[kilolima]

They are not usernames, so why do they call them that? They are more like disposable per-conversation identifiers.

"Usernames in Signal do not function like usernames on social media platforms. Signal usernames are not logins or handles that you’ll be known by on the app – they’re simply a quick way to connect without sharing a phone number."

Also, this is not finally the feature Signal users actually want - not having to sign up for Signal with a phone number and using a username instead.

This new "feature" does very little to make signal more secure or private.

[jraph]

It does, because instead of having to share your phone number to Signal + all your contacts, you can share it with Signal only. It is an improvement. It doesn't address the case where you are not willing to share your phone number to Signal, but it addresses the case where you tolerate it but would like to discuss with someone with whom you'd rather not share your number.

I hope it will allow creating groups without forcing members to have their phone numbers shared with everyone.

[IshKebab]

That was my first thought too. It's stupidly confusing to call something that acts nothing like a username a username. They clearly know that given the number of times they clarify how they work. Here's another:

> Note that a username is not the profile name that’s displayed in chats, it’s not a permanent handle, and not visible to the people you are chatting with in Signal. A username is simply a way to initiate contact on Signal without sharing your phone number.

[JoshTriplett]

It's absolutely a username. It can be changed arbitrarily whenever you like, and you'll probably in the future be able to have more than one name for the same underlying account, but it's still a username.

Other services do this too. For instance, you can sign up for some services with an email, and that's what you use to sign in, and you might be able to find other people by email if they let you, but you don't necessarily get shown someone's email on their profile, just the display name in their profile. And (in a well-designed service) you can change your email address at any time.

[XorNot]

Because a regular person, being given not a number for something, is going to call it a username.

Later explaining "you can have multiple usernames" is easier then trying to undo that conception. People are familiar with it. Your username is how you identify yourself on the computer in every context when it's not obviously your phone number.

[webdoodle]

> Also, this is not finally the feature Signal users actually want - not having to sign up for Signal with a phone number and using a username instead.

Agreed. I don't own a phone of any kind, and would love to use Signal, but alas I can't because you need a telephone number, or a level 65 Necromancer to do the magic to sign up without it.

* Magic: https://www.techbout.com/use-signal-without-phone-number-sim...

[godelski]

Is it? On Twitter and discord people see a different name than my username. Username tends to be more for connection and display name for identification. While I get the argument I don't see why this is a big deal.

[vorticalbox]

> They are more like disposable per-conversation identifiers.

Why are then not just random when you go to the share screen.

No real reason to let a person pick it

[vel0city]

The point is to make it easier to verbally tell your friend "I'm vel0city23 on signal, add me" and have them actually remember.

[sigmar]

Doesn't seem "disposable per-conversation" in my reading of the announcement. Seems like a permanent username that just doesn't get featured in the conversation.

>Your profile name remains whatever you set it to.

[mjg59]

It's not really permanent - you can change it as much as you want. Once someone has established a connection with you via your username once, that connection will still exist even if you change your username.

[afroboy]

How to you suggest to fight spam accounts without registering with a phone number?

[chrisnight]

Why is the defining feature of being human the property of having a phone number?

Spam is indeed a hard problem to solve, but the issuance of phone numbers is not designed to be used as human identification.

[vel0city]

Maybe they're not necessarily going for "all humans that exist everywhere under any circumstances" but instead "humans likely to have access to a phone number which can sometimes receive SMS."

Not every app needs to cater to every single human and potential use case on the planet.

[drexlspivey]

What’s a spam account anyway? If I create a new account per conversation does that count as spam? It puts exactly the same strain on Signal servers.

[godelski]

A spam account is a fake account that sends spam. Like Bitcoin bullshit. Platforms like signal, Whatsapp, telegram, and others have an issue since you can just message literally every possible number. One way signal handles this is by not identifying that you even have an account unless you accept the message. There's also rate limiting and other stuff going on. But I'm pretty sure you know that a spam account is. If you really don't I'd love to learn how you use the Internet because I'd love to learn how to avoid these accounts. Twitter and Gmail loves to connect me with spam accounts.

[drexlspivey]

How does signal know that account X is sending Bitcoin bullshit if the messages are encrypted? Also I see you have a Keybase account, Keybase doesn't use phone numbers, how do they solve "spam accounts" ?

[godelski]

> How does signal know that account X is sending Bitcoin bullshit if the messages are encrypted?

They don't. That's not what I intended to say, sorry for the miscommunication. It's just a common spam bot I see on things like Facebook, Insta, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, email, etc. But Signal can stop you from sending 100 messages a second. There are other ways to fight spam without needing to know any of the users or contents of the messages. A lot can be done from the minimal metadata that's required to perform communications.

> Keybase doesn't use phone numbers, how do they solve "spam accounts" ?

I don't know but I'm not a security expert. So you probably shouldn't be asking me. But if you got any questions about ML I'm qualified to answer some of those.

I'm pretty sure a big reason Signal uses phone numbers is just because they built from Text Secure. It is also aimed at an audience less technical than Keybase's target audience. I mean Keybase is free and private but everyone still uses Slack or Discord. FWIW, Signal does write blogs about these things. So if you'd like to learn more I suggest reading those while you wait for someone much more qualified to answer your question. I think you'll get it answered much faster if you're less assertive. Or you could go the otherway and try the old tactic of confidently saying something outlandish and wait for people to correct you. But I think this is a more difficult method to get answers to a specific question. Your call though.