I would have suggested objective research/survey if the staff hadn't already made a decision on another post, if the original debate didn't happened more than 1.5 years ago, and if the suggestion of research wasn't brought up before. But if the staff truly hasn't done any research to make the decision yet, it's not too late. If the staff already made the final decision based on certain research, it'd be better to just announce it beyond a single forum post. Right now, even thought it might not be the case, it feels like there's still hesitation.

Regardless of which way to go, we would lose users for sure. There is no doubt about it. The decision maker needs to know the consequence and face it eventually. Leaving things hanging is not going to make the issue go away. I figure a lot of users are like me right now. We constantly question if we should do name clearings anymore. It'd be a waste of time, and in some case money, if the site switches to non-unique tomorrow. But if the site never changes to non-unique, we'd lose the chance of trying for a name if we stop doing it. I like murder mysteries, but I hate suspense like this.

I feel this debate has slowly destroyed the already divided pet community. The tension has been unbearable and it never really went away in the past 1.5 years or so. I also want people to know that neither side's personal feeling is invalid or inferior. There are going to be people who love certain things subjectively that you can't understand or agree with, and that's OK. There's no moral high ground here, and the only real deal breaker is which system can keep and attract more users and income in the long run.

I personally like unique pet names and the thrill of the clearing, but I can live with non-unique names if it means that the site can last longer, and if it also means that some of my close friends who are supporting non-unique names will be happier. This is not about peer pressure or giving in to popular opinion, this is about my love of the site and my friends (I'm one of the people who will grab a name for a friend when they ask me to do so, even when I already planned to get the name for myself, and I'd never tell that friend that I wanted the name so they won't ever feel bad about it). I'm not putting myself on a pedestal. I'm just saying that we all have complex feelings about these things, so please argue with people on how either unique or non-unique can help or hinder the site in your opinion, please tell us why you personally hate or like unique/non-unique, but please don't comment or question too harshly about the other side's personal feelings on these things. Please don't assume the worst in each other.

I just miss the good old pet community...that's all...OK, I'll shut up now xD.

So I've been here a long time. During the old spontaneous literally clearing system, the birth of the new "clearing" system, and I'd love to be able to see it evolve to a no clearing thriving creative system.

Problem is I'm old, by internet standards. I have a full time job. Names considered desirable usually 502 the site and don't clear when they should. I'm not wasting vacation time to maybe get a name, for a character, that may or may not actually go inactive. The concept of skulking for inactive names isn't a past time I find a fun anymore. Literally looking for accounts of users who've given up on the site. Equally knowing there are people who'd wish I'd leave for the single purpose of getting my names. I've known people in the past who actively looked for reasons to report people, in hopes of them getting frozen so they could potentially get their names.

How is this fun or inviting?

For me, I'm over it. I want to enjoy my OCs with the names they want. I'd also like to actually contribute to subeta staying online for years to come. However if I get no enjoyment out what my pet is called, I really have no motivation to make custom overlays, or buy pretty TC items. Or do much of anything.

Yes obviously I could very easily move to toyhouse. I would miss TCs. I already miss TCs, but after realizing how many names are wrong and how half of my active OCs will (currently) never get their actual names.... I haven't TC tinkered in months. I see items, the potential, and I just get sad.

Will I leave? Technically, no. If names never change my account will die with the site, active. If that's what people want, then my account will be a 100 some odd names that'll stay mine. Will I enjoy the site? No. Will I insert money? Also no. But I'll be here, disappointed.

And trust me, I understand the reluctance. I've had many of my names for well over a decade. I've taken late lunches, I've taken vacation time, I've conveniently scheduled midday doctors appointments so I'd be home to grab names. Hell I've gotten names riding down the freeway (not driving lol) on the way to airports while out of state for work I mean, I get it. The pride associated with successfully getting a thing you wanted. A thing that means something to you.

However I can step back and realize that maybe this name means just as much, if not more, to others. My enjoyment of having a thing shouldn't be dependent on someone else not having the thing. Especially if others being allowed to have that thing, means more active users. More new users. More people enjoying the site and hopefully willing to give the site the income it needs to grow. Not survive, grow.

Will people leave? Maybe. Probably. How many have already left, though? Many. Because accounts clear daily, UFA leaving boards happen more and more frequently. The damage of users having already left is a known fact, and the site won't know how many users will leave over having to share until it decides to do something.

Ps: I've spent a ton of money on renames. I collect IDs. A lot of people already collect Ids. Will it get worse because it's the new means of feeling special? Probably! But in the event of I have about 20 400-500k IDs I'd be happy to adopt out because I won't need a hoard of "this is a pretty good name I better sit on it just in case" pets. Equally there's millions of deleted IDs from the old clearing system, perhaps those could be reused if low numbers become a boom that could potentially bring in income.

Pss: not everyone cares about IDs just because they're "special" (which they aren't). Some of us have number issues and the more digits a number has the more the numbers move :) so maybe there's other reasons people like smaller numbers aside from them being old/neat/a fun number pattern. Just stating, before that comes up.

"What we'd like to do"? I know this is nitpicky but that's not really confirmation either way. I'm okay with the idea of nicknames (though it's not my favorite solution), but will nicknames cost money? Be part of the subscription? And not having answers is fine right now, as you're still working on it, it's just not... the best vibe.

Okay, thank you! c:

Interesting. I wouldn't pay to have a nickname that's displayed alongside the unwanted petname everywhere onsite.

I am glad to hear somethtis being considered/worked on though!

That seems awfully convoluted and a little messy. I don't see why non-unique names aren't just an easier, more streamlined solution. Is it just to encourage subscriptions?

Personally, I wouldn't pay money for this feature regardless of how it's implemented. It won't help how badly the site lags and crashes every time a desirable account clears, which is a huge concern for a lot of users posting here. Or are account clearings going to cease altogether when this feature rolls out?

So theoretically (if possible etc) the idea would be for this to be the equivalency of a name custom overlay?

Where instead of Max, I'd see Leon everywhere (training, inventory, pet pahe, profiles, etc) unless I chose to remove said nickname? Or would it be in select places, noted as a nickname, so on?

Interesting then! If the only difference ends up being the ability to use (ex) pets/max then I'll reserve the rest of my thoughts for when we're told more details and expected cost.

I'm worried that it's going to be VERY confusing and off-putting to new users. To join a new site and be told, "You have to create a pet with a name that isn't taken, but even though it's named xXRomeoXx now, you can pay money for it to show up as just Romeo anywhere later! But you still don't have "Romeo", only the original user has the real one and you have to use this link while they can use this other link." I would see that and walk away from the site immediately.

I get that you don't want to upset the people who want to feel special, but in the process you'd be sacrificing the experience of people who are trying to get invested in the site. Unless having new users is no longer a priority, and the plan is to cater to your current base without upsetting the status quo.

Also: are name clearings going to stop happening with this proposed system?

- I've had that experience with my username at plenty of places and it hasn't put me off! GemmaBuns12345 but people can still see my name is Rah. I do just accept that when joining websites that I'm not going to get the names I'd want, so when I get the chance to do a display name I'm pretty happy.

Clearings not happening hasn't come up, so I'd assume they'd still go ahead, but in theory with less competition in future.

The nickname solution sounds like a good idea and I hope it will work out in the end. A lot of sites have this system for usernames (Twitter is a very popular example) and it works out.

That you will have to pay in some way to get a name overlay, I bet a lot of people are willing to pay to do so (and yes I will probably too for some) to have the name Bob displayed instead of Bob222 and you still will not upset the person owning the original Bob.

Ah, so accounts will continue to clear. So this is about the status quo and not making the site more welcoming to new users or returning users.

Hopefully it ends up working out for the site :)

I understand where you're coming from, but I think a point is trying to make is that you don't have to pay for a display name on most sites (certainly none I've heard of). If I joined a site that had, for example, usernames and display names, I'd be fine with that. However, if that same site wouldn't let me change my display name unless I paid for it, I'd be really put-off and feel like they're nickel-and-dimeing me, even if changing the display name would only cost 25 cents.

i support this. no matter what staff do they'll piss off someone; this seems like the best option, it caters to both unique name and non unique name supporting parties.

i wont mind paying csc for a feature like this myself, because at the end of the day csc is always buyable with sp so everything that costs csc is essentialy free if you are patient enough, but i do understand the frustration of others.

I hope it works out for the site. If I had come back in that I personally wouldn't have been too impressed with that change. Because custom overlays can be used on pages without the payment ie Charisma for example. But to put Ganymede there wouldn't work if his 'nickname' isn't in the system I feel. It really doesn't feel welcoming to new users who actively want good names and not wanting to pay for them all, but for the current user base who are so adamantly against unique names it'll make them happy I hope.

I honestly really like the idea of nicknames. Real words have been hard for me to use unless it was also a 'name' for something, but nicknames would make it so I could have a descriptor/occupation/whatever and still be able to give them their "character name" too! I can see it working really well for fanpets, as well. Plus, there would still be a drive to adopt out pets outside of say, the ID/birthdate since making money is really easy on the site... so a pet being a certain species or color really doesn't matter.

Personally I haven't had many issues with site clearings, though. I've missed lots of names before and it's usually "oh well" for me, but generally I don't get a lot of lag unless it's a super popular name or there was other issues going on the site beforehand.... and my internet connection isn't the best since I live in the country. Thankyou for the clarification ! I hope it won't be too hard to implement :)