Comments on: My name is not a URL

By: Some links for light reading (24/3/09) « Max Design

Some links for light reading (24/3/09) « Max Design — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:15:15 +0000

[...] My name is not a URL [...]

By: Capri

Capri — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:15:11 +0000

Once again, they are NOT “vanity urls” You’re not vain for using a name/handle as an url and people just keep using that insulting term as if it was nothing. Yes, there are concerns about privacy online, people can and do misuse personal information – addresses, phone numbers, first and last names, locations to harass others online, and this includes bullying, stalking, blackklisting whoever the victim of the hate campaign is. That’s why I prefer not to use my full name or give it out unless I have no choice. But that doesn’t make me vain for wanting to use a handle in an url instead of a bunch of random numbers.

By: Albert Nel

Albert Nel — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:01:46 +0000

The one thing I always get concerned about when talking about Web 2.0 and like you mentioned, the search engines that should be capable of knowing where you are, where you were, where your friends were etc… is that it’s exactly that! The search engines (aka Google as they seem to be slowly taking over the world) will then know even more about you.

To continue, the problem with that is the ridiculous amount of power that will be had with that type of information. I already felt strange about my twitter account being my name… but like you also mentioned, it allows for a transparency that is necessary in the social realms that Twitter and Facebook calls home.

It’s not that I’m a conspiracy nut or anything like that, I just value my privacy a lot and would rather avoid the social network completely instead of getting the “forced privilege” to have my name in some vanity URL.

Great post, great read.

By: eric

eric — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:52:04 +0000

I want to be an URL IRL

By: Obviouschild

Obviouschild — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:12:50 +0000

I agree; I don’t like the idea that I would have to always update anything in order to ’sell myself’ and my image and compete to have the ‘coolest’ page and so forth. My personality is in the real world, no hiding in the ether…

By: Capri

Capri — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:31:10 +0000

I never said I “relied” on Facebook for anything, my point is to protest the use of the insulting term “vanity url”. I’d like an easier url. I am not vain. That’s my point…

By: Fred Zeats

Fred Zeats — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:48:23 +0000

Capri: If you are RELYING on Facebook in anyway then you are being foolish because if FaceBook loses (or deletes) your data, you have no recourse unless you are famous enough to get your issue into the media. As I said, Facebook is a capricious company.

Capricious: prone to irrational and unpredictable changes in mood and behavior.

Sounds like Facebook to me.

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:47:00 +0000

I don’t like the vanities url too… Will I Pay for them ? Never !

By: Capri

Capri — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:03:55 +0000

Still, the name “vanity url” needs to go. Just because I’d like facebook.com/profile/whateverthenumberis/capri doesn’t make me guilty of vanity!

By: Jan Schjetne

Jan Schjetne — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:53:45 +0000

While I agree that “vanity URLs” as they are on MySpace and other “teenage” focused sites are sometimes annoying and childish, I wouldn’t mind seeing cleaner URLs on Facebook.

It wouldn’t be difficult for them to change my profile URL from /profile.php?id=625472164 to /625472164/Jan+Schjetne/. And since I’m the only person on Facebook called Jan Schjetne I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to give me just /Jan+Schjetne/ either, but I understand how that would be a problem if your name is John Smith.

It would take some clever URL rewriter no more than a day to come up with a solution, though. I’ve never really understood why Facebook URLs are so ugly.