Question regarding names: What happens?

[Reese Wicken]

So, I know that like when you change your full name that all your data in forums doesn't just go away.

Is that the same for in-world too?

Like, For example.  Say you changed your name from Billy Bo to Sponge Bite or something, Would a person who has an IM history with you still have that history or is it disregarded because of the name change?

Just something I've been wondering.

[Rowan Amore]

14 minutes ago, Eseme Nova said:

So, I know that like when you change your full name that all your data in forums doesn't just go away.

Is that the same for in-world too?

Like, For example.  Say you changed your name from Billy Bo to Sponge Bite or something, Would a person who has an IM history with you still have that history or is it disregarded because of the name change?

Just something I've been wondering.

I'm pretty sure it all stays the same as your avatar UUID...hasn't changed.

ETA:  You may find they're in a different folder however they should still be on your computer.  You might have to merge the two to make them available when IMing after a name change.  So my first statement is not exactly correct.  

Edited November 4, 2020 by RowanMinx

[missyrideout]

Things that are stored server side like block lists and profile notes remain. Chat logs require manual intervention. Other residents have to rename your log file to tie chat history to the new name. Privacy wise it’s trivial to find someone’s new name if you know their old, but not the opposite. So if you copy your own logs over, and they go way back, you’ll still know you exchanged a few words with some random person years ago and they may have no idea who you are. 

[Jennifer Boyle]

I actually happened to have my inventory open looking at calling cards at the exact moment a friend changed her username, and the name changed before my eyes. Her IM log files from before and after have the names that she had at the time, so that IMs from before the change are in one file, and the ones from after are in another.

In your example, IMs from before the change would be in a file named Billy Bo.txt, and the ones from after would be in Sponge Bite.txt.

Edited November 4, 2020 by Jennifer Boyle
typos

[SarahThe Wanderer]

I changed my name recently to a stupider one out of boredom ( yes I regret the wasted money now ), and all my IMs in world have gone, if that's what you wanted to know, also some preferences has changed, I had to do it all over again.

And still after 5 days my name in here didn't change!

[Eddy Vortex]

59 minutes ago, seeno29 said:

I changed my name recently to a stupider one out of boredom ( yes I regret the wasted money now ), and all my IMs in world have gone, if that's what you wanted to know, also some preferences has changed, I had to do it all over again.

And still after 5 days my name in here didn't change!

You can find old chat logs from your hard drive path -
C:\Users\YourComputerNmae\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife
and look for the folder with your old user name.

If you had changed your name to something other than seeno29, you have to log out of the forums first, then relog to see the change.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Since all IM and Chat logs are stored on your computer, they will retain the name of the avatar at the time of the conversation.  If someone changes their name, the old logs stay the same and there will be new logs with the new name.

If you change YOUR SL name, then you'll see an entirely new folder in your AppData location for logs.

Edited November 4, 2020 by LittleMe Jewell

[SarahThe Wanderer]

20 minutes ago, Eddy Vortex said:

You can find old chat logs from your hard drive path -
C:\Users\YourComputerNmae\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife
and look for the folder with your old user name.

If you had changed your name to something other than seeno29, you have to log out of the forums first, then relog to see the change.

Oh I didn't know that, Thank you!

[Maitimo]

4 hours ago, Eseme Nova said:

So, I know that like when you change your full name that all your data in forums doesn't just go away.

Is that the same for in-world too?

Like, For example.  Say you changed your name from Billy Bo to Sponge Bite or something, Would a person who has an IM history with you still have that history or is it disregarded because of the name change?

Just something I've been wondering.

They'll still have that history, but their saved chat in your old name will cease to be filled and a new save-file with your new name will start. 

Everything in-world is updated; items I previously created under my old name of Matty Luminos now have Maitimo as creator.  As far as I can tell, most of it changed almost immediately, a few things took around 24 hours or so; I had items showing my new name in the edit window but still displayed my old name in the hover-tips, for example.

[Reese Wicken]

Thanks for the info everyone!

I've been considering on doing a name change... again.  Reasons being stalking issues and with this being my oldest account I really don't want to give up using it since I have a lot of rare gacha items from past events in-world.

Course until I can afford to I've just been staying offline or hiding on an alt.

I didn't have the stalker till after the name change btw.  They didn't like being told no and have decided to make trouble for me in our common hangouts.  I do have the person blocked, but I'm really not fond of being forced to keep my IMs off as they send people to be a bother.

[AlettaMondragon]

On 11/4/2020 at 6:13 PM, Jennifer Boyle said:

I actually happened to have my inventory open looking at calling cards at the exact moment a friend changed her username, and the name changed before my eyes.

 

On 11/5/2020 at 2:07 AM, Eseme Nova said:

I didn't have the stalker till after the name change btw.  They didn't like being told no and have decided to make trouble for me in our common hangouts.  I do have the person blocked, but I'm really not fond of being forced to keep my IMs off as they send people to be a bother.

 

Privacy-wise and for a perfect identity change, the avatar name change isn't entirely effective, because your UUID remains the same. Thus, anyone that got your UUID written up somewhere can find out your new name easily. Let's say random trolls and stalkers don't bother with that, so they probably wouldn't keep your UUID forethinking about you changing your name and so they'd lose you. At least I'd expect people with such personal "qualities" not to be able to think about it. (Let's hope they won't read this topic either to get ideas.) There might be things in their possession that automatically stored your UUID though, either an avatar name cache file, or a calling card, both contain an avatar's UUID paired with their current name. They shouldn't have a calling card from you unless you gave them yours, or friended them once. If they have it though, your name as creator will show on it, and your UUID in the description.

When one of my friends changed her name, indeed the active calling card in my inventory automatically changed its name to her new name. However, my calling cards folder is a bit weird, and I have almost all cards duplicated for some reason, then sometimes I just delete the unnecessary duplicates. In fact, the duplicate card still had the name of her original name, but of course her new name showed as creator when looking at its properties.

The avatar name cache file is also weird for me, I just can't see the pattern in when and why a person gets added to the list, while someone else doesn't, but it contains multiple names paired with their UUID. So these are two ways you could keep track of someone that changed name, even if you manually didn't save their UUID somewhere to be able to look it up later. There might be other files as well that can store avatar names paired with UUID, not to mention various third party databases of SL avatar names that also feature their UUID.

My point is, unfortunately there is no 100% bulletproof way to change the identification of your avatar, and to get rid of absolutely hardcore stalkers that know their stuff. For random trolls trying to mess with you, the name change should work fine. I'd actually just hit block on them, and file some abuse reports if they return with alts, for the record. There's no point spending money on a name change again and again if the sole reason is to try to protect yourself from those people.

Edited November 6, 2020 by AlettaMondragon
of course, typo, grammar, missing words