ObsoleteUser names

[Sarasvati Windstorm]

When I do a search of user names I find a lot of names with blank profiles that are years old. As these accounts are probably inactive or deleted by the user, why can't the names be re-released for others to use?

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Sarasvati Windstorm wrote:

When I do a search of user names I find a lot of names with blank profiles that are years old. As these accounts are probably inactive or deleted by the user, why can't the names be re-released for others to use?

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When someone dies their Social Security number is "obsolete" but it isn't available for re-use because it represents the unique identity of a single person and re-using it could cause at best confusion and at worst fraud. The username has the same function in Second Life.

[KarenMichelle Lane]

Long ago Linden Lab made the policy decision that the user names were one time use only. This is in keeping with a number of other products with a similar user base as SL. The old style names [Like mine] are now anachronisms as well. 

The decision to do this also allowed for a solution to the binge account deleter syndrome as well as a small income stream for Linden Lab in charging for the resurrection of deleted accounts.

Do note that some people purposely leave their profile information blank as well.

[Syo Emerald]

A re-relase of names would cause a number of problems. First, it would be tricky to determine when it is ok to do this. After 6 months? A whole year? Multiple years? Only if the profile is empty? Then you would run into the possibility that there might be trouble about identification. Maybe the former user of the name has created furniture? How should former customers know you are not the creator, if you got his name? Or maybe this name belonged to a griefer or a person who had a lot of drama going on (or other good reasons to leave SL). You probably don't want to have the chance of getting that persons problems.

[Jennifer Boyle]

I don't know the answer, but I'm posting because I disagree with the other answers.  I do agree that the real reason is that LL decided to do it that way.  Why they made that decision, and whether their rationale was well-reasoned, I have no idea.

If the TOS stated that usernames would be released for reuse after a certain amount of time passed without a logon, and if the time were reasonably long, there should be no confusion to avoid, at least by minimally diligent people.  Why would anyone think that Joe Hollowhead, who I knew in 2008, was the same person as Joe Hollowhead, whose account was opened in 2013?  I sure wouldn't.  Many people in Real Life, where the stakes are very much higher, have identical names, and we cope.  Just try Googling "Jennifer Boyle," and see how many you find.

As for confusion regarding creators, the way that we ordinarily find a creator is by clicking on the name in the properties window.  Currently, that takes one to the profile, even if the account has long been closed.  It would be easy to display a message saying the account was closed, and the name had been assigned to someone else.  Now, we have to do further research to find out, like search for the name or look at the list of members of one of their groups to see the last logon date.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

LL's original policy was to deactivate accounts after six months. Now of course they don't  People have to cancel it themselves, and most don't. So they must see some benefit from it.  A lot of people come back to SL after being away for years, sometimes due to unexpected RL circumstances.