[tonytamps]

Slow day on HN I guess?

Instagram isn't one of the offenders, like you say. Usernames can be changed at will and logins are done through email.

I regularly change my username to a beer-pun when I've had enough of the current one.

I also don't really like your gamification grand plan. Names are too common for that to work. You'd be in the same position you were in before with a name like "Adam" because you'd be competing with "Adam Sandler" for example and he'll whoop your ass on "most pins/tweets/likes/friends/wins".

[maxerickson]

I signed up for instagram because some dipstick put my email address into the app and signing up and claiming the address was the only way to stop getting reminders from them to confirm the address.

(That is, they have their problems too)

[soared]

Now that is a brilliant and evil marketing scheme.

[city41]

But you can't change your username to one that is in use, right? That doesn't solve the squatter problem.

[crazygringo]

But that's exactly the point -- it makes a lot more sense for someone like "Adam Sandler" to have "Adam", rather than someone less popular. So it's not at all the position you were in before -- this is the whole improvement!

[thebaer]

What if there's a more popular Adam than Adam Sandler? And does this mean I need to reserve the name "Adam" on my service, so that one day when Adam Sandler comes along, he'll be able to get the name I assumed he wants?

[Karunamon]

I think there's an unanswered question here: Why should popularity be the decider for who "deserves" a username, given the fact that it's a pretty awful metric for most use cases?