I agree that the last update or “clean-up,” as some call it, was quite strange and counterproductive. I am not sure if this was intentional, but it probably was not.
Nevertheless, I can see how this peculiar username glitch would convince more users to purchase VIP. The user experience on the site has been somewhat downgraded within the past year or so, beginning with the ability to create rooms or delete messages being taken away, along with eventually the ability to directly reply to messages (which was given to users for a short amount of time, I believe).
The reset of the Quiz Room scores was also quite frustrating for users who had spent hours playing quiz to reach a certain rank. And honestly, the lag does not improve matters; it is like the cherry on the top of the site’s pre-existing issues. I would not be surprised if user activity here declines.