[al_borland]

Dormant account reuse should be ok, assuming proper notice is given. Though 30 days is far too strict. A life event could leave someone offline for a month.

Selling I have an issue with, especially the arbitrary selling of “rare” handles. This leaves normal users stuck with junk names and encourages Twitter to be even more of a place for corporate communication above all else.

[dmix]

I'd imagine the 30 days just the TOS, if they sell a username that has been active (posting, replying) in the past 6 months then it'd be a big deal for sure. It's not clear when OP last used his account but I'd imagine the people doing auctions look to see if they post or interact at all, not just login once in a while. X should probably clarify this.

[consumer451]

> if they sell a username that has been active (posting, replying) in the past 6 months then it'd be a big deal for sure.

What about this scenario:

If you register a domain name, a bot registers a related handle/name/brand pretty quick if you do not.

So, you register a twitter handle to preserve your brand identity right after registering a new domain.

You don't check it for 6 months.

Is it OK for Twitter to sell that handle?

[dmix]

If you don't pay for a domain name you could lose it too.

If I signed up for a free social media account hosted by another company and neither logged in or posted on it for a year then it got autodeleted for inactivity, I wouldn't really feel I had a particularly strong claim to it.

[persumentor]

One thing that makes handle markets uncomfortable is that social media identifiers sit in a strange space between identity and platform resource.

Domain names are usually treated as leased assets with a clear renewal cycle. Social media handles, on the other hand, often feel more like identity markers, especially when someone has used them for years.

When platforms reclaim dormant handles and then auction them, the model shifts from “resource management” to “asset monetization”. That changes user expectations quite a bit.

If a platform wants to recycle dormant identifiers, a transparent policy with predictable timelines and clear notices would probably feel more legitimate than quietly moving them into a marketplace.

[echoangle]

If your domain is used as a brand identity, you should register it as a trademark and sue anyone who uses your brand identity as a twitter handle.

[consumer451]

I'm thinking more like solo founder territory here. And apparently, it can be as short as 30 days?

[wrs]

You're gonna be really unhappy with how domain name registrars work, then.

[al_borland]

I am very unhappy with domain name registrars for the same reasons. This is where most of my options on the topic were born.

[addandsubtract]

Heroku just gave me a 30 day warning for being inactive and threatened to delete all my data if I don't log in within the next 30 days.

[collingreen]

Will they sell your projects to a account holder after that?

[qup]

They'll sell your space on their machines.

Because it's not yours. Neither is a handle, or a domain.

[jnovek]

What if your handle is your name? Who owns that?

[MSKJ]

Does everyone with the same name get an equal claim?

[jnovek]

I don’t know if you’ll see this after a week, but my thought experiment was something like “what if HN took my username and gave it to someone else”? It wouldn’t just be handing off my username, it would be handing off an implied identity, even if they deleted comment history and such.

I’m not sure what the appropriate outcome is but I think it’s fair to say that it’s not straightforward.