The prosper screen name generator is a revolting depersonalizing development. They might as well have handed out random serial numbers.
It is now clear that the similarity in the screen names I noted does indeed mean they were generated by one person -- the screen name generator robot. I played with it for a few minutes and realized that it produces the hyphenated names as well as the common words followed by 3 digits.
We've gone from "copy stuff lendingclub does", such as their drivel-filled blog, much of which has nothing whatsoever to do with the product or the community, but blogs must be cool 'cause other people are doin' 'em, to "Lets try random stuff. Anybody got any random ideas?"
It is hard to imagine the product meeting where someone pitched the notion that a random screen-name generator would improve business. He would have had to pitch the notion that thinking up a screen name was the impediment to a substantial number of borrowers. In any group of listeners I can imagine, he would be laughed out of the room. My only alternative is to imagine that such a meeting never happened.
