(I don’t think this suggestion is rejected, but let me know if it is)

So, let’s say you have a username idea you really want to use. You go to the account creation screen and try to make the account, however the username is taken. You check to see the profile of the user who had the account, only to see said account was deleted.


I know why deleted account usernames can’t be used again, but sometimes I feel it’d be nice to let somebody else have that username of an account you’re deleting.

So here’s my idea.

When in the account deletion screen, y’know how there’s a button you can select to ask for all of your projects to be deleted?
Well, what if there was another button saying “let my username be available for somebody else”.

This way, someone else can have that username, without having someone need to give you their account’s information for someone to move to your account.


I hope what I’m suggesting makes sense, let me know if anything needs clarification.

Support
I think this is a good idea since lots of younger children like usernames like CATLOVER12345. If a username like this is deleted, and can't be used again, that would prevent a large crowd from having a username that they desire.

No Support because account deletion doesn't actually delete anything, just makes it inaccessible via normal menas.
Source: API endpoints still give user data.
Source: I report I made that yielded in a user being banned has projects that are questionable at best (they're NSFW) that can still be accessed via Phosphorus.

Also this would allow identity fraud if a popular Scratcher were to delete their account to put the final nail in the coffin to keep the past in the past.

LastContinue wrote:

No Support because account deletion doesn't actually delete anything, just makes it inaccessible via normal menas.
Source: API endpoints still give user data.
Source: I report I made that yielded in a user being banned has projects that are questionable at best (they're NSFW) that can still be accessed via Phosphorus.

Also this would allow identity fraud if a popular Scratcher were to delete their account to put the final nail in the coffin to keep the past in the past.

If username recycling was selected, they’d be removed from the API

M1mikyu wrote:

LastContinue wrote:

No Support because account deletion doesn't actually delete anything, just makes it inaccessible via normal menas.
Source: API endpoints still give user data.
Source: I report I made that yielded in a user being banned has projects that are questionable at best (they're NSFW) that can still be accessed via Phosphorus.

Also this would allow identity fraud if a popular Scratcher were to delete their account to put the final nail in the coffin to keep the past in the past.

If username recycling was selected, they’d be removed from the API

It… isn't as simple as that, unfortunately.
The API is a way for the public to access the database, it would likely require expensive database purge operations to remove this data, and also modification to account deletion. It is also worth noting that the Scratch Team most likely keeps this data in case law enforcement were to ever show up and ask for the data on a username who may have commit crimes via the Scratch platform, then deleted their account.

LastContinue wrote:

It… isn't as simple as that, unfortunately.
The API is a way for the public to access the database, it would likely require expensive database purge operations to remove this data, and also modification to account deletion. It is also worth noting that the Scratch Team most likely keeps this data in case law enforcement were to ever show up and ask for the data on a username who may have commit crimes via the Scratch platform, then deleted their account.

These are good points. We need to keep the record straight about who created what - that's one of the reasons that we don't generally like to see shared accounts either. We also think it would be confusing to the community and add extra complexity to our application. For these reasons, we are rejecting the suggestion. Thanks for taking the time to share your improvement ideas though.