This is something a lot of people has been concerned about and people have been waiting for something to be done, and here we are now.
This is kind of a great thing if past usernames were hidden from both Search and Profile, but…
This makes it probably the most non sense update since I am pretty sure maybe not here but a lot of people are happy with their past usernames not showing on their profile anymore (Or well at least I am), this “safety solution” would actually work if past usernames were hidden from both profile and search, most people that change their username is usually because they don’t want to be known by their past username anymore. So having these disabled on profiles THEN enabled back but now not being able to see them on the search tab is kind of completely pointless since your just fixing half of the problem.
Personally, just have past usernames hidden from both profiles and search and it would help A LOT to those who can’t rely on contacting support to remove either names with personal information or just names they don’t want to be associated with. That would just fix the entire problem.
At some extent if we can’t have that, at least consider giving us the option to toggle the visibility of past usernames on our profiles.
Once again, great idea in paper but the execution is questionable for saying the less.
I really hope someone from Roblox staff reads this reply - could this PLEASE be made into a privacy feature? Please, let us hide past usernames. Maybe if the username change is 6+ months old, it could be hidden on the profile. (to prevent scammers abusing this)
I know that there are tons of people out there including me who changed our username and we cringe over stupid names we used years ago. This would mean so much!
I hope this change isn’t permanent. The staff on this thread have already stated, that previous usernames will reappear in December, which I am happy with.
If previous usernames are a privacy violation, there’s already a support route to hide specific usernames if your username included your full name - I do not see only first name on your past usernames as a privacy issue as it does not make you personally identifiable, unless there is context in other usernames that could identify you which is why I think that hiding previous usernames should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Community is a major factor in Roblox, unlike other platforms where the system for communication is completely different. Being able to see who you’ve interacted with in a platform where your username is universal throughout Roblox is essential, especially for smaller community-based projects and industry “hiring” groups.
A famous case where Roblox did hide someone’s username is with Anuxo/Ayphio, a once-major group owner who was accused of online dating under the Anuxo name but the hiding of the username led to confusion as to who actually was being accused… This is why I think that hiding previous usernames should be done on a case-by-case basis to check whether your username is actually personally identifiable, or whether the username is inappropriate and should be hidden.
Also remember that your past usernames will never be completely hidden just because of this change - internet archives do exist.
Hi - my point is that you chose to make that username, that username will now always be public especially as this is the internet. Hiding them on the website doesn’t mean no one will find those usernames, and hiding them doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find those usernames.
A friend of mine tried using this “alternative route” to remove a year of birth from their username, and their support request was swiftly denied as there apparently wasn’t enough PII in the username for it to be removed
This is a very basic privacy feature that has been around almost everywhere since the beginning of the internet, there is no need to be a contrarian about it.
Your point seems to partly revolve around malicious users being able to go under a different identity, this is already possible by just creating a new account under a new user, which is also far less traceable.
On Roblox’ behalf, it is very rarely good practice to withhold certain features due to a minority group of bad actors, essentially ruining it for everyone else.
If you’re truly concerned about that factor, you should pivot your concerns to the actual Moderation.
Some people simply wish to no longer be associated with a previous user, whether that be out of embarrassment, privacy, out of professionalism or anything else that might come to mind.
They should have the absolute right to such an option.
Last year there were about 134 million people born. Unless there was other context in the username or other past usernames, I don’t think your friend could be handpicked through just year of birth. I’m not sure about Australian laws (although I think they are stricter), but USNIST state that one’s date of birth is PII only if linked to something else.
@wickedyboo
The caveat of this is that you lose (possibly) years of game progress, avatar items and game passes that cannot be transferred. Not everyone will just simply create a new account, because they will lose so much.
@TimeFrenzied
I wouldn’t mind hiding usernames only, only if there is a valid privacy reason to do so that is manually reviewed. Such as deadnames, full names, first/last name + something else. Not just because someone doesn’t want their username to be public.
I think usernames should only be freed if their account is terminated with appeal window closed. This could be a problem if someone was trying to find another person with a username, but they’re an entirely different person.
The thing is - if you change your Discord username, it gets freed up and isn’t saved anywhere. Previous usernames also don’t show on YouTube, Instagram, Minecraft, Xbox, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat (here and on Instagram past usernames are only visible to yourself), etc…
Pretty much every social media platform & game does not store or at the very least does not show previous usernames publicly. Roblox is one of the only companies that does this. And as many have mentioned here username changes could be made private after a specific amount of time if you’re worried about scammers/predators abusing it.
There is no other major platform that links previous usernames to accounts. If it happens to be personal information or not is irrelevant, some people just don’t want to be known as coolgamerboy2015, and should have the right to change their online presence.
Sure, it won’t be erased from the entirety of the internet and can be archived, but doesn’t that benefit your reason for wanting them to stay enough?
It’s not only reasons such as PII or bad naming choices as reasons someone may want to permanently change a username. Some usernames were linked to data breaches and personal information offsite (which could lead to people finding repeat accounts with the same usernames, and even passwords), or even just stalkers. Some people may just want a cleaner profile without the clock icon. (or, professionalism, as the other dude stated.)
You’re being rather contradictive, if hiding past usernames truly adds nothing to ‘privacy’ then for that same matter you could trace back malicious users.
Depending on which kind of ‘malice’ is being referred to, many individuals with ill intent tend to not have much to lose to begin with. I am in this case referring to serious matters such as predators or people abusing DMCA’s/Scams. If they’re truly a threat, they will find a way get around without needing to stick to a singular account, something like ''game progress, gamepasses, avatar items…" will not really matter to them in the slightest.
Outside of those cases, I don’t see how someone’s actions could be considered serious enough to keep them from changing aliases.
Anonimity on the internet has always been a +, I’m unsure why you feel that everyone must be tied to their previous usernames, it’s a very valid reason to hide them if they aren’t upto your current taste, shouldn’t matter if they aren’t necessarily violating your privacy and real life identity.
It’s rather bizarre to me how a potential freedom for privacy feature could be somehow seen as a ‘bad-thing’ by some.
Roblox isn’t a government, you shouldn’t have to be tied to any decisions you made when you were younger or unwise.
They recently removed the “Last Online” API, so they’re clearly going with the stricter privacy path, whether it is signifcant or not.
Roblox also made it very clear to add a group name history when implementing group name changes, so there are certainly two sides to that coin.
Despite the amazing privacy benefits, there are also a few discussion points that are a bit more nuanced:
By implementing this, you effectively create ‘ghost accounts’ that reserve usernames without actually being searchable; this would make creating a new username even more annoying than as is. Freeing up usernames creates even more problems since at least a few pre-2013 (possibly later than that though) games used usernames as datastore keys as well as like ten other reasons why this would break a lot of stuff.
Bait and switch cases are certainly possible. I know it may appear infeasible for most cases; however, given that it has come up in so many different replies in this thread, it is certainly a known potential vulnerability. UserIds aren’t a solution to this because no normal Roblox player will be able to remember it accurately, and even if they do; there’d be no way for them to confirm that. In-game reporting also doesn’t suffice since for serious cases where the individual may be a public figure, you may wish to warn others.
This is a minimal point however older experiences which made the unfortunate decision of indexing their datastores with usernames will officially have no way to migrate if this restriction gets added; currently they can use the users API (and presumably the in-game Players service) to verify your new account as the same as the old one. This wouldn’t be possible if username history becomes undiscoverable for all users in the future.
If old games used usernames for datastore keys that is on them, by that logic we shouldn’t be changing anything anywhere at all to not accidentally break old games. Screw updating the chat system, screw removing FilteringEnabled, why change anything at all if that risks breaking some 10 year old game nobody plays, right?
It actually likely isn’t, while I wasn’t a developer at the time, so I don’t really know the full situation; according to the API reference, DatastoreService was added before Player.UserId Edit: Turns out this was me just forgetting about the fact that in the past; Roblox had seperate API members for camelCase; UserId was in-fact created first.
Yes, ideally, we shouldn’t be (or more accurately, at least not without a proper migration process); several times, Roblox has stated that they want to be backwards compatible. FilteringEnabled was a devastating change at the time, which, while it was for the greater good of the platform (since otherwise exploiters could do basically anything they want), it still broke a ton of games.
However, regardless, I think I didn’t really put into perspective correctly what those ‘other reasons’ would be for not freeing up usernames; so I’ll try to explain further:
Potential PII leakage: While I doubt any game which is using usernames as datastore keys is storing any PII, it still creates a potential vulnerability where you take someone’s past username to gain access to their data in an affected experience.
‘Bad’ usernames: Some usernames have negative condentations due to their past users and shouldn’t be freed up. Many of these negative accounts are terminated, so you could just add an exception there for their past usernames, but it is still worth noting, regardless. One thing to consider, though, is how username privacy would work for those users? Deanonymizing them would be potentially privacy invading, while not doing so would leave us in the same pitfalls as when we don’t free up edited usernames.
Impersonation: Users could use someone’s old username (which perhaps may even be more recognisable) to impersonate them.
And likely many more reasons that just haven’t come to mind right now
As for if you don’t free up hidden usernames:
Again, you end up having a ton of of ‘ghost usernames’ which cannot be searched for, leading to an ever more frustrating account sign up process. The bait and switch example still also exists in this case.
Neither of these points is to say that this feature shouldn’t exist but rather that these should be considered while creating any potential solution to the problem.
Player.userId was added around 2006… (for API consistency, Player.UserId eventually replaced it as Roblox deprecated most camelCase members)
Also, the ability to change usernames was added before DataStoreService was even added. Before 2014, all games used the legacy “Data Persistence” system to save player data, which has since been removed.
Sorry for my mistake there; totally forgot that Roblox had seperate camelCase members in the past and honestly did find it a bit weird why UserId was implemented so late, while researching.
As for DataStoreService being added after usernames were able to be changed; I remember seeing a post in the past stating that it was still common practice to use usernames as keys. Maybe it wasn’t as widespread as I originally believed (and it is very possible I messed up the year; since that was going off memory), but it certainly was happening to at least some degree.
