Elon Musk and company take @x handle from its original user. He got zero dollars for it.

SELECTstarFROMreddit@sh.itjust.works to Technology@lemmy.world – 1217 points –
Elon Musk and company take @x handle from its original user. He got zero dollars for it.
mashable.com
265

You are viewing a single comment

According to Hwang, the company now formerly known as Twitter did offer "an alternative handle with the history of the @x account" so that his original account, complete with its posts and followers, could live on and continue to be used.

What short, catchy username did Musk's company change Hwang's handle to? @x12345678998765.

You can't make this shit up. God damn!

that sounds like what an idiot would have for a password.

So you are saying one could log into @x with that...

Quick someone check if itโ€™s Elons password!

Nah his password would definitely include an "42069" in it.

It's the same password I have on my luggage!

Who the hell downvoted an Airplane! quote?

Maybe someone who hasn't see Airplane.

I refuse to believe there are people like that. I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.

However, Hwang tells me, he was also offered a new handle of his choice โ€“ as long as it's available. He just hasn't picked one yet.

"as long as it's available" is as good as nothing imho.

Since his handle is being taken against his will, he should get to take someone else's handle against their will. Then let it be a chain reaction.

1 more...

That is absolutely hilarious. They should've offered him @twitter in exchange, it would only be fair...

All for the buzz I imagine.

Or for some hyper inflated fragile ego I guess.

Well that's my guess.

Let's be real now. That name is temporary until he chooses his new one. Read the whole article. It's rediculous enough without making things seem even worse.

But look at that username. It definitely not randomly generated. Someone at Twitter pick that new name. They just give someone with the shortest username possible (1 character) the longest possible username (15 characters), and they do so by pressing the number row back and forth until they hit the username characters size limit. If it's not a mockery then I don't know what is.

It's not mockery, it is the logical thing to do. They don't want to allocate a username a person would actually want, so naturally they pick the longest possible username, with arbitrary and meaningless contents. Would you have been happier if it was @xloremipsumdolo? @xtemporaryusern? Like what was the right thing for the technician who had to pick the name to do, in your mind?

I thought long and hard about this, and you're right. If it were me, no matter what the new username is, I'm still going to be mad. But I feel like I'll be less mad (just a little bit less) if they select a completely random username (with sensible length, like 8 characters or less), indicating it's chosen by an impartial random number generator instead of chosen by someone who in my mind is messing with me (image of Elon Musk laughing at me coming in my mind).

2 more...