My name got changed?

[gloomyjz]

Why is my name a bunch of random numbers? I got two notifications saying that my name history was cleared and that my profile name was reset. I can’t change it now.

My other profile names were GloomyJZ, Generalissimo, and Vaultdweller♥♥♥♥. What’s wrong with them?

[JPMcMillen]

Originally posted by 76561198251193308:

My other profile names were GloomyJZ, Generalissimo, and Vaultdweller♥♥♥♥. What’s wrong with them?

If you name got cleared, there was at least one more profile name the account used. You just don't want to admit to it as it's the reason it got removed.

[gloomyjz]

I seriously don’t know. I read the Steam Online Conduct and the General/Content rules. Which one did I break?

[Capn Slam]

It was the third name. Those numbers at the end of the name are a white supremacist thing. Can't do that.

[gloomyjz]

Originally posted by Spice Cadet:

It was the third name. ♥♥♥♥ is a white supremacist thing. Can't do that.

♥♥♥♥ me, I never knew that. Just typed in a bunch of random numbers. Well I’m sorry about it.

Still, will I be able to change my name again, ever?

[Ogami]

Yeah it definitely was the number:

♥♥♥♥ is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for the "14 Words" slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." The second is 88, which stands for "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs.

[Hirjimaulidy]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[Cathulhu]

They don't hate numbers, just the way they are used sometimes.
14 and 88 being used by racists isn't exactly a secret.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Originally posted by Ogami:

Yeah it definitely was the number:

Wow. I learned something new today. Steam really hates numbers. :P
Seriously, wow.

I learned something too. I had never heard of this.

But thinking about it, Valve must have to do a hell of a lot of mental gymnastics to try and keep up with tricks by people to try and wheedle secret messages and dodgy stuff into names.

That is one job I absolutely do not envy.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by davidb11:

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

They don't hate numbers, just the way they are used sometimes.
14 and 88 being used by racists isn't exactly a secret.

I know 88 can be related to the Nazi thing, but I never ever heard about 14.

I think there is a time and place for removing names because of random number combinations. :P
But this is pretty awkward. Not to mention, it makes it difficult to reference the year ♥♥♥♥.
I know nothing really happened that year, but you see my point, right? :P

It's always a balancing act.

I love to point out the use of the lovely (joke) seaside town in Britain, Scunthorpe - I don't need to spell out why THAT triggers some filters - it doesn't here of course, but it did at one point.

It's always a balancing act, and a fascinating one at that. For further guidance, I'd recommend watching Tom Scott's videos on Youtube - he's linguist who does various science and coding based things, especially ♥♥♥♥♥ up from well-meaning attempts.

My favourite - trying to make time stamps universal. That is one massive ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and great to watch. I'll link it if you can;t find it.

[Cathulhu]

Well, there's also the rather harmless german word Schinken meaning ham. Tasty stuff, but part of the word is a very nasty racist slur in English. Seen that word trigger dumb filters more than once.

But ♥♥♥♥ is well, hella suspicious.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Well, there's also the rather harmless german word Schinken meaning ham. Tasty stuff, but part of the word is a very nasty racist slur in English. Seen that word trigger dumb filters more than once.

But ♥♥♥♥ is well, hella suspicious.

To be fair, it CAN be easily typed in by just mashing the keyboard if you lay your hands acr4oss those keys. They clearly fit.

I'm not saying he DIDN'T do it deliberately, but it is possible.

It's much likel when people randomly bang characters on the keyboard they most often start with "asdf" because that's how we tend to work.

On another note, I had a World of Warcraft character that I named in German and I can't for the life of me remember what it was, but that also triggered a smack on the wrist.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by davidb11:

I can still see it being done by accident, and not on purpose.
As for ♥♥♥♥♥, it still has an official definition that is not racist at all, so it should not be a true slur.

Yeah, but that's the fascinating balancing act isn't it? The real "meat and potatoes" of it.

And as such, while it does have perfectly valid uses (much like the Scunthorpe example I gave) you have to make a judgment on which is more likely the use and whether allowing it freely is going to cause more issues. In such times it's best to think hang it all and just err on the side of caution. I mean, it's not as if there's words in the English language - or indeed any language - that don't have synonyms.

Bonus fact: The reason I bring up Scunthrope is there's an old msucial comedian called Mike Harding who came from Scunthorpe and his tagline was "putting the ♥♥♥♥ back into Scunthorpe". It always stuck with me because I'm a vile, twisted person with a disgusting sense of humour.