What does rename mean? Can you change your twitter username or do you have to create a new account? What would be the possible new names?

Changing your username will not affect your existing followers, direct messages, or @replies. Your followers will simply see a new username next to your profile photo when you update. We suggest you alert your followers before you change your username so they can direct @replies or direct messages to your new username.

From https://support.twitter.com/articles/14609-changing-your-username

So basically everything stays the same but others doing mentions will be more tricky, assuming they are used to mentioning @joindiaspora. I'm confident Twitter live search maybe helps to map username changes, that would seem logical :)

What would be the possible new names?

Will have a look at some free ones tomorrow. But I'd leave deciding on what a new name should be to a follow up proposal.

Is @diaspora available?

Well, I wouldn't agree to this proposal if there's no good name available.

I'm not sure. While "joindiaspora" isn't great, I don't know if it's worth loosing all the mentions from the past.

I’m confident Twitter live search maybe helps to map username changes

Just tried it.. nope. :(

@flaburgan nope.

Some free ones:

@diasporafoundation, @diasporasoftware, @diaspora_project, @project_diaspora, @diasporasocnet

I definitely don't think we should kill the JD account, but there should be one for the project separate from the one for the pod.

Brent, the @joindiaspora account is not a joindiaspora.com ( http://joindiaspora.com ) account any more - it IS the official account to promote the project as a whole.

This exactly, is the confusion that I see all the time. Though, whether which is better, keeping as is or renaming it, hard to say :)

I have a fair bit of experience managing twitter accounts and I think this is a sensible move.

Best practice is to rename the account then immediately register a new account under the old name so you can fill in the profile to direct people to the new name. Then post an announcement of the change.

From a mentioning point of view it will make much more sense for people if the name at least begins with @Diasp rather than @Join as twitter has autocomplete for people you follow. Old mentions won't update but if you do as above at least if people click on a mention they'll end up at the right account.

I agree, there's cause for confusion here. If we can come up with a better name, it'll be worth having a vote on changing the twitter handle to that name. Until then, a vote seems a bit meaningless.

I’m not sure. While “joindiaspora” isn’t great, I don’t know if it’s worth loosing all the mentions from the past.

I wouldn't worry about that. I've just checked back on an account of which I changed the handle a couple of years ago, and @mentions right back to when I opened the account now have the new handle. So it looks as though mentions in old tweets do get updated when you change a handle.

Somebody should check if we'd lose our "verified" badge during a name change.

this account is an official account for the project, and has no direct relation to the pod joindiaspora.com

So if you did rename it would this account then solely be used for the foundation and the pod would need to go setup a new Twitter account? (if the podmin wished to do so)

So if you did rename it would this account then solely be used for the foundation and the pod would need to go setup a new Twitter account? (if the podmin wished to do so)

How's that different from the existing situation? That account was always a project account, never a pod account (although the founders might have used it for pod news on occasion during the early days).

@goob

Until then, a vote seems a bit meaningless.

What point is there to discuss names before deciding to change it? :)

@rich1 the current account is not used by or for joindiaspora.com. Exactly why I created this proposal, there is constant confusion about this..

AFAIK joindiaspora.com does not have a twitter account.

Ok, thanks. I was just trying to get a better understanding of the actual issue.

From what I understand the problem is that more people come to @joindiaspora with issues relating specifically to that pod itself, rather than coming to @joindiasopra with issues relating to the Diaspora project itself.

With that in mind, I agree with Brent's comment in his vote, which I'll echo in mine.

From what I understand the problem is that more people come to @joindiaspora with issues relating specifically to that pod itself

That's not my understanding. But @jasonrobinson administers that Twitter account, so let's ask him.

What point is there to discuss names before deciding to change it?

It seems a bit counter-productive to commit ourselves to changing the name before deciding on a better name (which is available).

I agree to change the name if we can find a better name to change it to.

@goob - loomio doesn't support two votes at the same time in the same thread. Since creating a new thread would be overkill, one thing must be voted on first. I think it makes sense to first agree on whether the name should be changed, before discussing a new name. What is the point of voting on a new name if the end result is that the community wants to keep the old one? ;)

DiasporaProject is a good alternative I think. Though DiasporaFoundation is good as well because it will be associated with the actual diasporafoundation page which is where the focal hub - or as close as we have to one- is anyhow.

Maybe a few others to consider too:

@diasporaofficial
@diasporasome
@diasporapods
@diasporafederation

:)

yes.. from niave users perspective ... searching for Diaspora .. was complicated with the 'join' prefix .... that the 'joindiaspora' links were also depreciated was equally confusing ... im more aware of the situation now,so not so much a problem ... and work is being done to 'federate' the loose ends ... so yeah ... good suggestions :) .. though im not a Twitter user ;p .. D* is all thats required ... and a duck doesnt need muddy feet walking in foreign swamps ;)

What about @diasporaHQ ? It is taken but not being used.. Maybe the owner wants to give it up?

@praveenarimbrathod

While we are at it, renaming [email protected] to diasporafoundation brings more consistency.

This proposal is about the twitter account only. Also, diaspora doesn't support renaming accounts ;)

I'm equally happy with disporafoundation or diaspora_project. I slightly prefer 'project', but the fact that there is already a diasporaproject account means that confusion is possible, so the foundation one might be preferable for that reason. Not so keen on 'socnet' as it's more complex and not complete words.

I think on balance I'll go with 'foundation' as that's the name of the project website. But am happy with project too - even socnet. I don't really mind!

Thanks to the suggestion of @rich1 I actually tried to register the candidates - and it seems @diasporafoundation is too long... So much for that then..

I've registered @diaspora_info and @diasporasocnet - also available would be suggestions @diasporasome, @diasporapods and @diasporafed (federation is too long).

I'll register the rest in the evening and set up a new vote, keeping @joindiaspora as one of the options..

and it seems @diasporafoundation is too long

:(

Thanks for providing all the available options though :)

@diaspora_now ??

I actually tried to register the candidates

Um, we don't want to register these names separate, because that way we won't be able to change the name of the existing Twitter account, which is what we surely want to do (to keep all the existing followers, and so on).

if changing means loosing the certified label and we can't change for diasporafoundation (too long) or diasporaproject (already token?), I think that changing is worst than keeping joindiaspora...

I too agree with @flaburgan .

Losing the certified status can be avoided afaik.

But to be honest, none of the other options are that good that I see this as a good use of time so let's just forget about it..

Seriously?

This guy might object...

http://twitter.com/diaspora

Sorry, I didn't know it was taken

@mrmappyinof ohyes. If you search for "diaspora" on Twitter, most of the posts are not about the social network.