like the spider spins its rings between the trees

And back to the last names JIRA, mentioned earlier.

If LL's goal was to somehow attract new users by eradicating last names and introducing display names, they miscalculated ... once again. Instead Linden Lab created a two tier class system where veteran users look down on the 'Residents' and avoid interaction with them. Good job, LL!

Pretty much what I've been saying all along.

I feel sorry for the people stuck with one of the "Resident" names. They are hard to refer to, hard to remember, hard to feel as a real others in human relationships. So many long term SL residents love and identify with the names we have chosen for ourselves.

That's a great way of putting it...hard to refer to, hard to remember, hard to feel as a real [other] in relationships...Yeah. Isn't the whole point of a "second life" in the first place to feel as if we have more opportunities, not more restrictions?

3) Oldbies need to start paying attention to Display Names. When a person sets a DN, that's the name they want to go by, and it's kind of rude to ignore it unless you are unable to see it. And along those lines, TPVs need to accommodate Display Names.

This one's from a list that someone else posted of their suggestions on how to get around this, and I have to say, this one just baffles me. Maybe it's me and where I go, but the whole "that's my chosen name" vibe here? How does that work, exactly? I mean, sure, if someone's named "Becky1984 Resident", and her display name says "Beckiah", or hells, even "Becky" without the numbers...okay, yeah, that's fair, we have a clue. We have a way to refer to her that she seems to prefer. But if that selfsame person is named "Becky1984 Resident", and her display name says "ƤŏρˠƇąŦ ĴƐĽĹȳ"...first off, how am I supposed to take that seriously, "oldbie" or not, and second, that's only assuming a) I can tell it's a name, and b), I can even see the Unicode characters chosen! What if it's something like "rapemeallnightlong" (which I've seen) or "Justy's lil whoregirl" (which I've also seen). There is no way, in any version of life, I'm going to talk to anyone and call them "whoregirl" for the whole conversation. Screw that.

I must comment on #3 about display names. If the person with the DN uses unreadable characters or flips the name backwards or upside down they I ignore them. That was cute for awhile now its just silly.

Obviously, I wasn't the only person with a problem with #3. There was also this one:

I don't think it's any more rude to ignore display names than it is to put up a display name that is unreadable, which too many do. After several frustrating weeks, I turned them off. And I'm not about to go hunting ASCII characters whenever I want to talk to someone. Now that the majority of new account names are just as hard to read, it's rather a lose-lose situation.

They're not wrong.

With regards to everyone who is supporting this JIRA because they dislike the last name "Resident": That's not visible in any v2 viewer.

That's not true. I've seen it both in CoolVL (a TPV with Viewer 2 integration) and under the actual Second Life Viewer 2 (which I use until it eats my brain and I have to flee again). I never know what makes Resident show up in both my chosen TPV and Viewer 2; I do know it doesn't do it all the time. But it does still show "Resident" as a last name, with some people, under Viewer 2.

I need to make mention of this "placeholder" thing in v2. The "Resident" last name IS visible in v2 if (a) whoever is looking has "usernames" turned on under Preferences > General, and (b) whenever any object is scripted to output an avatar's username instead of it's display name.

A-ha! And that could be why I've seen it.

As it stands, every user name made from here on IS unique, no two people can have the same name. At least with a last name to differentiate, two or more people can have the same first name eg. Sara Pickering, Sara Modine, etc... otherwise anyone else wanting to use Sara either has to try a different spelling eg. Sarah, Sarra, Sarrah, or be forced to add other letters or numbers eg. SaraJane, SaraLee, Sara1987, etc. I do not think it is fair to be forced to make a name in this fashion. No one in RL has to add numbers to their name, and while I realise this is not RL, new residents should not have to become numbers, unless they really want and so willingly choose.

Precisely.

I always saw the surname concept as a cradle for pseudonymity. Obviously the new and fast throw-away name concept has no significant impact in usage, so LL should encourage the use of proper pseudonyms, against the social network hype. It's fun to get use of it, establish an identity and maybe use it for everything else on the web. I think that's a powerful approach to make us get attached with the grid and even a way of subtle viral marketing.

The Lindens never really got viral marketing, I doubt they'll learn at this point.

About this time folks began mentioning other JIRAs that--while they do not directly relate--do contribute to the general problem. Like the new sign-up process, which no longer explains that the chosen log-in name will BE the user's name. That's on the huge side.

Along with that, this:

If LL wants more (dedicated) users, the burden of finding a good available name should not be on the newcomers.
Providing a choice of last names lessens that burden, if explained properly.

which is also a damned good point.

At the time display names were announced there were hundreds of well-reasoned responses by residents expressing concerns over the way this new "feature" was being implemented. LL chose to ignore most of those concerns and plowed ahead. After living with the "feature" for nearly a year we see that those concerns were indeed justified.

Absolutely.

Bring back last names, keep the display names if they really serve a purpose, and leave display names out of search since people change them every day.

Short and to the point.

Don't you also have to "watch" a Jira in order to be taken into account? I thought so.

YES. Remember, WATCH, don't VOTE. I simply can't say that enough.

InWorldz allows you to choose whichever first and last name you wish.

Halfway through the comment chain, and someone finally brings up InWorldz. I'm surprised it took so long.

WE @$%&@% HATE THE RESIDENT LAST NAMES! You've had MONTHS to hear from us about it, before, and after, it was shoved into place!

You've turned what was something classy, into just another second-rate site like all the others. The "Resident" situation, creates nothing but ill will, and it simply has to stop.

Aggressively stated, but also brings up two good points--first, that the removal of last names only causes unnecessary division, and secondly, that the Lindens just don't listen to even constructive criticism. I was on the Ursula/Zindra front lines, too, with blog posts, at office hours, and speaking with Lindens via notecard and IM: and in the end, they listened to none of us, even those of us who were solid paying residents who owned multiple sims.

In a sense, the Lindens haven't changed...they still don't learn, they still don't listen. Sad.

The lower casing of existing names is stupid and is just cover code, seeing as LSL still returns the proper capitalization, even if the person signed up with RanDomnAme Lastname, thus making useless code and creating a social rift.

Yes.

It is just lazy programming for sure. They could have implemented all of the name changing code for their internal purposes and interoperability with other systems, without changing a single thing in the way we see and use the names in game, with no controversy, and little notice by the rest of us.

But, they didn't... they made a big public fiasco out of it, all because the programmers chose to take the shoddy approach, and inconvenience all of us, instead of writing a little bit more code on their end to accommodate their interoperability plan.

Yes as well.

I don't like the two 'classes' of users this change is creating inworld.

I don't either.

While "Resident" is not and has never been a last name (it's placeholder for backwards compatibility with clients and scripts that do not understand single-name-usernames), I have to agree with the community aspects people are talking about. It used to be cool to bump into somebody with the same last name as you, now... not so cool. If you want people to join Second Life and stick around, they have to feel like they're part of something greater than themselves. You don't get an e-mail address to be part of a community, but you do get a Second Life account for that reason.

Also accurate.

In a year of frequent and rather dumb initiatives the introduction of user names rises to the very top of the charts. Many others have expressed why they have to go. Bring back second names please.

Also yes. And then this to tie this one up:

I often have felt second class. There's and automatic "noob" stigma attached to me, but I'm far from a noob. I decided to start over, and even though I'm a well-rounded, experienced SL citizen, I get treated otherwise because of the Resident name.

It even drives me crazy when greeter bots and other scripts in SL identify me in open chat with my Resident name. Let's just broadcast it to the whole world shall we?

This is something that's been puzzling me for a bit--we used to have to sign in to the JIRA using our first and last name. That's no longer the case? Save that when I sign into the JIRA, I still have to use my first and last name.

So what name do no-name "Residents" use? And isn't that also part of the problem?