Display Names... another daft idea??

We used to have hovertext, now we are promised Display Names, instead of the ability to chose your avatar name which is what people have apparently asked for.

" I'm excited to tell you more about a new feature that's on the horizon for Second Life. Known as Display Names, it's a project that will not  only give Residents the tools to better express themselves, it will also help us grow the population of SL further, making it a richer and more  robust social environment for all." Amanda Linden.

Now, a couple of Hype Alerts here...

1) ..tools to better express myself... why is this better than hovertext? and isn't it 'tool' not 'tools'?

2) .. will help us grow the population of SL further.... I don't believe that for one minute... let's ask Chris Pirillo.."oh, display names?.. well I'm definitely coming back to SL..that makes it a great game rather than a lame time waste..."

More misguided drivel....."combining the ability to adopt  virtually any name you like in Second Life with the stability of having a  persistent underlying identity that lets everyone be sure at all times  which avatar they're communicating and transacting with." (lie)

Now, sorry....but if someone calls themselves Soror Nishi, how is a noob to know they aren't talking to Soror Nishi??? Explain...
...and when a griefer called soror Nishi lands in a group of 6 noobs and detonates an atomic freenis....who is gonna get their account frozen "pending investigations"??

This question was asked on the blog...and that nice Amanda Linden suggested we go look at the FAQS...(an empty page)....

...and the last piece of Spin (lies) is that all this has been done "because lots of residents have asked for it"...and the link in this case works back to 28 requests.

Hundreds of people have signed the JIRA for scalable megas..... not 28...

...but it is almost impossible now to post a PJIRA, unless you know how to make a wiki page (LL has made it far more difficult to "have your say", as if it wasn't almost impossible before...)

No...the truth is that this is a silly piece of easily delivered nonsense like Voice Morphing... and, it may be great fun, I have always been impressed by Wizzy's use of floating text, but..... I have this reservation...

I normally turn off all names....I see none of them because the world looks better to me without strange things floating over peoples heads. Radar tells me who I am in the room/sim with and I can always move my cursor over an av to find out who is who.

If Display Names are permanently ON then SL will suddenly look like a dodgy StoopidVille Game. My screen will look ugly with idiot writing all over it. Will they show up on photos?? Who knows.

..and what about lag? Can someone honestly say that 20 avs wearing Display Names is gonna cause less lag? I doubt it.

So, this may be "just Soror moaning again' or...it may be another daft idea of no real import that is an ill-concieved and badly thought-out step nearer to the dumbing down of this world we love so much.

Time will tell.

:))