New last names?

[Chassie Rowley]

On 11/19/2020 at 9:36 AM, LittleMe Jewell said:

Just based on the forum folks that have done the name change, more opted to pay than I originally expected.

I paid the $40.00 for the name change. Rowley was really the only one that grabbed my attention.

Frankly, I wish the Lab would allow one to change their last name to what the user wishes, provided it's not obscene or otherwise offensive. Why stick to a list? I may be mistaken, but all one is dong is taking a series of letters (Smith) assigned to the UUID of the avi and changing the letters (Jones) to another series, to the same UUID avi.

Am I wrong?

[Wulfie Reanimator]

1 hour ago, Chassie Rowley said:

I paid the $40.00 for the name change. Rowley was really the only one that grabbed my attention.

Frankly, I wish the Lab would allow one to change their last name to what the user wishes, provided it's not obscene or otherwise offensive. Why stick to a list? I may be mistaken, but all one is dong is taking a series of letters (Smith) assigned to the UUID of the avi and changing the letters (Jones) to another series, to the same UUID avi.

Am I wrong?

One thing we know is that behind every last name, there is an assigned number. That number is used for the UUID generation.

Could they use two strings instead? Probably. But changing the way accounts / UUIDs are created is a massive change to their backend and even the smallest mistake could break everything related to accounts. The effort and risk of redesigning account creation for little pay-off is certainly not worth it for Linden Lab, otherwise they might've already done it.

Edited November 22, 2020 by Wulfie Reanimator

[WinTrain]

10 minutes ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

One thing we know is that behind every last name, there is an assigned number. That number is used for the UUID generation.

Could they use two strings instead? Probably. But changing the way accounts / UUIDs are created is a massive change to their backend and even the smallest mistake could break everything related to accounts. The effort and risk of redesigning account creation for little pay-off is certainly not worth it for Linden Lab, otherwise they might've already done it.

Linden lab isn’t good at design. Look at sansar, look how long it’s taken them to produce a phone app which still hasn’t been approved by Apple to go into Apple store.   It should come as no surprise, they have bad developers and it’s only going to get worse once the new company that has bought LL out puts their mark on SL.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

24 minutes ago, WinTrain said:

Linden lab isn’t good at design. Look at sansar, look how long it’s taken them to produce a phone app which still hasn’t been approved by Apple to go into Apple store.   It should come as no surprise, they have bad developers and it’s only going to get worse once the new company that has bought LL out puts their mark on SL.

While I kind of agree at the very base level, I think the main issue Linden Lab has is "legacy code," decisions that were made a long time ago and have cemented themselves in the code. Much of it has been written by developers who are no longer in the company, and the new devs don't have an inherently deep understanding of those parts because they didn't design or write it.

Right now, things "just work" and adding new features is relatively easy. But doing major reworks for old features (such as the rendering code)? Good luck not breaking a single thing and making sure the new version works at least as well as the old one.

It isn't just a Linden Lab problem either, technical debt is a common phenomenon across the tech industry, it's just the nature of long-lasting software. You start a project and design for that. Then, over the next couple years and decades, the scope of the project expands wider with new features that you keep adding to your code. At some point you'll have to redesign some things to avoid locking yourself onto code that's hard to change or maintain because all of your new features depend on it to work a specific way. Sometimes the "need to change" comes suddenly, other times it's "no big deal" until it gradually becomes a very big deal.

It takes very smart people to predict future changes in a way that allows you to rework things early. Sometimes that's not even possible.

P.S. I think you're massively underestimating how hard it is to develop good software since you've brought up "the time it takes to produce a phone app."

Edited November 22, 2020 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Chassie Rowley]

On 11/22/2020 at 3:17 AM, Wulfie Reanimator said:

One thing we know is that behind every last name, there is an assigned number. That number is used for the UUID generation.

Could they use two strings instead? Probably. But changing the way accounts / UUIDs are created is a massive change to their backend and even the smallest mistake could break everything related to accounts. The effort and risk of redesigning account creation for little pay-off is certainly not worth it for Linden Lab, otherwise they might've already done it.

So I think I get it. I don't understand strings (I don't code), so let's use IP addresses as an example.

The lab releases a list of 25 names to choose from, assigning certain IP addresses to each predetermined name. "Jones" is a certain IP, "Smith" is a certain IP, "Doe" is a certain IP, etc.. As people sign up for a new name and choose "Smith", that IP is recognized as is "Jones" and "Doe" and the other 22 IPs being offered.

A few weeks later, the Lab decides to take "Jones" off the list and add "Johnson" to the new list (new added IP) but discontinues offering "Jones". Those who have taken the "Jones" name are gold, no change required as the IP is acceptable and understood.Those who choose "Johnson" as a users last name get the new IP and the process continues

Now let's look at allowing anyone to change their last name to what they choose. With a very possible large response with a new last name request in the world (not necessarily just english either), the new last name/IP demand would overdo, overdrive, over commit (choose the appropriate phrase if you desire) the system, hence the Lab predetermining new last names on a semi-regular basis is more a coding reason other than a commercial reason?

If what I stated is even close to what you were saying, I can accept why LL prefers not to allow users making up their own last names. It would be a headache felt around the world.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Chassie Rowley

[Wulfie Reanimator]

4 hours ago, Chassie Rowley said:

If what I stated is even close to what you were saying, I can accept why LL prefers not to allow users making up their own last names. It would be a headache felt around the world.

I don't think we know exactly why they chose the system back then that we have now. There could have been any number of technical or non-technical reasons at the same time.

They didn't have to have last names at all, but they wanted them, probably to "set the tone."

Back then they were a small nobody, though. They probably didn't have the quantity or quality (lol) of servers as they do now. Storage space (computer memory) may have been limited, maybe not. Maybe the UUID generation part had some requirement that needed a number, who knows. Maybe they just couldn't figure out how to make two custom names work without some complication. Maybe they wanted to have control over last names so people didn't/couldn't come up with totally random names.

[patchworkpink]

can anyone point me to a list of the current last names?

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 minutes ago, patchworkpink said:

can anyone point me to a list of the current last names?

https://accounts.secondlife.com/choose_name

From your Dashboard, under Account, choose Change Name.  Then click Next Step to see the current list.  You don't pay for anything until you select a name and continue.

Edited November 27, 2020 by LittleMe Jewell

[patchworkpink]

thanks, i can't look at it unless i am premium and i don't wanna go premium just to see a list of names. pfft, silly LL. thanks, though.

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 minute ago, patchworkpink said:

thanks, i can't look at it unless i am premium and i don't wanna go premium just to see a list of names. pfft, silly LL. thanks, though.

I thought they let you get to the actual list without having to commit to Premium first.  

Here's the current list:

[Wulfie Reanimator]

25 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

https://accounts.secondlife.com/choose_name

From your Dashboard, under Account, choose Change Name.  Then click Next Step to see the current list.  You don't pay for anything until you select a name and continue.

You picked the wrong link, or maybe LL redirects people to a different URL based on their premium status.

23 minutes ago, patchworkpink said:

thanks, i can't look at it unless i am premium and i don't wanna go premium just to see a list of names. pfft, silly LL. thanks, though.

I'm not premium, and I get https://accounts.secondlife.com/change_name when I go to "Account > Change Name"
(Note: the URL says change_name instead of choose_name)

Edited November 27, 2020 by Wulfie Reanimator

[LittleMe Jewell]

12 minutes ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

You picked the wrong link, or maybe LL redirects people to a different URL based on their premium status.

I'm not premium, and I get https://accounts.secondlife.com/change_name when I go to "Account > Change Name"
(Note: the URL says change_name instead of choose_name)

 

Ahhh - I was pretty sure non-Premium members had posted before that they could see the list.  This explains it.  The 'change_name" link for Premium members shows:

 

Then when you click 'Next step', I then get the below, which gives me all my options.  

[ItHadToComeToThis]

I am really hoping that the next batch has some less gimmicky names. I get what the lab is doing but I would rather call myself something a little better than “Flying Hijinks” 😂

[Wulfie Reanimator]

6 minutes ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

I am really hoping that the next batch has some less gimmicky names. I get what the lab is doing but I would rather call myself something a little better than “Flying Hijinks” 😂

But gimmicky names is all I live for.

"Rounded Float" is one I'm still almost wishing I would've gotten. Too expensive for my (rather poor) taste, though.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Wulfie Reanimator

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

I am really hoping that the next batch has some less gimmicky names. I get what the lab is doing but I would rather call myself something a little better than “Flying Hijinks” 😂

In the olden days, people wanted the gimmicky names.  We had fun creating many funny combinations.

[steeljane42]

35 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

In the olden days, people wanted the gimmicky names.  We had fun creating many funny combinations.

In the older days it didn't cost 40$ plus a month of premium (if you don't have it already). Pretty sure most people have a better use for 40$ than make "funny names" in SL.

That said I don't find first batch too bad or gimmicky and definitely won't be changing mine again as I'm happy with what I got now. One I would consider was already used before, so it's not going to be on the list. And I'm pretty sure LL not going to remove/add any new names until they finish with uplifting the rest of infrastructure.

[Rat Luv]

(it was a rubbish joke!)

Edited November 28, 2020 by Rat Luv
it was silly

[Wulfie Reanimator]

8 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

In the older days it didn't cost 40$ plus a month of premium (if you don't have it already). Pretty sure most people have a better use for 40$ than make "funny names" in SL.

That said I don't find first batch too bad or gimmicky and definitely won't be changing mine again as I'm happy with what I got now. One I would consider was already used before, so it's not going to be on the list. And I'm pretty sure LL not going to remove/add any new names until they finish with uplifting the rest of infrastructure.

I mean, a name change is a name change. There's a decent enough mix of "names and non-names" in there, you're not forced to pick a silly one if you were to change your name.

This is also not the first batch of names. The first batch infamously had the last name "Covfefe" in there. I think this is either the second or (less likely) third batch.

[LittleMe Jewell]

14 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

In the older days it didn't cost 40$ plus a month of premium (if you don't have it already). Pretty sure most people have a better use for 40$ than make "funny names" in SL.

Definitely true.  I most definitely would not have created all of the various alts that I created with cute/silly names if I had to pay for it.

[Sassy Kenin]

Well they really need to get there head out of the sand..last time we had last names they were free! hence a small list!now all costs included $50..well lets get serious on the offerings then!

Lets offer a list of 20 names for water sports to help promote that! ..Names like WaveRider..Shores..Mer..Siren..Boatmaster

Lets offer a list of 20 names for Vampire and Zombie Roleplay lets support those communities with 20 new names...Twicebitten..Gravedigger..LaFang..Zombie..Livingdead..

Lets offer a list of 20 names for Elven and Fairy names for those struggling communities!!..Wisewings..twowings..SharpEars...Elvishheart. you get the gist of it!

Lets do more , Lets be creative and provide good offerings if you want good money for them! then offer at least choices of a 100 name list that offers community choices as well.

Lets refresh the list every 90 days and lets bring back a few old last names barely taken for limited time..perhaps winning a retired last name in contests?

 

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:36 AM, LittleMe Jewell said:

Just based on the forum folks that have done the name change, more opted to pay than I originally expected.

I considered it... and the fact pixeldancer was not used just 🤕

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Tarina Sewell

[Alwin Alcott]

6 hours ago, Sassy Kenin said:

 

Lets

Lets

Lets

Lets

Lets

 

we got the option to suggest last names ... and still do!  ( at the winter fair i think)
Seems what was send in gave the result for these, most yuck, selection

Some i don't really dislike however..  Atheria, Timmerman, Cloud, Rowly , Nova,Rover, Huntsman, Ravenhurst...aren't that bad to pick ..but that's personal.

[Sassy Kenin]

🏇

Edited December 10, 2020 by Sassy Kenin

[BelindaN]

I could be Belinda Banana.

[Maitimo]

There are a few on there that I'd be happy to live with if I was stuck with them. 

Ravenhurst and Bloodrose look good for the goths and vampires, Fluffpaw and Littlepaws and Whimsy for Tinies and Dinkies.

But I already paid to get the first name I wanted and get rid of a last name I didn't want, so I'm staying as I am now.