Gday all,
You’ve probably spotted that we’ve pulled the nickname feature from the forum here’s the low-down on why:
Real usernames first
Putting a nickname front and centre feels backwards. When you’re searching the forums, getting notifications or emails, you want to see the actual username you recognise, not an alias/nickname that is foreign or alien to you and constantly changing.
Possibility of confusion
Folks change their nicknames far too often. One day you see “SteelGuitarFan,” the next it’s “GuitarWiz99.” That makes it a nightmare to keep track of conversations and contacts.
A can of worms
Freeform nicknames open the door to all kinds of statements political pronouns, slogans, whatever. While everyone’s entitled to express themselves, this isn’t the place for that, and it just breeds more confusion.
Summary
In short, the nickname idea didn’t add any real value. It only muddied the waters for our long-time members who I sympathized with. So we’ve decided to take it back to basics: your chosen username only.
If you do wish to change username it will be handled on a case by case basis at discretion of the management team with limitations on how often you can do it.
Thanks for sticking with us during this transitional period. We appreciate everyone for being understanding any roadblocks or issues we may have faced initially but hopefully we can move on from them.
Cheers,
thehsvdude
