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Brian Hoff's wife, Kathleen, had her Instagram username stolen. It's now owned by a Facebook employee(medium.com)

9 years ago from Jonathan Suh, Designer at Planning Center

  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 9 years ago

    the article states that she rarely uses instagram. her account was likely deemed inactive. lucky wasn't it deleted outright:

    What's Instagram's inactive username policy? We encourage people to actively log in and use Instagram once they create an account. To keep your account active, be sure to log in and share photos, as well as like and comment on photos. Accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity, so please use your account once you sign up!

    source

    3 points
    • Jonathan SuhJonathan Suh, 9 years ago (edited 9 years ago )

      Wow, the wording of the policy is so terribly obtuse. Seems like it's more targeted for username squatters, but still, disconcerting.

      Would be helpful if Instagram defined what a period of prolonged inactivity is. Shady nonetheless, considering they didn't even notify her informing that her username was revoked due to inactivity.

      5 points
      • Matt ThomasMatt Thomas, 9 years ago

        This is exactly my feeling. Give specifics on what “inactivity” means. By not being specific, and not mentioning a policy of contacting users with suspected inactive account, it gives Instagram/Facebook a lot of leeway to take over accounts they may want.

        1 point
      • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 9 years ago

        can we be sure that she wasn't notified?

        the user didn't even attempt to use the app until "a few months" after the issue was discovered. i strongly doubt this user type would notice or care about an automated email from the service.

        but then again, there's no way of telling for certain one way or the other. there's a lot of assumptions and accusations being thrown around here based on very little information from an angrily written blog post.

        1 point
        • George ChenGeorge Chen, 9 years ago

          While "recycle" a user name was never a good practise, I am actually ok with a popular user name (on any system) going to a random new user. But the fact, a popular user name had gone to an "insider" that just doesn't seems right at all.

          1 point
    • Artem TitoulenkoArtem Titoulenko, 9 years ago

      Twitter has a similar policy, though it mentions about a year of inactivity before the account can be reaped. I think this is a fair and reasonable policy. If an account is inactive, it seems reasonable to expect it to be trashed or re-appropriated.

      1 point
      • Chad EngleChad Engle, 9 years ago (edited 9 years ago )

        Twitters' inactivity isn't just related to posting however. Has to do with logins / other things. I looked at a 4yr old defunct account and it was still "active" even though not to the outside world...

        1 point
      • Braden HammBraden Hamm, 9 years ago

        I wish that's how it worked. Someone was squatting on a Twitter username for a domain I own and they only tweeted once in 2009. Multiple attempts to get it, but to no avail.

        Just noticed a it's become active about a month ago :(

        2 points
        • Artem TitoulenkoArtem Titoulenko, 9 years ago

          The killer for squatted twitter handles is phone login. If those credentials are entered in the iOS settings, iOS will fetch new tokens on a regular basis, keeping the account "active". As an employee told me: "just because you cannot see activity, doesn't mean they're inactive to the system".

          0 points
      • Graham KinsingerGraham Kinsinger, 9 years ago

        Is it feasible to make individual requests for inactive usernames?

        0 points
        • Artem TitoulenkoArtem Titoulenko, 9 years ago

          There are a variety of ways for acquiring a handle, but the most reliable is knowing someone who works in support.

          0 points
    • Anthony Garand, 9 years ago

      A few years ago, I requested (and received) an inactive Instagram account (@garand), as well as an inactive Twitter account (@garand).

      0 points
      • Graham KinsingerGraham Kinsinger, 9 years ago

        Can you still make individual requests for inactive usernames, or have these policies since been changed?

        0 points
    • Jonathan SuhJonathan Suh, 9 years ago

      Brian addresses her account activity on Twitter:

      "Her account has been private for a long time. Only posts a few photos of our kids… BUT she often likes and comments and stays connected on her phone with it. In my opinion that’s not really inactive."

      https://twitter.com/behoff/status/456501740385226752https://twitter.com/behoff/status/456501841308569601

      0 points