As a pet person who activity kinda has been known to stalk names for long periods of time, I can say a smaller part of me wants to hiss and go no way they left and forgot to come back to hell with 'em!

But mostly, I mean I thought this already happened? But, despite my WANTING of things THAT BELONG to other people, these user and pet names do technically beling to other people and no one has even a .01% entitlement to any name unless they physically have it on their account. I mean I want a ferrari but that doesn't mean I deserve to go carjack someone else's because they're not using it right now.

I do think a letter needs to be sent out, point blank, saying "hey you've been gone a while and in a week a notice will pop up telling users theday your account will go inactive. Why don't you log back in and check out all the stuff you've missed since you've been gone?" (negative with some sugar)

From a name stalker standpoint, I would really like to see the letter go out BEFORE the account is publically flagged as inactive so I don't have to bother getting my hopes up.

Also, to hell with the mindset of deserving something just because the other person isn't using it how you want them to. What if looking at it is what makes them happy, and how they "use it"?

I like Sopheroo's original idea of a newsletter or a "hey, absent person, here's the cool stuff going on here lately that you're missing!" I think that's a much better draw/

I joined a site yonks ago, it never caught me and so I abandoned it for other things like Subeta, and every once in a while I see a newsletter from them full of "wow, look at all this cool event stuff!" and I think to myself "oh yeah, that site! Yeah, that sounds kind of cool, maybe I should go check it out."

Point being I'm much more apt to go visit if the email's talking about things that sound interesting and new and attention grabbing. If it's an email full of WARNING YOU ARE ABOUT TO LOSE YOUR ACCOUNT, sure it's informative but I'm not any more interested in the site than I was thirty seconds prior.

If Subeta wants to attract people back, I think an informative newsletter format would be a better way.

Edit: Although people have a point that saying "by the way, we are a site that does yearly purges. You risk losing your names if you don't come back" because not all sites do that and it's worth sharing that info up front, because it for darn sure isn't included in the newbie walkthrough.

I support this idea even if I've stalked names in the past, I still think a bit of a kind reminder that they might lose pet names should still be sent out. Some people forget some people get sick and go into the hospital who knows. I know I was gone for a few months because we didn't have money for internet at the time. Things happen and with the letter you can at least say "Hey we tried to tell you about your losing you account" and if they don't come back or do after their names are taken you can say hey you got the letter and be done with it. No one can say they didn't know about it.

I support this idea. I agree that a user should be warned before their account gets deleted, whether its "Hey, haven't seen you in a bit! Check this out -insert site events here-" or "You haven't logged in for a while. Please understand if you account is inactive any longer, it will be fair game for any users after your url or pets names."

Like me for example, I'm in the army and sometimes I'll be gone or inactive for months, maybe even a year or so at a time until I'm able to settle down. I can't help it if I'm needed somewhere else other than the computer.

Also, I really don't mean to sound rude, but what the absolute chicken nugget with some of you hard down name hunters? I can totally understand really wanting a name, especially after you've waited fairly and patiently for it, but just because someone suggests "Hey, maybe give the inactive user a chance to decide." doesn't mean its ok for you to be against it because "No, they can't come back. Screw them. I need that name!" To be honest, thats kinda negative. I like pretty names, too, but if I can't get it, I'll just think of another one. Easy, right? Well, I guess not if you want a name like Hope for example, but really. It aint that serious lol.

Edit: Also, is any of this information in a FAQ somewhere for new users to view? I did not see if but I may be looking in the wrong spot.

It is not in the newbie walkthrough or newbie FAQ. The only way I found out about name purges was through a somewhat obscure conversation thread buried in the forums. I think for more casual or non-forum users, the inactive account concern would be incredibly easy to miss.

@ Lirikai If they are not going to send something out then it should at least be made clear on the site through some means.

Most of the complaint threads from people losing their names say, "I did not know.". If it was part of the FAQ (I assume the newbie walkthrough sends you to the FAQ? I forget, lol.) then it would be their responsibility to read and acknowledge it. It does not change things for those who are away though. :/ Edit: <-Why does : / face look like that? It does not capture the correct emotion! ;O

I totally agree. I like transparency, and as someone already said upthread, if the site's upfront about the issue, then folks can't say they didn't know. I'd love to see that included in the newbie FAQ or at the very least in this "hey, absent person" email.

Which at the moment is a pretty legitimate complaint, although you're right, it doesn't change much.

I feel like the newsletters we get kinda serve this purpose. And if someone ignores every event letter they get for a whole year, they're probably only going to come back to secure their hoard and leave again... it does make good business sense for Subeta to try to get their users back, though. It makes sense to have it. Even as an occasional name stalker, I wouldn't stress over it because the newsletters throughout the year are already a big "threat" of making inactive users pop back in. Sooo I'm indifferent. Come what may! c:

The greedy part of me says no because there are some names I'm stalking and I'd be disappointed if I didn't get it.

The bigger part of me, however, after reading this thread, is open to giving a friendly reminder to inactive people. Because really, getting a pet name or an account name isn't all that serious. If we can bring back some more users and generate some more revenue, that's better for everyone and not just for my selfish self.

I think we need to get out of the 'me' mindset and look to what's better for the whole site and the community. Just take a step back and remember that pet name isn't that big of a deal.

Wow, at first when I read the comments after posted I was shocked to see how many people rudely decline this idea. Hello people how greedy can you get? And you do know greed is a sin right? Anyway point is for those people still hissing at the positive ones, people enjoy the game in their own way, so what if they only log on once a year or so. Maybe that one time they see the pets is how they enjoy the game. Because seriously sometimes I spent minutes if not an hour or so, just staring at my pets. I mean who doesn't? The art on this site is so stunning and beautiful. <3 Just because you want a certain name isn't reason enough to decline this idea. It's a wonderful Idea and I'm wondering why it hasn't been implemented yet. I'm also wondering why this issue isn't in the FAQ or newbie guide. It should be. That way people can't get away with the "I didn't know" excuse. Because right now they can use it and it will be justified.

End of my somewhat long comment. I support this idea be it a slightly nagging email saying. "Your inactive, your account and pet names will be cleared after some point" Or the more positive "Hey we haven't seen you in awhile! Here's the fun stuff that you missed!" This idea has my full support and I do hope that something along these lines will be added.

P.s. It was kind of rude for me to say you people are greedy, I'm sure not everyone is. That's just how I saw those replies towards the idea. So I do apologize for saying such a rude thing. Bows and vanishes into the darkness

It's really strange that this isn't a feature yet.

Because, except from the selfish "I want to own pet names that aren't mine" reason, there's really nothing against it. Newsletters never make me come back, but a notice saying an account I worked on for years could be purged of its names because I've taken 11 months off might.

It's a pretty much win/win for Subeta, as the cost to make people stay/comeback is much lower than what it costs to find users in the first place. That's very very basic. If it were me, I'd even make up a special offer in that e-mail that gets you an extra 15% CSC if you buy within 48 hours of receiving the e-mail "to get back on your feet".

A few years ago I was inactive and I didn't know about the purging (I don't even know how long the site has been purging usernames and pet names, but I've been here for 6 years). It was actually by a stroke of luck that I remembered Subeta and how much I enjoyed it and came back to see a news post about purging. I think I cut it very close to the deadline and I'm glad I happened to log in when I did, so I do support the whole newsletter/reminder idea. There are some names that I was fortunate enough to take from people who previously owned them and there are names I'd very much like but, as people have said above, the original owners should be reminded about what they're missing out on and the consequences.

I find it hard to believe that someone would log in just to hoard their names for another year if they didn't care about Subeta, and I really hope there aren't many (or any) like that around here.