Since Facebook laid the hammer down and started to get on some people’s nerves by implementing a real-name policy more than a year ago, the social-media master has taken a lot of flak from the public. One such criticism has come from LGBTQ people who have voiced that in some circumstances they have not been able to use their preferred name or have faced abuse because of their sexual orientation. In other cases, people have been stalked, trolled or harassed, which could have been prevented had Facebook not been a scrooge and allowed a simple pseudonym.

Alas, in the season of goodwill, Facebook has finally re-thought its real-name policy. The new policy will take effect in the USA today, going global Facebook says following feedback from home. The actual system change is a fairly basic one: You can still report fake names (the company says its receives hundreds of thousands of fake name reports weekly), but now if someone wants to report what they consider a shady nom-de-plume, they will be required to add a lot more information providing context.

In a statement, Faceboook said, “This additional context will help our review teams better understand why someone is reporting a name, giving them more information about a specific situation.”

However, Facebook is sticking to its guns in not allowing people without a very good reason to change their name. But, the new system will allow the ostensible offender to write back to Facebook after they have been asked to verify their name and provide information pertaining to “special circumstances.” Facebook was reported as saying, “After hearing feedback from our community, we recognize that it’s also important that this policy works for everyone, especially for communities who are marginalized or face discrimination.”

On top of this, Facebook will now roll-out a new process, which will mean that users will have access to their account for a week while they verify or update their name. Additional security protections for documents that people share with Facebook when they are verifying their name have also been implemented.

Photo credit: Keonl Cabral visa Flickr