Just like saying goodbye to AIM screen names, it is time for those who are using OKCupid to say goodbye to theirs. OKCupid announced that it will be moving away from the practice before the end of the year.
Users now have nine days to enjoy the glory of their old username.
Bye Bye BigCatLover91
OKCupid announced the change through its company blog. It also cited the death of AIM as a reason to wave goodbye to the current username format.
One of the reasons the dating app cited for getting rid of the usernames was how forgetful they were. Once you meet that person you've been talking to in real life and use their real name, that username is gone for good.
OKCupid is selling the idea of getting rid of usernames by liking it to a hard decision.
"We understand that, for some, usernames are a great way to show off who you are. But for most, they are a pain to come up with and a pain to remember," OKCupid said in a blog post. "And we hope that you can instead use your profile to give people an insight into your interests, rather than a made-up moniker."
"[I]n order to qualify as a real name it has to be two letters minimum, no numbers or symbols or emojis. We also have a list of banned words that would not qualify. Also we are only asking people for first names only, not their last names, so this is an added level of protection," a spokesperson for OKCupid clarified what names could be used,
Big Changes
This year had many changes for OKCupid.
Back in August, it removed the Visitors function from its app that allowed users to see whenever someone visits their profile and vice versa. Visitors let users see when someone is checking a user out and basically shows who had "liked" the profile — this may have been the reason why it was eliminated. Users that paid for A-list service had the ability to see who had liked their profile, while free users were restricted. Visitors may have let them bypass the system.
At the beginning of December, it revealed that it was changing the way that users message each other. Inboxes would no longer be cluttered by any person randomly messaging someone they were attracted to. Now, users would have to like each other in order to view the message that was sent.
OKCupid is making changes that are bringing it in line more with another company owned by the Match Group — Tinder. Whether these changes attract more visitors or send long time users running away remains to be seen.
