Great points! Ive invented a time machine so that anyone who used an old username that might contain sensitive/embarrassing information can go back in time to stop themselves from using that as their username.
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With Roblox nearing two decades old, many accounts are very old. I created my first account when I was eight. Iâm twenty one now. Should I be expected to have had the same amount of Internet etiquitte when I was eight as today? Should I have to wear a dumb joke I made when I was fourteen on my profile forever?
Roblox has far evolved from the sandbox game we grew up with as kids, and some of us want to put forward professional portfolios. Being able to control the privacy of past usernames would greatly help with this.
I donât see how hiding past usernames has anything to do with impersonation. Display names, sure. But this isnât about display names.
And, 2024 bump I guess. 5 years and still waiting.
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I would want to hide my past username oihishere2010 only because of how horrible it is, not for professionalism and such
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Then thatâs your prerogative. Whatever the reason, we should have the ability to do this.
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Roblox Support Team has already refused to remove a minorâs past username that literally has his full name (which he isnât aware of internet safety at that time). I donât think I can blame him because it is a decision he made when he was younger and Roblox decided to keep it after 6 years., and I am in full solidarity as it can pose heavy risks to minors that are targeted. It is crazy after five years, Roblox still hasnât done this.
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I support this
makes branding difficult
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Major support.
Not being able to remove deadnames can not only be harmful to people who donât want strangers digging up their past, but also be extremely harmful to an individuals mental health when they need to leave that past behind, and especially for minors who are often the most vulnerable.
Why should anyone have to abandon everything theyâve bought and earned for the sake of their personal safety when it can just be made into one simple setting or button? Mental health is a huge issue these days and things people experiences online can have a massive effect on it, for better or worse.
Itâs 2024. So many developers have made careers for themselves on this platform using the account they grew up with, everyone goes through silly phases and things theyâd rather put behind them.
I canât think of a single other platform that forces such a dangerous practice on itâs users, especially when its user-base is predominantly children, we should have absolute freedom over what kind of information anyone else can access about our accounts.
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I recently replied to another thread of the similar suggestion - I, personally, am not in favor of this idea.
I am in favor of the idea that this is a user-end optional see or donât see setting - however, this should not be mandatory site wide.
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Iâm having a hard time understanding your case, most scammers are either on an alt or stolen account, and even if theyâre a group or their original account, thereâs no way for most people to tell that theyâre untrustworthy by just judging by their past usernames or group names, even then if theyâre found out/exposed online they can easily make a new group or get a new account anyway.
Scamming is already rampant and drives people off the platform, I donât think this feature would make much of a difference for better or worse in terms of scams.
I do agree that this could be an optional feature that you can toggle in the user settings but it should be a privacy setting that hides or shows previous usernames with the option for everyone, friends, or no one.
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Support.
As someone part of the LGBTQ+, itâs difficult to get around. People will harass you for who you are and who you once were; this is not a new thing, even outside of Roblox.
I have names I donât associate with anymore. It sucks having people go through my old usernames purely to just be used against me or to âprove a pointâ.
Even contacting support to get said names removed brought no results and just more of a âsuck it up, itâs not personally identifiableâ sort of deal; despite a couple of them containing real names / closely referring to real names.
Another concerning thing is the recent TikTok trend of users going up to other people in games, bringing up their past usernames. I am really NOT a fan of this trend and itâs honestly a bit scary in my opinion, especially for those who DO have personally identifiable information in their past usernames. I avoid hangout games that TikTokkers tend to hang out in due to being scared of being identified like that. Itâs just⌠not comfortable at all.
I personally think Roblox either needs to lighten up at least a LITTLE bit on requesting name removals, or to add a Hide Past Usernames feature like the post suggested. I shouldnât have to stick with an name I donât want to be identified with.
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I donât think allowing someone to simply hide their past usernames is a good idea but hereâs some ideas Iâve thought of:
1. Allow you to clear all or certain past usernames from your account and sending them back into the pool of available usernames (14-30d cooldown)
2. Allow you to wipe a certain past username from your account but send it back into the pool of usernames after around 30d instead of instant (similar to Twitch except you can choose which to clear from your account)
3. Same as #2 except after you wipe a username from your account, youâll still be able to find them in the search function from that old username as well for a certain period (7d for example).
(This would ideally prevent people from going to into a game, breaking the ToS while a streamer is live or in general, and then leaving and changing it quickly to avoid getting caught)
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Bumping this post. I understand some concern for scammers but all you have to do is implement search for the user so:
RobloxDevNoob who scammed you changed their username to RobloxDevPro
Then you could still search then by their old username, but you canât see front and center on their profile their past username.
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bump - 100% agree
for those concerned about scammers, the implementation of this feature would make you think twice/be more cautious when doing deals with people. also you would still be able to find them by user id. as for other bad actors like predators, please once again refer to my previous statement about the user ids which can be used in reports.
this also is a feature that exists on another platform called steam which iâm sure many people here have heard of and it has 68 million daily users as of 2021 (vs roblox 70 million) which isnât a large difference in the grand scheme of things.
roblox making this change could pioneer a new era of online privacy which would give relief to many users across the platform.
sources:
Roblox Statistics For 2024 (Active Players, Revenue & Usage)(At%20A,active%20users%20as%20of%202024.
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I have both sides of this feature request.
At one side of mine, I do agree with this because people made their accounts when they were younger and the username might be embarrassing or containing sensitive information, and you do not want to reveal your personal information. My other accountâs username was âoihishere2010â, and it contained a year, and some people would guess it as a birth year of the user.
My other side is that people might get confused about the old username being unavailable, as old usernames would still be accessible to the one who claimed the username and can switch it back as long as the cooldown isnât active and they have 1000 
to do so. Imagine Person A named âFruitwayâ changes their username to something else, and Person B has no clue the username is taken, but notices that the username would still be broken.
(and everyone else here with a similar concern).
I was able to get a username with PII removed through support, Iâm not sure what exactly is stopping it from working with others.
To the OP: yeah pls I have names Iâd rather not have be visible
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In some cases this would be amazing, but in other cases it isnât.
For example: a hacker got ahold of a account worth lots of money then they could rename the account and hide the past usernames and sell it on a dark website, no one would know except if they look at the player ID witch no one is gonna remember.
Couldnât have said it better. If Roblox is so hesitant on not removing the names, they should rather allow a public viewable toggle option.
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casually spends hundreds of dollars
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Iâd even prefer an option to only show previous usernames to friends or past friends. Rather than just having them completely public.
Like a âwas ____â under the name of a person you used to have friended.
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