I agree with providing feedback to companies, and sometimes the court is the correct avenue. You raise a good point about how that can help to further everyone's interests. I just think that there is often a solution that's less painful for both sides before going to court.
I suppose if you're dealing with a large company that has lawyers on staff but doesn't care about user support, then this is a good avenue. Small companies and non-VC backed startups on the other hand wouldn't see it as playful.
So, contextually, I can see a situation where your perspective makes sense. Like those situations where you can imagine a corporate lawyer laughing at you for taking them to small claims over a username. You just need to read the room and know when it'd be good fun vs when it would cause problems.
Oh, and you also need to have enough money for expensive hobbies. The subset of users who are in a position to engage with companies this way probably differs significantly in many ways from the total population of users, assuming a popular product.
True, which is why it should be a considered a fun activity. Not everything is a hobby but a tool to exercised when needed or wanted.
I mentioned in a different comment how Github's policy and terms of service has no mention of changing an account's username with or without notice. Unless they can prove that they are "squatting" by holding an username considered "inactively held for future use." It is inappropriate behavior for Github to do this to OP.
I also mentioned to talk to support first but I failed to mention why. Instead my comment made it seem as though OP should immediately sue them. I do not condone that kind of behavior and would have edited my earlier comment to reflect this after some of the comments made it clear I made a mistake.(I can not edit it now)
Thank you for bringing this to my attention and grateful for your understanding. Hopefully I can leave this comment behind me as it seems to have run its course.
I suppose if you're dealing with a large company that has lawyers on staff but doesn't care about user support, then this is a good avenue. Small companies and non-VC backed startups on the other hand wouldn't see it as playful.
So, contextually, I can see a situation where your perspective makes sense. Like those situations where you can imagine a corporate lawyer laughing at you for taking them to small claims over a username. You just need to read the room and know when it'd be good fun vs when it would cause problems.
Oh, and you also need to have enough money for expensive hobbies. The subset of users who are in a position to engage with companies this way probably differs significantly in many ways from the total population of users, assuming a popular product.