I'm thinking about changing my account name, but I'm nervous.  I haven't identified as Starr for years now, but the notes on name changing say any names you have changed from will be gone for good and you can never change back.  Nobody else will be able to use it because they still have to use the old one to redirect to your new one, but you won't be able to use it again either.  I've had this one for so long.  It's my email address too, and the name that I want to change to is already used by someone else on gmail.  Maybe it's time to switch to a live account for art-related communications.  Maybe it's time I grow up and stop trying to be one of my game characters.  I could choose something closer to my actual name.  I just don't know.  For years now I've signed my work with a "Sh" that resembled a star, so that either name people knew me by would make an appearance.  I just feel like I need a change, but dA has a great way of making people regret changes.  I won't forget the experiences one person had when converting to a group.  All the correspondence was lost, because I guess dA thought it would be best to protect things that were said in private from all the new people having access to it.  I fear I would have immediate regrets about the name change and feel like I'd forever lost something that had been so important for so long.  Oh, what to do!