X is selling existing users' handles
I've been on Twitter since 2007 as @hac. In recent years I didn't sign in frequently, then last week I saw my handle show up on the new X Handles marketplace. It seems the account now belongs to X, and because I had a "rare handle" I can't even buy it back. From what I can tell, they will wait for some time and then auction the handle for around $100k. Losing your account is frustrating. Having it sold to someone else doesn't feel right. Of course, there is no warning when it happens. All you can do to prevent it is sign in every 30 days and read all changes to the TOS.
Discussion Highlights (20 comments)
stephenr
Or congratulate yourself on being divested long enough that they don't think you're coming back?
ronsor
I think people sitting on a handle for 10-20 years without active use is annoying, so I'm fine with them taking them from dormant accounts. I think the selling is sketchy though.
rahimnathwani
According to the X app: - the user @hac has existed since 2008 - since then, it has posted 5 tweets totalling 14 words - it does not follow any accounts Is this your account, or is this a different account that recently took over the @hac username?
al_borland
Dormant account reuse should be ok, assuming proper notice is given. Though 30 days is far too strict. A life event could leave someone offline for a month. Selling I have an issue with, especially the arbitrary selling of “rare” handles. This leaves normal users stuck with junk names and encourages Twitter to be even more of a place for corporate communication above all else.
Molitor5901
I think that dormant accounts, where someone has not logged in for, say, 2 years, does not post, does not engage, should be repurposed - with given notice. It's kind of the equivalent of cybersquatting. Also, technically, a platform is within its right to do this. I think the better course of action is to utilize the account. Gmail has made this clear that if you don't log into an account after some time they will repurpose it.
gdulli
It gets lost in the distracting partisan bickering over Musk/etc, but Twitter has gotten hostile and crappy in many ways like this that have nothing to do with politics. Imagine how much more hostile this action would have seemed in 2010. But now, people put up with it.
surround
Your posts: https://twiiit.com/hac 2020 - "Ping" 2021 - "Pong" 2023 - "Boop." 2023 - "Bleep" 2023 - "will inventing new technology be the solution to our problems?"
throwa356262
Imagine this: you are hit by a car, spend 4 weeks in coma. Wake up and can't even post one of those cool hospital selfies because Elon really needed that $100K...
ChrisArchitect
https://handles.x.com/
steve_adams_86
It's a drag for sure, but, what were you doing/going to do with it? You almost never posted, and when you did, it didn't contribute to anything. If I owned a site like X, I'd want some way to reclaim user names in cases like these. I don't doubt X is sneaky or gross about it, but it's a reasonable need too. Putting the name on a marketplace is weird. I'd simply free it up if it was my platform, and send a note to the original owner explaining what happened. Though I'd send warnings as well. Something like 'Hey, you haven't [met an engagement metric] for [n period of time]. We're going to shut down your account to make space for other people'. People could game this, sure, but I suspect it would be better than what happened to you.
nunobrito
That is what I like about NOSTR. Your keys == Your account It is about time to stop having identities tied to companies.
segmondy
I see lots of people defending this. What if the owner doesn't post, but reads and uses DM? What if they post the delete their posts when it gets old? Like Michael Burry?
Invictus0
Begone, squatter
anonymousiam
I was an early adopter on many platforms, and used the same three letter handle on each. I've had the same thing happen to me, even with an account that was being actively used. There's nothing that you can do about it. It's their platform and they can grab your handle if they want it.
cdrnsf
It's someone else's (a terrible someone's) platform. Nobody owns their handles.
xrd
My 3 letter handle (xrd) is a cryptocurrency. I get all kinds of @ spam where people shilling a cryptocurrency tag me, assuming I'm associated. I really wish I could move the markets and make a quick buck somehow. I wish Elon would give me a way to sell it before they steal it.
puppycodes
Yeah if only we could really own anything online, unfortunately its basically all rented. This is what excited me about distributed technologies but fighting capitalism is hard.
ipaddr
Why go through all of the effort of forcing people to signup to read something but also delete accounts after 30 days. Is the goal to get as many users as possible and also kickoff as many users? Must be two teams competing for different goals.
pfannkuchen
> Losing your account is frustrating. Having it sold to someone else doesn't feel right. Nit: smells like LLM
krapp
This is why even though I've "left" Twitter (I still refuse to call it X) I keep my handle active. It isn't worth anything to anyone but I'd still prefer not to have a bot use it.