Nicknames quesiton

[peacemaker2]

Every once in a while, I see people/avatars with 2 names. 

 

After some discussion with some of them, it's been made clear that there's their normal names, (I. e. David Jones), and their nickname (I. e. Dave). 

 

How do I add a nickname to my character please, and what are the rules on it please?  (Number of characters in it, Language (As in clean or swear words,) characters available please.) 

 

 

[Marigold Devin]

It's called a Display Name, and you can change it inworld, or via my.secondlife.com.  To get to my.secondlife.com, click on the Second Life icon at the top left hand side of this page, which will take you to your dashboard, and close to the top will be a direct link to my.secondlife.com - if you don't know about this already, it's a bit like Twitter - another place where residents can contact each other, useful for when they can't log in to the main world.  You get the option to change your Display name there.

Important to note, all profile contents, including Display Names, must be PG.  You can only change your Display Name once a week, so be careful what you choose, and use regular characters (some people have experienced failed log ins when their Display Name has been made up of weird and wonderful characters).

[peacemaker2]

Second life icon?  That's the one that looks like the SL palm, isn't it please? 

 

 

[Bree Giffen]

I would just change it inworld. Right click on yourself. Edit profile.

[Nyll Bergbahn]

To add to Marigold's answer, read this FAQ which should give you all the information you need.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Usernames-and-display-names/ta-p/700173

Remember that not everyone will see your display name as many residents such as myself have that option turned off.

[Jacki Silverfall]

You can turn them off!? I wanna know how to do that! :smileysurprised:

Please.

 

eta please

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Hi Jacki,

In v3, untick View Display names in Preferences > General.

In Nirans, it's under User Options > General > untick Allow Display Names.

Not sure about Firestorm but should be easy to find.

[Syo Emerald]

Whats so bad about them? I use a display name for my alt, cause I don't like her lastname anymore.

[Marigold Devin]

---

Nyll Bergbahn wrote:

To add to Marigold's answer, read this FAQ which should give you all the information you need.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Usernames-and-display-names/ta-p/700173

Remember that not everyone will see your display name as many residents such as myself have that option turned off.

---

 

Thanks for adding that, Nyll. I got dragged away from the computer.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Yes you can turn them off.  You do that under the General tab in Preferences.

@Syo

What's bad about Display Names?  When people use Unicode characters to the point you can't read them LOL. 

I do turn both display names and group tags off though when I'm in a crowd because the tags are smaller and make the screen less cluttered when you only see one line instead of three.  I turn them completely off in a big crowd so I don't see any tags for the same reason. It cuts down on the lag a bit and I can mouse over anyone if I want to find out their name.

[Penny Patton]

Just saves you the trouble of having to read their name. "Hey, you!" works fine.

Honestly, I still think LL should disable usernames by default so all you see in the nametag is the display name. Anything else is just confusing (as this thread demonstrates) and negates the entire point of having display names at all.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Sorry I disagree.  Some people I know change there name so often that inever recognize them by it.  They are generally also people that change avatars like you do clothes.  If  I can't see their username, I don't know who they are. :smileyvery-happy:

[Penny Patton]

You can always see usernames, tho, Even if they're not in the username tag. 

Tho, to be fair, I do also think there should be more limits on display names. (Like not being able to change them nearly so frequently.)

 

 Actually, ideally, usernames would be entirely hidden, as in no one but you can see your username. Display names would be slightly more limited than they are now (can't use an existing display name, can't use an existing username unless it's your own, can't change as frequently without a cost) and we'd have a "title" tag we could change as often as we liked, with no limits on what could be put in it.

[Innula Zenovka]

Everyone's experience differs, I guess, but I've had usernames turned off in my viewer for about 6 months now, and I don't see people changing their display names that often -- certainly not people who I need to be able to identify.  

My impression -- based on some busy groups to which I belong, as well as people with whom I regularly have social or business dealings -- is that people may switch their names a bit when first they start, but in general folks seem to hit on a name they like, and stick with it.   And when it is some silly unicode confection (which isn't that frequent, to be fair), it's normally obvious what it's supposed to be.

I work on the basis that if people choose to use a display name, that's the name by which they want to be called, by and large, and it's only good manners to go along with that whenever possible.   

 

[161488303349]

---

Amethyst Jetaime wrote:

Sorry I disagree.  Some people I know change there name so often that inever recognize them by it.  They are generally also people that change avatars like you do clothes.  If  I can't see their username, I don't know who they are. :smileyvery-happy:

---

yes same lol

so end up going:

so then who are you again?

am ur bff

are you? really???

jjejejejjeee (:

 

 

 

[Koltari]

---

Penny Patton wrote:

You can always see usernames, tho, Even if they're not in the username tag. 

Tho, to be fair, I do also think there should be more limits on display names. (Like not being able to change them nearly so frequently.)

 

 Actually,

ideally

, usernames would be

entirely

hidden, as in no one but you can see your username. Display names would be slightly more limited than they are now (can't use an existing display name, can't use an existing username unless it's your own, can't change as frequently without a cost) and we'd have a "title" tag we could change as often as we liked, with no limits on what could be put in it.

---

I think this would be the best option now we know they're not going to go back to old style names. There'll be more and more usernames which are incoherent as new users run out of options for usernames or just painly give up trying to find a good one. I consider myself lucky I came up with something that pass nicely for a name.  :catvery-happy:

[Amethyst Jetaime]

---

Innula Zenovka wrote:

I work on the basis that if people choose to use a display name, that's the name by which they want to be called, by and large, and it's only good manners to go along with that whenever possible.   

 

---

I agree.  I've seen plenty of them that are not obvious though.  I generally have tags display both names.  I turn off  the display name and/or username in situations where I'm  not talking to people except to people I am with in IM.  I rarely pay attention to general chat unless I have a specific reason to as most of it in crowds is gesturbating or other silliness that I have no interest in.

[Jacki Silverfall]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the display names. I use one on my horse alt (domino). It this new trend of weird writing that I don't like because of the special fonts. I have trouble reading them.

[Nova Convair]

Display names make sense, especially for new residents with some crapy username.

If someone has a displayname I use it - except I can't read it or it's something I don't want to use like "my master" or whatever, then I fallback to the username and if I don't like that aswell I fallback to something that I choose. :smileytongue:

So it's all ok, I don't see any problems here.

[Syo Emerald]

I have that same trouble with many profiles. Stars, strange letters and other stuff like that all over the whole profile... I think that is a certain group of users, who has the same kind of preferences for avatar-, name- and profilestyles.

I always used to refer to them with their original username, if its written in a strange way.

[Innula Zenovka]

I agree that unreadable Display Names are annoying.  All I'm saying is that I think we naturally tend to remember those and not to notice all the readable ones, which maybe skews our perception of how frequently people actually do hit the Unicode.

Certainly I've  found, in the six months and odd since I turned off Usernames in my viewer, that I've so rarely actually needed to communicate with people who've got silly unicode Display Names that it's no more than an occassional irritation.    It's the same with people switching their names -- while I agree the potential for confusion is certainly there, as it's turned out,  I've been confused by this no more than two or three times in the last six months that I recall.