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Do You Keep Your Friend Code Private?

Bowie

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So, I asked this in the general questions thread, but I didn't get many answers, and I'm genuinely quite curious about it, so I thought I'd ask here.

Some people (myself included) choose to keep their friend codes (and other gaming IDs) private. What's your reason for it? Mine is just so people can't find other sites I've posted on in the past, but I feel like more and more people are doing it, so it's got me rather curious.
 
i don't hide mine because it eliminates a step in trading, you don't have to go through the effort of asking for eachother's codes and putting them in. that's just me though, i've never posted my fc anywhere else but trading blogs on tumblr
 
think a lot of people choose to keep theirs public if they do a lot of playing w other people on btb or trading. having to always give it out is a major pain and disrupts the flow of trades in my opinion. it's just a standard. plus like, since adding is only mutual on ds it's not like leaving it out means anyone could use it to sneak into your town.
 
I just have mine visible so people can easily see mine. Even if they friend me they cant play with me since I need to friend them back :/
 
I keep mine hidden but only because I don't really play with other people/trade a lot. If I ever got back into trading I'd have no problem putting it out there.
 
I don't keep mine hidden, I trade a lot so it would be a pain to give it out every time I trade
 
I have mine posted and use the same user name on all the AC boards.
It's a good way to let others know who you are and that you are a good trader.
 
I only keep the one where I play New Leaf posted for convenience (have several FCs due to having multiple 3DS). I'm not fond adding too many people unless they're my friends or whenever I do trades, but that doesn't happen often.
 
Just for convenience, I guess. People can look at mine, I look at theirs, BAM! Added as a friend.
 
I don't play with my real life friends on AC, I only post my friend code publicly so it's easier for people to add me when we trade, as I do use the Re-Tail board frequently. I never open my gates unless it's for a trade so I won't have issues with strangers coming into my town.

However, I do get the issues of privacy and wanting to ensure you keep yourself safe. I try to not give out any information about myself online so it couldn't be used wrongly. I think if you are careful with your FC it can be fun to trade with others.
 
Nah. I'm a pretty active trader right now. So many people have full PM inboxes, so seem to prefer communicating openly on threads or VMs anyway, so that would be posted publicly. I am happy to trade with people who want to keep their FC private and want to just PM it to me directly, but I haven't run into someone like that in a long time. A few years ago was the last time I ran into it. Most people here just put their FC on their profile.

Besides, I don't exactly have a common username and I do use this same one on other forums (though not everywhere!) anyway.
 
Not really, I do delete people after trades though.
 
i used to but i dont play online that much anymore so i took it out
 
Nope. I've also restarted my 3ds multiple times and gotten a new one since joining the site so it changes all the time.
 
I keep it visible but I sometimes forget as I have 2 3ds machines that if I am on the other people sometimes assume the code and I have to say I am on the other and go and look it up and pm them with it or switch cart over to this one which can be a pain...so I actually wish it would let me list both primary and number 2 so I could just say I,put the second when trading or interacting because it is very con isn't for me to have it there in those situations but people assume sometimes as I have some game towns I only play on the other why don't know but I do so especially newer ones so I wish they were both up I may have the second in about me somewhere but people in a trade board don't see that they just add the sidebar so maybe some people don't show it so they can tell ppl which one to put in. As far as other sites I don't use any but even if I did or would have reason to I wouldn't mind people seeing it would take a Lott to track down by a code and I'm not hiding anything but I get that. I actually wish it had a spot for me to list the second on the sidebar right below.
 
I don't mind my friend code being known, I only ever use it for Animal Crossing communities and like others said, it makes exchanging codes here much faster. As for my NNID, I prefer to keep that private and I don't think I'd ever give it out unless it was to close friends I've known for a while and play games with regularly. Nintendo Network doesn't serve any other purpose apart from Miiverse anyway, and I don't use that.
 
I have mine visible. I see no reason to hide it, since either way nobody else can use it. Even more, it kinda bothers me a lot when I'm willing to connect with someone and must look everywhere in order to find their code :mad: Some people haven't even written them on their profiles! Just how do you expect to play online then?
 


I have a friend code that's public as well as a friend code that's private. The public one I don't worry about. I really only use the bell tree and there was a harvest moon forum I used for a while... Other than that, eh~ I don't have too much information linked to my friend code. Though you raise a good point... I think I posted my friend code once on my Facebook, and THAT is information that I wouldn't want anyone to get to. It's probably wise to limit where you make your friend code available in some cases.


 
I used to keep mine private when I joined this forum, because I wasn't sure how to go about using it. But now that I trade a lot, it makes it so much more convenient to have it displayed. I'm too lazy to memorize my fc also. Quite terrible, I know.. xD
 
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