the change occurs so as not to incur massive table locks, thus slowing the system down when it runs (Lord, please save us from slowdowns during updates, amen). I probably would spend a lot of hours coding and testing the new procedures, because of course, I wouldn't want to crash the system or prevent a user from being able to log back in later.
Let's say I spend 20 hours writing, debugging, and testing the new feature. I bill out at $120 per hour, which is 2,400 bucks. That figure would probably be higher if using an independent consultant, lower per hour cost but maybe more hours with an in-house team (because of other development priorities). So, roughly, it costs say a couple of thousand dollars to implement the new feature, and maybe a little to administer and keep an eye on it every so often. I have absolutely no idea how much adding such a feature actually cost them here, but that's an example what might be involved.
Since, as mentioned, R'osity is a business, and there is some cost involved in adding new features, part of the sales price of the feature is almost certainly to defray that development cost. I can also see the logic in pricing a feature to discourage frivolous use of it. Again, I have no idea if that's what they're doing, but I can imagine a business choosing to use that as an impetus for setting a pricing structure.
Captain Jack
my experience with other php sites like this is that the admins absolutely hate doing a username change, as it entails all kinds of monkeying with the forum database, the gallery database, the market database, the freebies database, etc. ad infinitum. so it's an opportunity for somebody to write an app that automates this, rather than forcing the admins to do it manually. if they are gonna ask nic to write such an app, they gotta pay him. my estimate would be 40 hours at $40 per hour.
Shrug. I posted a "member opinion" to the front page feature but it wasn't accepted. I guess by "opinion" what they mean is "uncritical adoration".
If the RR database is so poorly designed that it takes a Herculean effort to change the username then it's certainly a novelty to expect the customers to foot the bill for it. If it's well-designed and the change is easy to do then it's just opportunistic money grabbing. Either way, what's left of RR's reputation takes another dent.
Relational databases are easy to change. I used to program in dBase IV and to update all the databases meant only changing one field in the primary, which is where all the member information should be stored.
Please, people! DON'T pay for this. It's just too simple to change.
Hugz from Phoenix, USA
Victoria
Remember, sometimes the dragon wins. Correction: MOST times.
yup, i critted too, but eh, they dont like it! well if this place is more about money the community, teh buh bye, im outta here, thanx for the 6 years of greatness! NOT
In the words of DarkStarRising:
"Sadness within sadness,
Darkness within darkness,
a shadow of a form lays upon the floor,
looking at herself
looking at her own shadows of loneliness"
We understand that $24.95 to change your username at Renderosity may seem like a lot. However, there were several factors taken into account before setting this as a service and determining what it would cost.
The first consideration was the fact that we have almost half a million users on our site and it is a manual process to change user names. Because the process is not automated, there is administrative time that will be involved in processing each request.
The price was set to cover our costs and serve as a mild deterrent so that people will not abuse the service. Yes, people can create a new account for nothing. However, the new account will not have any of their gallery images, Free Stuff, Tutorials, blogs, SiteMails, LinkShare, purchase history, etc. This service will carry that valuable data with it.
Because we are a community built on relationships that are connected with a username, we do think it is important that members take care when choosing a name or changing their names.
Lillian Hawkins
Marketing Manager
By serving each other, we are free.
Burn the heretic at the stake in the centre of the marketplace 
Just kidding!! Hadn't seen this, bloody lot of money innit!!!
Anyway, nobody would know who you were if you changed your name now!!!
I can think of loads of stuff on my wishlist that I'd rather spend my $25 on thanx!!!
Injustice will be avenged.
Cofiwch Dryweryn.
why isnt the process automated after the complete overhaul rendo has just gone through. sounds like someones trying to claw back some of what the overhaul cost.. i can't see many people using it though. what people may do is to rejoin and load everything else up again under the new name. lets say they do it four or five times.....they still have the original name to keep track of purchases etc.
billy
Quote - "The first consideration was the fact that we have almost half a million users on our site and it is a manual process to change user names. Because the process is not automated, there is administrative time that will be involved in processing each request." dangit! now that's some bad piece of impudence! too penny-pinching to bring this antique site to nowadays standard, and - even worse - now the kids are supposed to pay for that stingyness? spits out
How many of this almost half million users are just people who have created several accounts because they couldn't change their username? ;)
Lucie
finfond.net
finfond.net
(store)
I'm in agreement here; Renderosity has no right whatsoever to attempt profitability as a privately held entity! How DARE them! I mean really! I've seen it all now! Just who do they think they are! They're nothing but...but...well...they're MEANIES that's what they are! Sheesh! I'm leaving Renderosity! And I mean it this time! Good-Bye!
I too think that the price is a little high (I can just about buy a hardcover RPG book for that price), and the fact that there isn't an automated process to take care of the change seems a little... antiquated to me.
Although I do agree some limit has to be put in place to keep people from abusing it, I've seen it on another forum which allowed users to change their names, one person caused the admins to lock usernames so none of the normal members could change them.
Quote - I really must complain.
Renderosity, it is NOVEMBER. by holding the annual footshooting BBQ at this time instead of the customary September, you've thrown all our Calendar settings out the window.
But haven't they been shooting themselves continuously for a couple of months already? :tt2:
________________________________________________________________
If you're joking that's just cruel, but if you're being sarcastic, that's even worse.
"Renderosity, it is NOVEMBER. by holding the annual footshooting BBQ at this time instead of the customary September, you've thrown all our Calendar settings out the window."
You've forgoten that there are two feet, In September is shooted one and in November the other one.
What I don't know is which foot will be shooted in November, the righties or the lefties?
Stupidity also evolves!
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Are you really planning to charge members 24.95 to change there usernames?
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a fantastic feature but, why would you have members pay for a name change when all they have to do is create another username for free?
Most people have at least two or more email addresses, so putting together another member profile is easy, “and free.”
Doing this name change thing…is it really that labor intensive that you need to charge about 25.00 dollars’ to do it? There must be a program that could do the same job, and I’m sure that you have programmers right here within the community that would be glade to help design one for you.
I enjoy the new and improved “Renderosity” web site, I think it’s great and I know that there are still some members that just don’t like what your staff has done to this site…but as far as I’m concerned, you guys have two thumbs up from me…It’s just this paying for a new username thing has got me wondering. (Your not doing this just to boost your member numbers, are you?)
Here’s a thought, why not have a survey about this new feature…couldn’t hurt.