I am the fan!! >:]
I should start up a club just for penny

This reminds me of something very similar that happened back on DA--I had a friend that was SUPER into Sammy Sheep.

No idea what happened to them, I think after their third or fourth account move they just sorta stopped using DA entirely.

This does, however, make me think I do need to start drawing Penny Possum again, since there's at least one person interested in seeing more of her.

why'd they hop accounts so much? :o

and omg I would definitely support that~

I never understood the whole "moving accounts" thing, if I'm being honest. It seems like no matter what, you'll lose followers, especially if you're a serial account-hopper. I don't recall them being involved in any drama, and they never mentioned doing it just to change usernames either (a reason I have mixed opinions on), but if they wanted a "fresh start" they certainly got it, as less and less of their already small viewership followed each move.

I am quietly keeping track of what people like on all three of the sites I use, since that gives me a bit of direction as to what to do in the future. That way, when I am in one of those moods where I want to draw but don't really have ideas, I'll have a bit of direction to motivate me a bit.

I used to have a friend who hopped accounts religiously, I never understood why. Its true it hurts your follower count, but it also makes it tough for old friends to find you, or for people to credit you properly. I've changed accounts a little bit in the past to give myself a new username. DA and FA are so behind!! I want to change my username so bad again. WITHOUT having to remake!!

Another part of keeping a consistent username is branding--like you said, it makes it tough for people to find you and credit you if you keep hopping accounts. I notice this happens a lot with furry accounts that include a species name in the username, it's fine that you like foxes *now*, but in a year when you decide you like bears or something instead, you're either stuck with an account name that doesn't match, or you have to make a new one. At least for me, all I have to do to switch mascots is name them "Dominic", lol.
In fact, over the past couple days, I've been rediscovered by a handful of friends that I lost touch with over on DA forever ago, because they recognized not only my mediocre art, but my mediocre username. Yet their names are vastly different now than what I remember them being years ago so I wouldn't have known who they were had they not made the first move.

On the other hand... not many people have the foresight to consider that a username might not stand the test of time, be it tied to an interest, a fursona, or something personal that winds up just not hitting the same way years later. I totally get that too.

I guess I can understand why username changes are sort of a pain in the ass for a site to process, but my limited understanding of it is, every account/user has a numerical ID in whatever system they're part of and a username is more of a "display name" so all that should really have to happen is the name associated with the number be changed somewhere in a database? Then again I get the feeling that the username is combined with that numerical ID to create a more secure identity or something. No wonder my robots are so oddly programmed they could unintentionally develop personalities... I have no idea what I'm talking about!

At least you can pay DA for the privilege! Weasyl seems to let you do it for free now, though, yet another way they're so much better than their competition and it's a shame they're so underused... FULL tag blacklisting is a native feature, throw "MLP" into it and you'll never see a pony again anywhere on the site.

yoo the same has even happened to me!! people come talk to me with completely new characters, a new name, a whole new style and identity. It's all the encouragement i need to stick with my silly brand

i see it the most with people like me, who make their first username as a dumb lil kid Xb

man I have no clue! the display name thing is a big deal though, ive even been on sites that dont let you change your username, BUT they do let you change your display name willy nilly. It might not be easy but, FA is a big site!! they should really be on the ball more imo. like I hate that DA makes you pay for it but.. at least they give you the option. ugh!

its funny you mention the robot programming thing. I watched a video not too long ago that talked about a video game that included an AI as one of the characters, and it actually evolved beyond it's code! Like, based on how a certain player communicated with it in game, they were able to have the AI do something that it should NOT ever do. so interesting, I could dig it up if you're interested to see it? :^D

It's such a trip seeing how some people have improved since last seeing them, though! A few years of practice can really go a long way.

FA is a big site but it still seems to be run by furries--for better and for worse. On the one hand it's the sort of art community a fandom needs, but on the other hand there's a comment section on your profile page where you can't reply to those comments there, and wolverines are put under "other" alongside "dinosaur" in the species list, when wolverines are mustelids and dinosaurs could be put under "reptiles", lol.
Maybe a better approach would be to let you change your display name, but be stuck with the same username--that could actually be good for security because if you're super paranoid, you could make your display name completely different than your username, making it more difficult to hack into an account because you might not even have the correct username in the first place.

That seems like a pretty common trope in science fiction. Sure, if you have a video, link it! At least that's somewhat related to creepy robot opossums, unlike the rest of my crazy rambling.

yeah FA is pretty weird now that I think of it!
but man a display name does sound really secure now that I think of it! :0 pleasse oh please can FA make that change someday

hm i thought it would be easier to find </3
im pretty sure it was by the youtuber oddheader! but I cant recall which video featured it. dang it!